This literacy review aims to discuss why it is important for teachers to maintain responsive, reciprocal relationships with their students' parents and whānau. The three articles that will be reviewed and summarized are Collaboration with parents/carers and Whānau (Fraser, 2005), Successful home-school partnerships: report to the Department for Education (Bull, Brooking & Campbell, 2008) and Strengthening responsive and mutual. in a Whānau Tangata centre: an action research project (Clarkin-Phillips & Carr, 2009). The review will focus specifically on discussions of parent-teacher partnerships within those articles. Key findings from the literature will be examined and related to contemporary theorists. This review will also discuss why we need these partnerships, the child's perspective on these relationships, the impact of the parents' perspective on development, and specific issues that may be encountered. Foundations for Building Effective Relationships: Fraser (2005) and Clarkin-Phillips & Carr (2009) discuss the many benefits of the teacher-parent relationship for students, stating that they include benefits in health, well-being, academic achievement, and increased economic well-being long-term and enthusiasm for learning. Fraser (2005) explains that modern society allows families to potentially become isolated, due to the recent urbanization of Western society, making collaboration between parents, whānau and teachers more important than ever. This means that teachers need to refer to Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, as it is a reliable resource for teachers to see the perspective of how children operate within a system and understand the influences on both... .. us to synthesize key information and findings and build our understanding and implementation of home-school partnerships. Works CitedBull, A., Brooking, K., & Campbell, R. (2008). Successful home-school partnerships: Report to the Ministry of Education. New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Clarkin-Phillips, J., & Carr, M. (2009). Strengthening responsive and reciprocal relationships in a Tangata whānau centre: an action research project. Wellington: Teaching & Learning Research Initiative.Fraser, D. (2005) Collaboration with parents/carers and whānau. In D. Fraser, R. Moltzen and K. Ryba (eds.), Students with special needs in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Melbourne, Virginia: Cengage Learning.Grant, K., & Ray, J. (2010) Home, School, and Community Collaboration. Culturally responsive family involvement. California: sage