Taking dialogue-based communication as a precondition, this study aimed to analyse Estonian parents' attitudes towards the school communication. By using the empirical data from six focus group interviews this study proposes five communication patterns that take into consideration the degree of activity and the positive-negative attitude towards interacting with the teacher. The results showed that parents with low communication activity were concerned mainly about grades and health issues. Active parents were also discussing the feedback and evaluation system. Different patterns would enable teachers to apply different communication strategies to efficiently involve parents in supporting the development of their child. Karmen Palts and Halliki Harro-Loit 152dominant. Parents are not expected to actively support their children and the school does not expect adequate information about the child's needs from the parents.3. 'Active-positive' parents Most parents in this group belonged to a large city (FG4) and medium and a large rural school (FG6 and FG8). In these schools extra attention was paid to communication and the school culture assumed proactive teachers, who establish the communication culture. A large number (14) of the representatives stated that teachers were able to rely on these parents for assistance in their everyday work.4. 'Passive-negative' parents There were parents belonging partly to this group in most of the school types (FG 8; FG10; FG11) except the large city school (FG4). However, we still have little information about this group because respondents described these parents as 'most complicated', causing problems in the overall communication culture as their communication literacy is low and they have preconceived ideas about schools and teachers.5. 'Active-negative' parents Most parents in this group were from the medium-sized rural school (FG6) and the small rural school (FG10). These parents could probably benefit from support to enhance their social skills, which would help the teachers in building up communication cultures to support the students' development.The five types of communication patterns would enable teachers to plan their communication strategically. It is important to note that parents with normative attitudes are influenced by their previous experience and memories. In the case of parents who focus on problems, it would be beneficial to find out what is difficult for them and how they feel in different school-based communication situations. Taking the different types of parents into consideration will strengthen the partnership between schools and parents.Parent-teacher communication patterns are also linked to the issues and aims of the interaction. Thompson (2007:208) states that "research on the parents and teachers e-mail communication brings out five main issues of parent-teacher communication: grades (most common, e.g. under-achieving students, find out reasons for underachievement, and look for ways of improvement), scheduling, health issues, behaviour and miscel...