Constant emails from “aggressive” parents are becoming “unbearable” for some teachers, a survey suggests.
The poll indicates seven in ten teachers have had their email addresses passed on to parents, leading to the unreasonable expectation they are available at all hours.
Of these, 90 per cent said this had been done without their permission.So, just don't answer them? But no, it seems they are too scared to do that.
One teacher said: “The expectation in the school is that a reply to all emails will take place within a reasonable timeframe, if it is from a parent, and if there isn’t a reply then a senior leader gets involved and there is a reprimand that teachers should reply to parents ASAP.”The answer to this is simple. If you've been daft enough to give them your real email address, and not a dummy one you've set up for the purpose, then start billing them for the time you've taken when off duty to answer it.
They'll soon stop!
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: “Teachers are not just facing the intrusion of those who manage them into their private lives but there is now an unreasonable expectation that they are available at the convenience of parents.”Giving teachers a school email address would make it clear they aren't.
4 comments:
These teachers do show an incredible naivety. And they’re ‘teachers’ of children?
All staff at my school, teachers and non-teachers, have school email addresses. These can be accessed outside school. My school also has cheap mobile phones for emergency contact on school trips, etc.
Only a complete numpty would give personal contact info to any parent. Or business client for that matter.
Emails from parents is one thing. Aggressive emails is another.
Leaving aside the question of "are these actually aggressive" - given the current idea that disagreement can be seen as threatening I suspect this might be debatable in many cases.
There's no requirement to
(a) look at work emails outside of work.
(b) respond with anything bar a canned reply to aggressive emails
It would not be beyond the bounds of even the meanest intelligence to create some "email rules" that searched for phrases such as "kill you", "make you pay" etc in incoming emails and fired off a canned response. Or god forbid attach a canned response to a shortcut key.
"These teachers do show an incredible naivety. "
Yet if you asked them, they'd claim to be 'professionals'...
"Only a complete numpty would give personal contact info to any parent. Or business client for that matter."
Quite! Hardly the best and brightest, are they?
"It would not be beyond the bounds of even the meanest intelligence to create some "email rules" that searched for phrases such as "kill you", "make you pay" etc in incoming emails and fired off a canned response."
But then the union would have nothing to whinge about...
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