Should parents have teachers' direct emails?

[MathsMagpie]

I work in a school where parents are given their child's teacher's direct email.

At my children's school, we are not allowed to have the class teacher's email address and instead everything is sent to the office and then dealt with accordingly and all replies (even from the teachers) then come back from the office email address.

Which way do you prefer as either a parent and/or teacher?

I find it frustrating sometimes not being able to get a message to my children's teacher direct (I can't do drop off and pick up) but then also feel very frustrated by so many of the many many parent emails that I receive.

We also have a Right to Disconnect Policy in school so no emails are forwarded or replied to after 5:30.

Well done, your school!
I'm retired now, but when I was last teaching, emails went through the office (though parents could write in the home/school book, which would be looked at on arrival, as our classes were very small).

But though I was obviously planning etc in the evening and weekends, I never had any emails from other staff or the SLT (or, of course, parents). There was no written policy, but the head made it clear that once we were off the premises, we shouldn't be disturbed.

Why wouldn’t I have the teachers email. It’s not their social one, but their class room one.
if they were unhappy with the tone of a parents email surely they would forward it to their SLT and likewise I’m sure parents unhappy with direct correspondence for teacher would cc in head/SLT if they were dissatisfied with communication.

not that I’ve needed to do that. To be clear.
generally emails are to check things out, update on health or emotional issues, and would expect to receive a response within 2-3 days.

I am secondary. All the schools I have worked in have emails on the website for staff and parents can also contact through whatever system is used.

I don't mind at all. It's part of the job to have a way to communicate. I often email parents too.

if they were unhappy with the tone of a parents email surely they would forward it to their SLT and likewise I’m sure parents unhappy with direct correspondence for teacher would cc in head/SLT if they were dissatisfied with communication.

I think that’s fine if you have a small class/school but if you have 30 parents all emailing with varying degrees of courtesy the whole system becomes overwhelmed quite quickly. I think people also tend to be more careful in their communication if they know it will be seen by others, eg office staff, rather than directly emailing a teacher they might have a grievance with.

I’m a teacher and I get hounded by parents. I had an email at 5pm on the Friday and they complained about my lack of reply to the office at 8am on the Monday. I am paid to work 8:30-3:30 so hadn’t technically been in work since receiving the email. When I did respond all of her responses were quite rude stating at the end she expected a reply within a reasonable time this time. It wasn’t even an email that needed to be sent, she could have checked the school app or website for the answer.

I’m a primary school teacher and I like it.
I do check them outside school hours but that is my choice.
I like that I can dash off a quick message from in the classroom without having to bother anyone else.
I email out the homework, so much easier than sticking it in a book. And I like that I can send mass emails saying ‘don’t forget xyz tomorrow.’ Most of the time parents are respectful and don’t expect an instant reply.

Our school have a year email that the teachers in that year group monitor

I don’t hugely mind it as a teacher. The only time it’s annoying is when a parent flies off a complaint on their phone, then I investigate, get the facts together and phone the parent and they shrug and say they got the wrong end of the stick or actually their child isn’t bothered about the issue after all.

Yes, my DCs also had their own school emails in high school. Not personal/ social emails. Homework was available on the class websites and most texts were digital by the time my two youngest were in high school.

Teachers could check their emails during the school day and could respond whenever (both elementary and high school).

Parents have my email and I'm fine with it because I check it once just before doors open and once at about 3.30.

Martyr teachers can ruin it a bit by replying over weekends etc resulting in parents who have unrealistic expectations but as I teach lower primary it seems OK.

I teach in an independent senior school and have parents and students emailing me all hours, including weekends. Our school policy is that we have to respond with 2 working days.
Last weekend, a parent emailed at around 6 on a Friday evening, and then again at 5:30a.m. on the Monday morning as I hadn't responded.
I often have students emailing because they've forgotten a login, left a worksheet in school or want help with a homework task. Sunday evenings are popular for this!
Makes for a poor work life balance but we have to keep the parents happy 😁

I guess they pay your salary!

I can’t imagine not being able to email my child’s teacher. We have always had direct access to every teacher and member of school staff.

We have teachers' mails. I use it 2-4 a year and don't expect a fast answer. No big deal I think. I suppose Head talk to parents not able to handle it.

And I earn every penny!

I’m sure you do 😊

I teach in a special school and parents email us directly, which I don’t mind at all, as I don’t have many parents and it’s just easier. In mainstream primary, emails went via the office. I would have hated parents emailing directly, as there would have been so many.

I don’t have emails on my phone, so never check or respond once I’ve left school, unless there’s something urgent I forgot to tell a parent in the home-school book.

I’ve always had my DC’s secondary teachers’ emails, as they’re listed on the website. There’s no way the office could cope with the amount of emails they must get.

DDs are at a prep and we have the teachers' emails. I email about 4 times a year (mostly to send specific files requested by school). It would be annoying to have to go through the office I think.

The class size is 12 and the other parents seem sensible so I can't imagine they'd be inundating the teacher with irrelevant emails, and wouldn't ask about information that was on the website or newsletters. The dcs have quite a few subject specific teachers so the class teacher isn't in front of the class the whole day.
General queries get posted to the Whatsapp group for parents.

We can contact the teachers (primary) on the app, which is very useful. The teachers have always replied very quickly when I've used it. I've never used it for anything serious, it's usually quick stuff related to allergies or helping on school trips, but one of us can be at school most days if there was anything more serious I'd be inclined to chat in person first.

Going through the office seems crackers to me, surely teachers can be trusted to run their own inbox. We have reasonably clear guidance from school re who to contact (office or teacher).

We had the teacher's email at an indie and were told not to expect an answer out if office hours. However often teachers chose to answer then for their own convenience. As far as I know parents didn't abuse the privilege of having the email address. I know I certainly didn't.

We have emails for all our childrens teachers. I think I have emailed no more than a handful of times

• a few times to tutor /PE teacher about vital health issues
• a couple of times about safe alternatives for ingredients when he was doing food tech

Our primary insist all emails go through office do every communication regarding child can be fully traced back if necessary and kept in one place. I think it is a good idea.

There was a messaging option in the class dojo app where I could message the teacher. It was a godsend as my DD used to take the minibus to school, so I never got to see the teacher before/after school. It used useful just to say short things like, DD didn't sleep well and may be tired.

In our school, pupils and parents have the email addresses for teachers. Years ago, emails were sent to the general enquiry email but it was creating additional workload for the admin team who were just forwarding the emails and often information wasn’t getting to the relevant member of staff in a timely fashion.

There is no expectation for staff to respond to emails outside of their working hours…. but most do..

We don't have direct emails for either the primary or secondary, so everything has to go through the offices, even highly confidential stuff. Personally I'd rather not loop in the office as while it may be a good idea if a teacher is off sick, its an extra person reading it who doesn't need to know. I received another child's medical evidence from my son's secondary school in an email thread so I really think it should only go to those that need access.