School asking parents to only email teachers during working hours

[cautiouscovidity]

We've had a message from DCs' (primary) school respectfully asking parents to only email the head and class teachers between 8:30-5:30 on school days and not during the evenings / weekends / holidays, for staff well-being reasons (they deserve protected downtime etc.).
AIBU to think that this is ridiculous? I work in a job where I don't always have access to a phone / computer during the working day and so, on the rare occasion that I need to contact a teacher, I tend to email in the evening at home or first thing before I get ready to leave. Obviously I don't expect them to reply out of working hours, or even to read it there and then, but I had never considered that it would be intrusive. In my job I get loads of emails at all times of the day and night and they just sit in my inbox until I am working!
Surely if it's impacting on their downtime so much, then they should just not check their emails in the evening and turn off notifications etc.

That is a ridiculous response. Lots of professions don't have it harder than others, doesn't mean we all want to become them.

Trouble is, what are teachers working hours? They can't reply between 9 and 3 because they are in the classroom teaching. I've replied to messages at 6 in the morning because I'm an early bird! I've replied between 7 and 9 in the evening because I'd finished marking, had my tea and settled in front of the tv to watch some mindless rubbish, I replied straight away to one message I received at 8 this morning because a parent was concerned about a incident at school and I didn't want them worrying all weekend. I've had messages at 9 on a Sunday night because a parent was letting me know about something that had happened at the weekend that would impact on their child on Monday. I tend to read the messages and decide whether it needs a response or can wait. But that's a personal decision, not one I would want to impose on the teachers in my school. However I have had parents message me on a Sunday to complain that they hadn't received a response from a class teacher to a message they had sent on Saturday and they wanted to make a formal complaint! Not all parents are as reasonable as the ones on here!

But if, given the excellent holidays and massive recruitment incentives there’s still a critical shortage of teachers, then the conclusion must be that there’s an issue with the working conditions.

What happened to the good old days when you had a parent teacher meeting twice a year and otherwise dealt with the school secretary?

Then your mum had to write numerous notes to be handed to the teacher! (At my school, anyway. Please excuse Nat from swimming, Nat has been off with tonsillitis etc. Email just replaces that as a communication tool. What this thread shows, though, is that schools obviously vary hugely in their preferred modus operandi!

Emails I have received from parents inny subject classes. Note subject classes, not my form class.

11pm Friday, a very long ramble about the disappointment that her daughter did not get on to the school debating team, I do not run the debating society. A threat that if this didn't change I would be blacklisted by parents.

9PM Sunday. A direct complaint that I had sat in my chair for the week. Terrible teaching to sit in a chair, apparently. I had a broken ankle at the time.

Another late Friday night. A long email about how I was wasting valuable teaching time by showing 'videos of rappers'. This was a five minute video of a performance poet on the syllabus for GCSE.

Every night for a week from a dad who missed parents evening and insisted on an hours meeting instead, the last one ended with I ALWAYS GET WHAT I WANT.

He was taken up on this by the head.

I could go on. It is not my job to put up with this sort of shit. It's my job to teach. Allcommunucation with parents us via a journal, PT meetings, line managers or the phone.

It is NOT part of a teachers job to read or answer parents email.

Some parents are unreasonable in their expectations of communication via email. I assume that's why the head teacher has done this.
We had a parent kick off as they emailed at 8.45am when the teacher was already on duty and then complained that the teacher (who spent the whole day without a proper break and with her class due to Covid) only replied at 5pm.
Teachers can organise their own time and I think this is a rather clumsy way to support it.
The school would have been better off saying teachers will reply within 48 hours at a time convenient to them.

I considered going into teaching and the reason I didnt was:

1. Parents
2. Lack of career progression. Once you're a teacher you can become a head and that's it

Trouble is, what are teachers working hours? They can't reply between 9 and 3 because they are in the classroom teaching
Most schools I've worked in have considered anywhere from 8-5/5.30pm as a reasonable window for people to manage contact in a way that fits around their home commitments and workload. We also have some non-contact time during some days.

I couldn't care less when a parent emails me as long as their expectations are reasonable.
Eg. Emailing me on a Sunday evening to ask for a call back as their child has disclosed an incident over the weekend that might flare up in school is reasonable. I can read the email Monday morning and arrange to call back later.
Emailing me asking what revision guides I'd suggest for their DC who doesn't get a particular topic and wants to start revision is reasonable email.

But,
Emailing about anything expecting an immediate response, complaining that emails aren't replied to within the teaching day, sending arsey emails telling me they do not consent to their child being given detention when I had failed to help their child (who also sent a message at 9.30pm the day before homework is due) etc are totally unreasonable.

I'd be happier in life if people thought before hitting send. Out of the parental emails I get, 2/3 are useful/reasonable and the other 1/3 are either unreasonable or a parent getting frothy about a situation they don't have the facts for but they're going to send an arsey email to prove they mean business. 🙄

Hilarious. I don't even open my work email account in the evenings or before 7:30 in the morning. I just refuse, even if the messages are from SLT. That's my time, and I'm off the clock.

I send emails myself to my own children's school teachers/tutors (secondary ages), but I certainly don't expect a reply outside of 8:00am-ish through 5:00/5:30 ish depending upon the individual and their role in school. But I'm only available to write my own messages at those times, so that's when they'll be sent. I assume they're grown ups on the receiving end, so can choose when to access their own email accounts.

@GoldfishParade Not quite! You can be a subject leader, phase leader, Head of Year, Head of department, assistant head, deputy head, specialist teacher and lots more besides, there are dozens of different roles in teaching.

Just look at the emails in work time?

@noblegiraffe - But you do want to tell teachers that they 'have it no harder than other professions' and certainly not as hard as you, and that teacher complaining about working conditions are merely being snowflakey.

I didn't say they don't have it harder than me. I said they don't work longer hours than me.

The reason I, and others, feel the need to tell teachers that they are not the only ones who have a hard job is because, as a PP said, there seems to be a disproportionate number is whiners in the teaching profession.

And yet there's a critical shortage of teachers. Given your view of the working conditions of teachers (no worse than other jobs and with better holidays), you might be prompted to wonder exactly why that might be.

There's a critical shortage in many professions. The reasons tend to be multifaceted.

@DBML

I agree but the school should make it clear who those concerns should be addressed to. I know in primary I would certainly write in to the form teacher and I would assume it would be the same in secondary unless told otherwise. Parents aren't going to have any insight into the inner workings of the school and who is responsible for passing this info on. In that situation I'd just be kind and say 'thanks for letting me know I've forwarded the email on to X who can let other staff members know also'.

I wouldn't class that together with people writing in because their child's upset about being told off for being late/rude/eating in class.

@Ritasueandbobtoo9
Teachers don't have set work times, they have directed time ( which is set by the school ) plus " any additional time required to fulfil the professional duties of the post" which can be done at any time. But during directed time they will generally be teaching. Imagine the complaints if a teacher answered an email during lesson time!

I assume they're grown ups on the receiving end, so can choose when to access their own email accounts.

You’d think.

This thread would not necessarily bear that out for everyone.

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]**@noblegiraffe* - But you do want to tell teachers that they 'have it no harder than other professions' and certainly not as hard as you, and that teacher complaining about working conditions are merely being snowflakey.*

I didn't say they don't have it harder than me. I said they don't work longer hours than me.

The reason I, and others, feel the need to tell teachers that they are not the only ones who have a hard job is because, as a PP said, there seems to be a disproportionate number is whiners in the teaching profession.

And yet there's a critical shortage of teachers. Given your view of the working conditions of teachers (no worse than other jobs and with better holidays), you might be prompted to wonder exactly why that might be.

There's a critical shortage in many professions. The reasons tend to be multifaceted.[/quote]
How do you know teachers don't work longer hours than you?

@Ritasueandbobtoo9

Just look at the emails in work time?

That's not an option for all school staff; I have no email access during the working day so if I want to check school emails I have to do it when I am at home.

I'm surprised so many people think the school is being unreasonable here.
It's a fair request and YABU.

@shellysheridan - How do you know teachers don't work longer hours than you?

I stated in the post that giraffe was paraphrasing that I was referring to the teachers I know.

There's a critical shortage in many professions

Gosh, well then there’s no need to worry at all then. Kids not having a qualified maths or science teacher is just fine because there’s also a critical shortage of engineers.

Where do you get the educated professionals from if the education system is fucked?

It's a fair request and YABU.

How is it a fair request to push responsibility for teachers own time and email management onto parents?

@TheKeatingFive
Honestly today's parents are mind boggling. Yes, sorry you have to take responsibility for dealing with your kids stuff in your own personal time

They could stop allowing parents to directly email teachers completely.

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]**@shellysheridan* - How do you know teachers don't work longer hours than you?*

I stated in the post that giraffe was paraphrasing that I was referring to the teachers I know.[/quote]
That's fair enough but clearly isn't representative of all teachers.
I know a couple of lawyers who work longer hours than me but earn at least 6x what I earn. This is also clearly not representative of all lawyers.

And btw as I've said I'm not a teacher and I'm not a parent either. It's just insane from my POV how much stuff people seem to lumber on schools. Whether its meals or care work or expecting to find solutions for their kids feelings on teachers weekends, it's just....insane