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.

Yes, sorry you have to take responsibility for dealing with your kids stuff in your own personal time

We are doing that. I don’t even understand your point.

It’s not parents responsibility to ensure an email never hits an inbox outside of working hours. Teachers on the other hand are absolutely right to set boundaries and reply during hours that suit them.

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

This AIBU isn’t about any of that though.

It’s about the reasonableness of when to send (not reply to) an email.

I do think the major issue which needs addressing is managing parents' expectation about communication with the school.

They should be aware that minor issues usually don't require any communication at all.Just let it go. They should also be aware that teachers aren't on call to check their emails through out the evening and even during work hours nothing but the most serious issues (which should be dealt with by phone anyway) will warrant an immediate response.

@noblegiraffe - 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. hmm

That is not what I said, merely that teaching is not unique in this regard. It's an issue that needs to be addressed but, as I said, the problem is multifaceted and needs to be considered holistically, as do other areas with shortages.

@spanieleyes

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!

This is a very good point about the teachers' working hours and when they would respond. If we can only send from 8:30 and school opens at 8:40, they've no time in the morning to address issues brought up by email. I would hope that they aren't checking and replying to emails during class-time and for a school that concerns itself so much with staff well-being, I'm sure that their lunch time is not meant to be used for work related matters either. So that leaves from 3:30 when school finishes until 5:30, during which the teachers are often running an after school club, attending a meeting etc., or driving home from work 🤷‍♀️

I'm sure that their lunch time is not meant to be used for work related matters either

Many teachers aren't even having a lunch break as such at the moment as they are having to sit in the classroom whilst the children have their lunch as they are not eating in the hall

@ineedaholidaynow

Many teachers aren't even having a lunch break as such at the moment as they are having to sit in the classroom whilst the children have their lunch as they are not eating in the hall

At my DCs school the TAs have to do that, the teachers still get a lunch break.

That is not what I said, merely that teaching is not unique in this regard.

As a response to ‘there’s a critical shortage of teachers’ on a thread about a teacher working conditions, don’t you think ‘there’s a critical shortage in lots of professions’ alongside your comments about how teachers don’t have it harder than others and work shorter hours than you (plus long holidays) is being deliberately dismissive of the problem?

You know it is. You know exactly what you are doing.

@noblegiraffe - As a response to ‘there’s a critical shortage of teachers’ on a thread about a teacher working conditions,

My response was to your comment: you might be prompted to wonder exactly why that might be. I additionally stated that the problem is multifaceted.

don’t you think ‘there’s a critical shortage in lots of professions’ alongside your comments about how teachers don’t have it harder than others and work shorter hours than you (plus long holidays) is being deliberately dismissive of the problem? *

I was being, very deliberately, dismissive of the excessive whinging that a small minority of teachers indulge in.

You know it is. You know exactly what you are doing.

Given you have misrepresented and partially quoted a number of my posts, I could say the same to you.

I was being, very deliberately, dismissive of the excessive whinging that a small minority of teachers indulge in

No, you were dismissing complaints by teachers as ‘excessive whinging by a small minority’ in the face of a critical shortage of teachers, a massive retention issue and a failure by government over several years to meet recruitment targets despite huge recruitment incentives.

So perhaps your depiction of the problem is bullshit. If lots of teachers are quitting then perhaps the complaints are not ‘excessive whinging’ but a genuine issue, and it’s not a ‘small minority’ who have these issues but a worryingly large proportion.

@noblegiraffe - I have no issue with legitimate complaints. However, whinging because someone uses email in the ways it's been designed to be used and sends an email at a time that suits them IS excessive whinging and simply makes those teachers look incompetent and most definitely snowflakey.

So perhaps your depiction of the problem is bullshit.

Given that I have not depicted the problem, other than to state it's multifaceted, that is quite a reach on your part.

You made a general post about teachers working conditions, ochon

Loads of jobs have crap elements. While teaching is a hard job, it is certainly no harder than a huge number of other professions. Most of the teachers I know work fewer hours than dh or I work. We both do a significant amount of unpaid overtime and neither of us get the amount of holidays a teacher does .....

It's the whinging that seems to be unique to a certain small, but vocal, subset of teachers. You don't really get that in other professions.

Don’t pretend that your general, tedious, and oh so unimaginative moan about teachers in general was now only restricted to the email issue.

To be fair I haven't read the entire thread about so may be misrepresenting what you're both getting at but I think you both have a point. Teaching is an undervalued profession and teachers are constantly being attacked by policy makers, mainstream news outlets and disgruntled completely unreasonable parents with insane expectations. Working conditions are poor and stress is too high. The fact that we can't recruit and retain enough teachers is testiment to that. We need to improve working conditions for teachers, Undoubtably.

That said there is a small minority on MN who extrapolate that to meaning that teaching is the hardest profession on earth and no complaint or concern about an individual teacher or school policy could possibly be valid.

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]@noblegiraffe - I have no issue with legitimate complaints. However, whinging because someone uses email in the ways it's been designed to be used and sends an email at a time that suits them IS excessive whinging and simply makes those teachers look incompetent and most definitely snowflakey.

So perhaps your depiction of the problem is bullshit.

Given that I have not depicted the problem, other than to state it's multifaceted, that is quite a reach on your part.[/quote]
I've not seen any teachers whinging? I've read comments and queries about what issues there would be and teachers answering them.

@noblegiraffe - Don’t pretend that your general, tedious, and oh so unimaginative moan about teachers in general was now only restricted to the email issue.

How on earth is stating: "It's the whinging that seems to be unique to a certain small, but vocal, subset of teachers" moaning about teachers in general?

I also stated I have no issue with legitimate complaints but used the situation in the op as an example of whinging that seems to be unique to a certain small, but vocal, subset of teachers.

You seem determined to twist and misrepresent my posts. I'm not sure why. I'm obviously wasting my time responding to you.

I've not seen any teachers whinging?

Have you read the op? That is an example of the whinging I am referring to. Most of the teachers posting on here seem to think it's as ludicrous as I do.

ochon

You started your post about whinging teachers by describing how (in your opinion) teaching wasn’t that hard, they worked fewer hours than you and had longer holidays. Thus setting the scene for any complaints being from a minority of whinging teachers. Because according to you, teachers’ working conditions are just dandy.

The reality suggests otherwise, and the reality is what you are continually refusing to engage with. You were happy to specify that teachers working hours are fine, holidays are great and that certain teachers whinge on a level not seen in other professions.

You post generalised dismissive bullshit. Own it.

@OchonAgusOchonO

I've not seen any teachers whinging?

Have you read the op? That is an example of the whinging I am referring to. Most of the teachers posting on here seem to think it's as ludicrous as I do.

I've read the op. I've still not seen any whinging from teachers

We've got a new app at our school.

The teachers sometimes reply on there at 11pm. (My friend showed me theres). I remember thinking how sad I felt that they'd worked all day. Then on top of that we're doing 5 hours at night

They hated me for not downloading it. I even had a phone call from the head teacher asking why I hadn't signed the yes for it!

I would of thought they'd like the less time. But it seems it's a way for the kids to do more work and seeing as I won't allow my child to have it. They didn't like it.

Theirs

I once got a completely unwarranted, extremely shitty email from a parent at about 6 on a Friday. I didn’t respond, as per my school policy.

By Monday morning there were a further 5 emails from the same parent, increasingingly irate in nature,

I’d seen them on Sunday, because in order to plan my lessons, I needed to log on to my emails.

I dealt with it on Monday.

Now I’m pretty tough and experienced enough to not let that rattle me unduly. If I’d been an NQT? A less experienced teacher - less established in my school? It would have completely scuppered any down time.

If a school has a group of parents who behave like this, then perhaps they do need a policy of “don’t email outside office hours”?

I think usually it’s more reasonable to say “you won’t get a reply”, but in individual cases it may not do the job of protecting teacher downtime.

@SmileEachDay

That parent is obviously barmy but the policy of not emailing outside of office hours is still daft. How will it help an NQT to revieve 5 irate emails within office hours rather than outside of them?

It just makes the school look ridiculous to the majority of parents who wouldn't behave like that.

I do think the school need to tackle the parents who behave so badly towards teachers. For example it should be made clear from the outset that emails won't be read or responded to outside of office hours and that any unprofessional email will be forwarded to X person to deal with and abuse won't be tolerated.

I note that the OP specifies that the email respectfully asks that parents don’t email the head out of office hours.

I wonder if the head is at the end of their rope. The pandemic has been incredibly shitty for heads and they’ve been attacked from all directions. I can’t imagine the sort of emails they’ve been bombarded with from parent (remember that shitty one about masks on here? And that one about temperature checks mimicking a gun to the child’s head) on top of having to deal with the endless guidance, updates and incompetence from the DfE.

Heads can’t stop checking their emails out of hours. Maybe they’re hoping that the request will give some parents pause to think ‘can this wait? Is it necessary?’

@noblegiraffe -You started your post about whinging teachers by describing how (in your opinion) teaching wasn’t that hard, they worked fewer hours than you and had longer holidays.

Maybe try re-reading what I actually wrote rather than extrapolating and twisting to your agenda as you seem to have comprehenion issues.

Because according to you, teachers’ working conditions are just dandy.

Again, I never said that.

You were happy to specify that teachers working hours are fine,

Nope. I didn't say that. *

holidays are great

their holidays are great. Most teachers I know agree with that.

and that certain teachers whinge on a level not seen in other professions.

That I did say.