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AIBU?

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Original poster

Are teacher messaging apps reasonable?

232 replies

Elendel · 19/09/2023 19:01

I am a teacher in a secondary school.

I started in a new place a few months back. In this place, parents have an app on which they, and students, can message us 24/7 and we are expected to reply as soon as possible, but latest within 24h. The app filters out swearing, but other than that it can be a free-for-all.

I do not have time to respond within a typical school day as I am either teaching, in a meeting or on duty, and with briefings as well, responding to parents either falls within the 15min lunch I get (unpaid) or outside of those hours. Time is fully directed between 8.15 and 4.30 each day and PPA is the absolute minimum school can get away with.

Messages arrive any time between midnight (some students messaging at 1am!) and midnight again, but parents most often message after work (understandably) and will expect us to have responded by mid-day. Some are messages about reasons why homework isn't done, some are asking me about what happened in other subjects, yet others are to challenge detentions given.

Is this level of communication acceptable? It just feels like I'm never off work, because I spend a considerable amount of time responding to the messages of the 1200 students and their parents on top of doing my actual day job to keep up with communication demands.

YABU - get on with it, it's your job

YANBU - that's ridiculous

OP posts:
celticprincess · 21/09/2023 08:57

Gosh I’m a parent and a teacher. My teaching role actually doesn’t give parents any need to email me as it’s a small sen school and I’m not the class teacher. But what you’re describing is awful. As a parent I do email at random times. For example I needed to email the sendco last night at 9:30 which is often when I do as it’s after my kids have gone to bed and I can sit down and do family admin. However I never expect a response that quickly. If it’s something really urgent I’d want a reply by the end of the next day but generally less urgent things can wait a couple of days. However my child’s sendco must be a workaholic as she does often reply within half an hour on an evening. My child was still awake when I got the response to the email I’d sent as it was obviously something on needed to arrange for my child. As I passed my child’s bedroom at that time I mentioned I’d had a reply and my child even said ‘ she’s got children she shouldn’t be answering emails at this time!’. I responded to her reply with thanks and that I wasn’t expecting it so quickly. I did appreciate the reply but I’m totally aware of workload.

I work part time so have a tag on my signature saying that I might only respond on my work days to whoever might email me (but I am terrible for replying on my non work days to people). I also volunteer for an organisation on my days off and we have a signature that states ‘I’m emailing at this time because it is convenient to me and I appreciate flexible working and would not expect a response immediately if these aren’t your working hours’. Or something similar. I also have a permanent out of office stating I’d aim to reply within 72 hours due to being a volunteer.

Passepartoute · 21/09/2023 09:03

Are you with the NEU? They seem quite proactive if schools refuse to recognise unions, and will apply if necessary to the Central Arbitration Committee. There's an example here - https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/teachers-could-balloted-chester-school-22978634

vickylou78 · 21/09/2023 09:06

You need to discuss this with the school management. There should be rule that Parents need to email the school reception office who can filter out the messages for you and they should only send you messages that are priority fir you to deal with. This sounds bonkers

VickyEadieofThigh · 21/09/2023 09:08

Elendel · 20/09/2023 18:27

They don't tell you that bit at interview.

Show quote history

I think finding out about PPA and teacher-parent contact needs to be part of your research and "Do you have any questions for us?" at the end of any future interviews.

I speak as a retired secondary headteacher! This is academies for you - the Tories' revenge on teachers for being forthright on our pay and conditions back in the 80s.

Annoyingnamechangerperson · 21/09/2023 09:14

I think you need to be firm with school around this. If they want you to reply within 24 hours then you need to tell them they need to allocate time for you to do this each day.
They will soon realise that this isn’t possible or will allocate time.
Each evening as you finish work forward all the messages you haven’t had time to get through in your contracted hours to the department head and they will soon have a rethink of this policy.
I work in the public sector and I’ve had to start being very firm with boundaries and my diary as I was working so late each night I had no work life balance.
I decided in the end I work to make my children’s lives better not worse so it wasn’t fair they were constantly getting the worst of me. (By worst I mean tired, not helping as much with homework etc)

cringelibrarian · 21/09/2023 09:55

This reply has been deleted

This user is a troll so we've removed their threads and posts.

Manthide · 21/09/2023 10:19

We have been given all my dd3's teachers emails but it's not something I'd typically use as I appreciate that teachers should not be available 24/7. I did email a teacher last night because she asked me and she responded this morning within school hours. Dd3 is in year 11 and I expect her to deal with any issues she has directly with the teacher. I don't monitor her communications with them but the odd time she has said they've not replied I remind her they do have a life outside of school! (She goes to a private school)

Susieb2023 · 21/09/2023 10:20

You vote with your feet on this one. There are trusts/academies out there who do recognise unions and work life balance.

If more teachers stand up to this sort of treatment of them then these exploitative trusts will struggle with recruitment and retention.

Manthide · 21/09/2023 10:36

TheLightProgramme · 20/09/2023 08:59

My parents really cared about my education, and I don't think they ever contacted my secondary school. They got reports and went to parents' evening and that was it. Same with my friends. I wonder why parents' expectations have changed so much over the past couple of decades, and why teachers are having to pander to them.

Part of it is that what is communicated to parents these days is not the information parents want.

Parents want to know how their child is doing relative to peers and want to know their actual attainment. Teachers used to be quite blunt about this, they would tell you openly if your child was very behind or very ahead, and what grades were likely etc. These days the focus is on effort and progress. But in reality, if little nicky has progressed from a U to a D, that might be great progress but its still not a good grade!!

These days, if your child is hard working and well behaved, but very average academically, you',ll get glowing parents evenings and reports focussed on their progress and behaviour that leave you thinking they are top of the class, then will be left baffled when they don't achieve top grades.

So true, there's 16 years between my youngest and eldest and I hardly bother to read dd3's reports nowadays. They are all coded in stupid language eg accelerating and apparently these are related to a test ( Midyis) they took in year 7!! She is in y11 now.

CharlotteBog · 21/09/2023 10:49

Head doesn't see an issue, unfortunately

Well, this the problem. If the head is supportive of such nonsense then you either need to take it higher, or rally the other teachers to try and make the head see it as an issue.

My son's academy doesn't have a contact app, just emails. The head makes it very clear to parents when they can expect a response.

MamskiBell · 21/09/2023 10:58

WHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTT?! YANBU at all.

You need a conversation with your manager to bottom out time you can reply to these messages. The school should communicate that 'messages will not be monitored/answered between X and Y times'. It's completely unacceptable.

Souleater · 21/09/2023 11:43

Ew. I'm a parent and my son's school uses the "Remind" app, but only to send outgoing messages to parents like when tryouts are or when school is cancelled or reminders about the big standardized test.

LolaSmiles · 21/09/2023 11:48

I worked somewhere where emails from parents and students would arrive at all hours.
It would mean we got emails at 8pm asking for help with homework due the next day. If we didn't reply and the homework wasn't done, certain students and parents would try to argue against the detention because "they asked for help and you didn't help them".

What didn't help was that there were pick-me staff who would reply at all hours, which set staff against each other. I developed a strong dislike of some colleagues because of their behaviour on this. eg Mr Smith who is 25 and wants to be head by 30 would reply on demand at all hours and either he was too stupid to realise the knock on effect on colleagues, or he knew and was building his career to SLT by being the cool one at the expense of colleagues.

FrippEnos · 21/09/2023 12:08

LolaSmiles

They also tend to make the worst SLT, as they 'managed it when they were in the classroom'

Princessfluffy · 21/09/2023 12:17

I'm in despair over how ridiculous our expectations of teachers are.
This app is a slight red herring as if the overall workload was reasonable I don't think it would be a huge issue.

It's inefficient though to allocate the work of enquiries and tasks that admin staff are perfectly capable of addressing to the teaching staff.

In my view we really need some big changes in the education system. Personally I don't think that a lot of the curriculum is fit for purpose in the modern world. And we need to make teaching an attractive profession with a decent work environment and a healthy work life balance.

Meanwhile it's a shame for all of us that the only real option for many good teachers is to leave teaching.

PonkyPonky · 21/09/2023 12:31

That’s not fair on teachers at all. My child’s school has this but I haven’t once used it to message a teacher because I know they are busy and I’m not sure I can even think of a reason I would need to message a teacher directly. I certainly haven’t found one yet. Can’t imagine what all these people need to message you about

MoonShinesBright · 21/09/2023 13:43

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

CherryMaDeara · 21/09/2023 13:46

Carlessly · 20/09/2023 07:49

My youngest is still at primary. We are provided with the teachers' mobile numbers (although this year as DC has two class teachers it is a school mobile which gets left in the classroom) so we can contact if we have any issues to to e.g. register absences.

DC1 has just started secondary and after half term they are introducing an app. At the moment we have the class teachers mobile and email and have an office number (primary doesn't have this) to register absences. We have been asked not to send messages over private mobile once the app comes into use.

I would have thought an app was preferable?

Can you not use your screen time settings to silence it between 9pm and 7am or whenever suits you? It's not unreasonable to send a message to a teacher once your child has come home from school and you from work and told you of an issue. If it's urgent then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an answer within one working day. If it's not urgent I'd expect a couple of days before I got an answer.

Why should she be getting messages until 9pm?

Andthereyougo · 21/09/2023 13:52

And they wonder why there’s a teacher shortage.
Are there any stock answers you can just click in?

Mostlyoblivious · 21/09/2023 13:54

That’s obscene.

Talk with ACAS - you’re clearly doing more than your contracts hours. If there is an expectation for these to be answered within this magical 24hr period then you should be paid for the time which they expect you to be reachable.

Might I suggest a change of schools!

Turtletoe · 21/09/2023 13:56

No one in work has my number. When I'm clocked out, that's it, I'm on my time. Someone added me to a fb chat group for work once, i left that straight away.

They tried all kinds to get my number, even to tell me they needed my number incase of an emergency. What emergency? Incase i have an accident in work apparently. I said. What you going to do, ring me and tell me??
I've told them, if i require to be contacted on a phone, they can provide said phone and pay me for the time I'm carrying it around After work hours. Seems they don't need to call me that much as they've not yet provided a phone!

Mrsmouse71 · 21/09/2023 13:58

This is ridiculous, my dd is in yr 8, I think I’ve messaged twice in yr 7! If a parent is emailing multiple times a day this should be escalated to head of year, the apron strings need cutting!

duringthewarrodney · 21/09/2023 14:01

I'm having trouble getting my head around what I'm reading.

I know I'm a fossil, but whatever happened to parents'evenings? When I was at school, the parents got 2 chances per year to bombard their kids' teachers. That was your lot!

I'm surprised we've got any teachers left in schools at all, if this is how they are expected to carry out their role.

tattygrl · 21/09/2023 14:08

MsJuniper · 19/09/2023 19:14

We use Dojo for messaging but it's a primary school so I only have 32 sets of parents. In general it works well but I can set "quiet hours" where I parents do not expect a response (6pm-8am). What you are describing sounds horrendous though!

So do you get paid from 8am to 6pm? Since they're happy to expect you to reply to parents any time between those hours?

Hotsaucegal · 21/09/2023 14:12

Really rubbish