School shouldn't use platforms that cost parents money

[deflatedbirthday]

DSS (8) school have just moved to Classdojo. They use it to provide announcements for the school which is fine. They also use the points system to reward kids at school so the parents can see what they have been rewarded for.

Here is my gripe:
They encourage parents to also give dojo points for good behaviour at home.

This is part of the premium aspect of the app. It costs £45 for the year or £6.99 if paid monthly.

They use dojo points to announce star of the week each week.

AIBU to think this is pretty tone deaf in the current financial cost of living crisis? £7 a month is a lot of money to some and those kids will miss out on home points simply because their family needs to spend that money on essentials.

The kids are always coming home and reminding parents to give them dojos so it's obviously discussed and encouraged in school.

Is this something I should bring to the attention of the school?

Do teachers realise that it’s extra ridiculous because all the psychological research evidence suggests that providing extrinsic motivators such as points and rewards systems undermines intrinsic motivation and thus makes children (and adults) LESS likely to repeat the rewarded behaviour in future once the reward has been removed? Therefore it’s not a good way of teaching good behaviour because as soon as you stop rewarding the behaviour, it stops (or as soon as they get reward fatigue and don’t give a shit about the points/stickers/whatever anymore).

Have been using class dojo for years, at least 7 years. I just ignore all the bits you have to pay for and the school definitely don't expect you to use the paid aspects. It works pretty well and if you don't want to pay you don't have to.

I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick here op. We use Dojo but just the free bit for messaging. Parent Dojo points (for anyone who pays) aren’t counted in school

We use dojo but never the paid-for version. In fact the school specifically told us not to bother with the paid-for version

although our teachers are also notorious for never actually answering a single message on dojo….

We have Dojo. My 4yo loves it when I give her the free points, which is a couple of times a month when I need to kill some time. I have no interest in seeing if a teacher has read my message, all I care about is that it’s responded to in a reasonable time frame.

It doesn’t sound like there’s any expectation for you to subscribe to the app but if this is worrying you speak to someone at the school about your concerns

Do teachers realise that it’s extra ridiculous because all the psychological research evidence suggests that providing extrinsic motivators such as points and rewards systems undermines intrinsic motivation and thus makes children (and adults) LESS likely to repeat the rewarded behaviour in future once the reward has been removed?

Even if many teachers realise this, they have to follow school policy. Also, what are you supposed to do when you are teaching many kids who don't have intrinsic motivation, in spite if all your efforts to create and teach intetesting lessons? When, as a teacher, you are judged on the engagement and progress of your class, obviously you're not going to eschew extrinsic motivational techniques if they work in the short term.

just give them sticker stars instead and then tell the teacher how many they have

We have classdojo but there is no pressure for us parents to use the paid version.
The teacher can message and post on there and give points to kids. We were told we can give points at home if we want but they don't count for anything as far as school is concerned.
Star of the week is announced by email.
So yes I think your school is out of order really.

We use Dojos in school, but the thought of giving your own child Dojos from home is a little...I dunno, Big Brother? Who wants that sort of formal system in their own home? Very weird.
And of course it's appalling to ask parents to pay for it. I agree with Newtonianmechanics, it's not in line with poverty proofing.

In our LEA, we use seesaw. No points system. Just a way of sharing learning.

Our school uses this and most parents use the free version? One parent paid £45 for full access (we didn't ask them to!) but didn't gain much by it

Not read the full thread but DDs school doesnt include home points in with school points

Yes we do. It's school policies that don't seem to get it. I was once criticised for not using dojo points despite the fact that every one of my class was engaged in my lesson.

100% this. A lot of children have not developed intrinsic motivation!