Do your kids' teachers have individual email addresses?

[zajzaj]

Are you able to contact your kids' teachers by email?

Only have experience of primary but no, and I don't expect staff to give out personal emails. They are already in school 10-12 hours per day either teaching, marking or planning work and I don't want them to be distracted by communication that should go through the office. I have occasionally had a two-minute chat at the end of school to clarify homework but otherwise just use up the allotted 30 minutes per year at parents' evenings to discuss progress. I know if something serious came up I could make an appointment to discuss it - in email communication misunderstandings can arise that require several more responses and can actually take longer to write than talk through. Otherwise, there are good systems for the office to send out bulk emails and for payment online.

I did find the reading diaries useful for two-way comments or queries in reception, however, and I think schools coud make more of that higher up the school too.

Ah, now muminlondon we are not allowed to give out personal email addresses but they are different to our work email address (controlled by the work server but accessible from home via the learning platform).

Its actually in our code of conduct that parents and pupils are not to be given personal email or mobile numbers, clearly this is for very important child protection reasons.

Too right, and I meant 'individual' not personal. Just remembering that I once phoned a teacher who had left a message to call back (probably urgently needed a permission slip for a competition). I think it was an office number ...

Not at primary.

At secondary we are given every teachers email, and whenever I've emailed a teacher they have been incredibly good at emailing back. One teacher sent me several emails on a Friday evening.

At our school (primary and secondary) teachers' work email addresses are available to all parents and used as necessary. For general info about absences etc... The office is the main point of contact, usually via 'phone.
School has a policy that emails will be responded to within 24-48 hours so it is not used for urgent notification.
Like mrz and no doubt countless other teachers, snatching a break of any kind is usually used for going to the loo or actually eating something! I respond to most of my emails after the school day has finished...thankfully no parent so far has expected I respond during the day when I am actually teaching their children!

We don't have e mail addresses for individual teachers and I wish we did. I do not do most of the drop offs and pick ups due to work and find it can be difficult to contact the DC's teachers. Notes in their bags wouldn't work as the DCs are too young for me to rely on them handing them over (DS still hasn't handed in his dinner money for last week). I wouldn't want to bombard teachers with e mails but it could be useful to ensure they were aware of medical appointments etc. I could phone the school office but find it can be a bit hit or miss as to whether they pass information on to the teachers.

Maybe it would be good if we could send texts rather than e mails to teachers. That would mean we could pass short notes about medical appointments etc but that teachers would not be bombarded by lengthy and unnecessary correspondence.

Before I reply ... I am not saying teachers work harder, longer or are anti-technology. But I am saying school is different, so the only time I get to actually look at my emails, sift through the adverts, course notices, info from LA from advisory teams about my subjects / year group, internal emails with messages from headteacher, other teachers and office admin and get to ones from parents is about 8pm. Other important aspects of my job take my time until 6pm-ish. Then I have my own children to collect, feed and start homework, just like other working parents. Once that is all settled I can deal with emails and school prep.
The upshot of this is an email sent at 2.30pm asking me to check a child's reading set is the correct level, that someone else is collecting the child or that the child felt sick this morning is far too late.

I'm not sure who mentioned we could check them during breaks or free periods is not aware of the realities of primary school life. It is not a two minute job and there are other commitments during the day like sorting out playtime squabbles, lost lunchboxes, grazed knees, getting the classroom ready for the next lesson, changing reading books, running lunchtime clubs, running booster sessions, fitting in interventions, etc. (Not complaining here, claiming to work harder, etc. Just stating reality to explain my case)

I am very happy to respond to emails, but we have them forwarded to our personal email via the school office address so they screen them for urgent messages and make sure we actually get those at an appropriate time to be able to act on them.

Please don't feel embarrassed that the teacher was emailing on a Friday evening, Lynette. The advantage of teaching is we can actually do that and catch up with those sorts of things after we have sorted out our own families and at home on the sofa in front of the TV with a glass of wine. (As I should be doing now ... MN is too addictive)

Sorry - I take the point that teachers can't always check messages during the teaching day. I think texts / emails should only be used for non urgent things.

Quite right Newname, a large glass of wine usually accompanies me when I read my email on a Friday and Saturday evening.

Not during a PPA.......then its a rather cold coffee if anything at all. And that's if I manage to sit down at my computer at all.

Or find a computer that works, is charged, will link to the network and a printer, Pat, .
Share a glass, everyone.

cheers!

Well, we have wireless but obviously that doesn't mean that the network is necessarily working. It likes to not work at the most inappropriate moments, usually when a lesson obs is in full swing

Texts to teachers?!

Some schools specifically prohibit teaching staff from having their phones on in school hours. Plus it's presuming that we'd give out our personal numbers ... or expecting that the school will give us phones?

If it was to work the school would have to provide the phones for that purpose only. I just thought it might get round the problem of lengthy e mails. Communication with teachers is a problem for many working parents.

I suppose another alternative would be if each teacher had voicemail for parents to leave non urgent messages only.

PissesGlitter actually email works better. A phone call goes to the office, and then has to be passed onto the teacher, who then has to find time to phone back. With an email, it goes to the teachers inbox - as fast as a note that Mrs X phoned, but the teacher gets to the gist of the issue immediately, and often it can be dealt with by a quick "OK" or "I'll look into this".

For absense notes, these come up at the same time as the register, so the teacher can quickly mark those absences across. Of course this only works when all registers are electronic.

I think the aspect of email that teachers I know appreciate, are that they can choose to deal with them in their own time. A phone call has to be dealt with during "free periods" of the day, and can often result in a telephone chase, as when the teacher can phone - the parent is then busy (out, in a meeting etc.), and vice versa. With emails both parties can deal with them when convenient.

In most schools I know checking email is an important part of the school life. And if you can't do something on your computer without showing it to the whole class via the whiteboard, then you really aren't using the technology very well.

For real emergencies the a quick phone call is often best though.

Many very busy people now receive professional emails or texts, which require a response for the next working day or sooner, at all times of the day.

Why should teachers be any different? Yes, if the office is good they can field some of this. But checking emails once or twice a day should not be too much to ask. It's been weeks before in our school...

Yes we are given a booklet at the start of the year with this sort of thing including teacher email and best time to contact them. Year R teacher said she checked her emails after school and (bless her) on Sunday evenings. I contacted her once about a problem with dd1 and lunchtimes early on in the term and once she emailed me about an issue with dd1 being upset.

I haven't had cause to use the year 1 teacher's email yet. All absence stuff etc goes through the office.

Why should it be different? Because it's not an office job and primary teaching in particular is an intense 6 hours of contact time.

You've a right to expect bulk communication coming from the school to be delivered in a timely manner so you have enough time to plan key dates, give in permission slips, pay for trips, etc. And to expect the office to reply to any admin queries that go to a general address. There should also be an opportunity for a progress meeting and/or report every term, too.

There are different practices in private schools though. A friend working as a reception teacher at prep school did answer emails, after a 12-hour day. The school had a really inefficient way of collecting and storing data though - they didn't have a database system where parents could verify and update info and sometimes sent out mass emails with all addresses showing (forgetting to blind copy).

Hi all:

First off e-mails aren't exactly personal - they are through school VLE (Moodle) - and all content is recorded (in case of abuse).

Second - e-mails can be read on (and indeed pings) teachers phones - so in fact it is = to a tweet.

Third: Most parents aware of this system appreciate it and we use it for emergencies (immediate attention)/ query (as and when you can deal with it but I raise this whilst thinking about it).

A recent example is a surgical nurse dealing with medical emergency e-mailed quickly via her phone to the teacher & office to say that she would be running late due to medical emergency (school very aware of nature of this job - military emergency surgery for Afghan soldiers) and that her husband would collect DCs - but probably nearer 4 p.m. given traffic issues.

Fourth: NASUWT guidance on prep time here (scroll down a bit): www.nasuwt.org.uk/PayPensionsandConditions/England/Conditions/DirectedTime/index.htm. At minimum 10% of your time during the day should be for planning & prep.

Our school uses 'Forest School' & PE times (taught by other members of staff) to free up class teachers for planning/ prep time. Now sometimes during these events teachers will teach another class (especially if they have a particular specialty) but as far as I understand that 'teaching time elsewhere' is clocked & replacement 'planning' time is arranged (e.g. TAs help cover class during assembly/ church service to free up planning time for teacher).

I don't completely undrestand why you don't have some prep time during your day (not just before school starts) but that is down to you & your SMT I suppose.

I agree every school is different and I do accept that teachers may feel e-mail access will prove a difficulty - but a quick e-mail saying Sorry Miss X but the homework on My Maths didn't upload (which my DD1 sent) has meant that the teacher could put it on over the weekend, she e-mailed all pupils through moodle to say My Maths now up and had a message on the top of their class page announcing this as well and many of us lowly parents/ pupils were glad we could get on with it over the weekend (at our convenience), rather than during our busy weeks.

HTH

mummytime "And if you can't do something on your computer without showing it to the whole class via the whiteboard, then you really aren't using the technology very well" are you implying I should be checking my emails during classtime?

Your school is very lucky, PSBD, it has the finances to have "other members of staff" to teach to give class teachers time. Most don't we have our PPA once a week (assuming all goes to plan) and that is it.

No teacher I know has 10% prep time a day! We have 10% of the timetabled time available but, certainly in primary this tends to be a couple of hours one afternoon. During assembly time ( if I'm not taking the assembly, which we all do at least once a week, I do 2) I have individual or small group work, I have a child with a medical condition which has to be checked at lunchtime so I generally have around 15 mins to eat and visit the toilet! All phones are switched off during lesson time, I certainly wouldn't be answering my phone whilst teaching! All staff are on duty on the playground for 20 mins before school and after school too, messages can be passed in then or left with the office who ensure they are passed on.

sturdyoak would you rather I read and replied to emails or taught the 30 children in my class?

My phone is switched off and locked away during school hours ... so pinging an email to it would be a pretty pointless effort ... and confess some days I forget to switch it back on much to the annoyance of my own children.

My weekly 10% (actually get 2hours timetabled on a Friday afternoon not daily) planning & prep time usually involves me attending meetings with other professionals - last week it was the Ed Psych week before it was SaLPS week before it was TAC next 2 weeks I won't get any as I'm delivering training to other schools ...

oh and when I'm in meetings or delivering training my phone is switched off