Guidelines drafted for parents contacting teachers outside of school hours

Teachers are set to get their weeknights back with the Minns government planning to introduce guidelines outlining when parents can expect a response from educators after hours.

Stressed teachers are set to get their weeknights back, with the Minns government looking at introducing new guidelines to stop pushy parents making contact after school hours.

Discussions are under way on the establishment of a set of protocols which will set expectations for teachers and principals about when they might respond to messages when they are not at work.

The move follows a cry for help from teachers, who say they are being stopped in shopping aisles, and messaged through social media, emails and apps by parents after hours and on weekends.

In some schools, parents have access to up to five separate messaging apps through which to contact teachers.

One exhausted Western Sydney primary school teacher told The Saturday Telegraph that she was being messaged on apps such as Seesaw, Classdojo and Skoolbag as well as social media.

Teachers are getting no down time because of a deluge of communications from parents out of hours. File picture: iStock

Despite having taught for just four years, she was already thinking about quitting.

“I spend at least 10 hours at school each day she said.

“After school, I naturally still need to spend a lot of hours preparing my lessons as I’m new, but I feel like teaching has taken over 24/7 with no downtime and I feel like I’m burning out.

“There just seems to be no boundaries between work and home, it seeps into every aspect of your life.

“I feel like I’m not going to last.”

Another teacher from a primary school in southwestern Sydney spoke of being contacted at 3am by a parent.

The assistant principal said the emails began at 6am, with the messages starting up again after 5.30pm “across all different platforms like email, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, text messages and Messenger”.

NSW Teachers Federation deputy president Amber Flohm blamed the pandemic for creating a new and “unrealistic” expectation about the accessibility of teachers.

“Covid created a new and unrealistic expectation about accessibility to teachers,” she said.

“It is unrelenting and exhausting — and ultimately leads to burnout.

“Teachers have strong empathy with parents and want to communicate with them.

“We need a culture change and a reset of expectation that addresses the unrelenting volume of digital contact teachers are receiving both from within and outside the school community.”

Concord High School teacher Alice Leung, 40, said technology had made it easier for parents and students to contact teachers after-hours.

“All the apps are synchronised and so you can hear the ding, ding, ding when cooking dinner,” she said.

“It is well-meaning — a teenager up late may want me to read a draft, but it is important for everyone to get down time.”

Maroubra dad Nick, 42, said parents had “multiple points of contact” for contacting teachers.

“We have Flexischools, ClassDojo, Audiri and Sentral for different functions such as announcements, assemblies, newsletters, lunch orders and class updates,” he said.

“That’s before you get to email and messaging.

“When you’re tired or stressed yourself, you just don’t necessarily know what the right protocol is for when to contact a teacher.”

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