Victorian private school teachers getting legal protection from ‘scary’ parents

Teachers at some of Victoria’s top private schools are getting legal protection from “scary” parents who email and text them outside of school hours.

Victoria’s private school teachers can now take action in the Fair Work Commission to stop them being harassed out of hours.

Victorian teachers are getting legal protection from “scary” parents and “stupid” principals who bombard them with emails, texts and messages after hours.

A number of private schools are now reminding parents who pay more than $30,000 a year for their child’s education, that they have no right to expect an after-hours reply from a teacher unless it’s an emergency.

The independent school sector objected to the federal laws giving workers a right to disconnect, wanting to retain flexibility over staff working hours.

But they have no option but to follow the laws, which come into effect on August 26, restricting the right of staff to work outside of business hours.

Workers can now take action in the Fair Work Commission to stop them being harassed out of hours, with fines or even criminal sanctions incurred for repeated unreasonable contact.

It comes as teachers for years have been comparing stories online about “scary parents” who complain when they don’t reply immediately to emails after hours.

They also say principals are part of the problem for “sending stupid weekly newsletters at 8pm every Sunday night”.

Mentone Grammar principal Andy Muller told parents earlier this month that staff “cannot be asked and are not expected to answer emails outside of work hours”.

For years, teachers have been comparing stories about “scary parents” who complain when they don’t reply immediately to emails.

Staff are also now only able to send emails between 6am and 6pm and have 36 hours to respond to an email.

Mr Muller told the Herald Sun the school was “falling in line with the legislation to take the pressure of staff feeling they had to be perpetually in contact”.

The school, which charges $33,384 for year 12 tuition fees, is even moving towards old-style communication methods, suggesting that parents phone teachers or meet in person to get a “better outcome” than email conversations.

“You can achieve more with ten minutes on the phone or face-to-face than 20 emails,” Mr Muller said.

From 2025, Mentone Grammar, is even bringing back a physical communication book to facilitate written messages between parents and teachers

“We’ve come full circle — it’s much easier if there’s an open dialogue between school and home, with parents popping in a note rather than going through an online portal,” Mr Muller said.

Similarly, Loyola College in Watsonia has reminded parents that the “primary responsibility of our teachers is to prepare and teach our students” and that employees are “not obligated to monitor, read or respond to emails outside of work hours”.

Other schools sending out similar reminders include Avila College in Mount Waverley, Notre Dame College in Shepparton and St Joseph’s College in Geelong.

Dr Mary Oski, director of education excellence at Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, said principals “ have been encouraged to engage with parents, staff and students to set expectations around responding to messages outside of working hours”.

David Brear, Independent Education Union general secretary, welcomed the legislation.

“Over the last couple of decades we’ve seen a growing expectation from some quarters that teachers are ‘always on’, which is simply not reasonable or sustainable,” he said.