Qld teachers will be off limits to parents at certain times

Queensland parents will be slapped with strict guidelines outlining how they can deal with their children’s teachers. HAVE YOUR SAY

Teachers will be off limits at certain times to parents.

Queensland parents will be slapped with strict guidelines outlining when and where they can contact teachers.

The bold move by the state government to protect teachers’ right to disconnect comes as school associations, staff and unions have raised alarms over parents’ expectations of responses from teachers.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek announced statewide guidelines would be set through a one-page document expected to be released next week.

The decision was made following concerns raised by an advisory panel, which includes Surfers Paradise principal Taylor Haley, that there were no clear expectations, causing lines to be blurred between teacher and parent consultation.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the one page document would outline “a clear set of communications guidelines”, detailing email and response times.

Minister for Education John-Paul Langbroek announced the plans. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“It isn’t appropriate for teachers to be expected to be replying to people at two and three o’clock in the morning, or then sometimes being criticised because they haven’t responded on an app,” Mr Langbroek said.

He said the recommendations were intended to reduce red-tape after receiving 15,000 responses during the state government’s consultation process.

“So the real focus then ... is making sure teachers can focus on literacy and numeracy, improving our NAPLAN results, getting our standards much higher, supporting our teachers but also having clear guidelines for parents and students about what communication expectations are,” Mr Langbroek said.

Queensland Association of State School Principals President Pat Murphy said, while they always welcomed parent involvement at school, parents shouldn’t expect a teacher to know what was going on with their child when they see them in the community.

“While we’re always happy to engage whether that’s in the supermarket or elsewhere and say hi, a public place is not an appropriate place for us to conduct a parent teacher interview,” he said.

Mr Murphy said setting realistic expectations around when teachers could get back to parents was critical.

Should teachers have more time free from work commitments?

“A teacher’s prime responsibility is to the class in front of them, so that means that the emails can’t be answered straight away and sometimes it means that when you’ve got a class of 28 teachers or leaders could be dealing with at least 28 emails at once, so we need time to answer these in a professional manner,” he said.

Mr Murphy said parent teacher communication has been a growing problem across Australia, as the modes of communication used have grown exponentially over the last 15 years.

“That’s because new communication channels are constantly emerging. Sometimes unfortunately a small minority of parent use them inappropriately,” he said.

“When you’re dealing with an issue with a child, teachers and principals understand it can be highly emotional for the parent, we recognise parents want things resolved as quickly as possible, however sometimes it’s not always as simple as that,” he said.

QTU President Cresta Richardson teaching was a “high stress job” and it was essential that parents and caregivers respect boundaries and treat them with the same expectations and respect other industries and professions enjoy.

“The right to disconnect from work and enjoy a private life away from work is something every worker is entitled to; our teachers are no different.”

The Minister said bureaucrats would frequently visit schools and be looking for any unintended consequences of the changes.

Surfers Paradise State School principal Taylor Haley, who was on the advisory panel, said the speed of modern day communication increasingly pressured educators, but it remained important for parents to advocate for their children’s education.

Mr Haley said expectations were not restrictive and would not hinder community expectations regardless of whether school were metropolitan or regional.

Originally published as Qld teachers will be off limits to parents at certain times