A debate seems to be raging in the Motherland over whether parents should have email and text messaging contact with their children’s teachers. According to the London Times, the government wants to encourage such communication in hopes that it would result in greater parent involvement in educational matters and allow parents to more closely monitor their children’s progress. It would facilitate more timely responses to parents’ concerns rather than having to wait for infrequently scheduled teacher-parent conferences. The government cites studies that show that the single most important factor in a student’s educational success is parent involvement. On the flip side, schools could text message parents when their children are truant.
Opposition could come from teacher union leaders, who are concerned about teacher privacy and additional strain on teacher workloads. There is also the possibility of abusive messaging. Government spokespersons say these issues have been considered and can be addressed without adding hardship to teachers.
Keep your eye on this issue as it will most certainly work itself across the pond and into school districts throughout America.
Parents and teachers should be emailing each other. This is a natural avenue that will not interrupt a class or anything else that either the teacher or parent might be doing. Of course, as with a phone or the postal system, some will attempt to use this for abusive means, but that should not stop this valuable tool from being used. There will not be any additional workload for teachers, they already have email addresses with the school and if they don't want their private email to be used by parents, then the teachers should set up a private account with another provider. More importantly, parents should be required to provide an email address to schools along with their phone number. This would allow teachers and schools to contact the parents, even if the parents choose not to contact the teacher. -AB