MOSTLY UNDERSTANDING, A FEW CHALLENGING PARENTS
All the teachers CNA spoke to stressed that most parents are understanding and some even apologise for contacting them after school hours, although a small number who are unreasonable can be “very challenging” to deal with.
After school hours, some parents cannot contact their children and contact Penelope to ask if she knows where they might be.
“It’s a bit overboard because we wouldn’t know … (They expect teachers) to provide solutions immediately or address issues immediately,” she said, adding that this happens even late at night.
Older students also form a big part of those contacting teachers after school hours. Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, class WhatsApp group chats created by teachers are common, Penelope said.
Students also have her personal phone number for emergencies, she added.
“If they don’t get an immediate response, they can get very upset and it can be blown up. But often we are not able to provide that immediate response to so many students at one go.”
Another teacher, Timothy, said he does not reply to every message sent outside school hours.
For example, if the parent is anxious about possible bullying or has health and safety concerns, the primary school teacher will respond quickly to let them know that he will follow up on the incident the next day.
“But if it’s a message asking me what to wear tomorrow … I’m just going to completely ignore the message,” Timothy said.
“The next day, I’ll speak to the kid about it, and tell the kid it’s not mummy’s and daddy’s job to do such a thing. It’s your job to find out what you need to bring or take note of it in your student handbook.”
While he has not encountered “nasty” parents, some have requested to call him on a weekend or at night on weekdays because they are only available then.
Over the years, he has observed that more parents now work full-time with “inflexible” hours.
“I feel that the policy might only work on paper, but on the ground, it may not be as effective because of all these other reasons that teachers and even the parents themselves cannot control.”
Wendy, who also teaches in a primary school, often gets messages from parents late at night about their child being sick and not being able to go to school the next day, or other “simple queries” about homework or scheduling.
“Personally, I’m okay if it’s just a message to inform. But of course, it’s not nice to see such a message at 11pm. I wish parents would wait until work hours to inform me.”
Instead of approaching the teacher with their queries, parents can check their children’s student handbook, the Parents Gateway platform, or even the school website first, she said.
“Parents can always refer to these sources before they contact the teacher instead of just making it convenient for themselves by contacting the teacher for everything.”
Education minister Mr Chan also said on Wednesday that by the end of next year, parents can submit their children’s medical certificates on the Parents Gateway app instead of sending them to teachers.
This will reduce the amount of administrative work needed to manually log a student’s medical certificate or parents’ letter when they are absent, said Matilda, a secondary school teacher.
“The draining part of the process is the students who don’t pass the MCs to us or require a lot of reminders … and this could be because of forgetfulness on the students’ part, or understandably, some parents are very swamped,” she said.
