PREMIUM: “I know you’re busy, but I just need to complain about you doing your job.”

For a very long time, teachers had to deal with unreasonable parents, unwanted communications, and silly complaints. However, technology has transformed the manner and frequency of communication between parents and teachers.¹ Email had an impact on this, but it is common now for schools to make direct messaging available via the school’s own online portals. Almost every decision a teacher makes regarding a pupil, from behaviour points to merits, can now be transmitted straight to parents via the internet the moment it’s logged, inviting a response. Some schools even let parents know every time their child leaves a lesson to go to the toilet.2

In my experience, this is affecting schools’ discipline systems.

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