Fussing parents deluge teachers via school apps

CLASSROOM messaging apps have ‘opened the door for an avalanche of fussing and fretting’ from over-protective parents, teachers claim.

Families are deluging teachers with mollycoddling demands on mobile phone applications designed to keep them up to date with their child’s progress at school.

The apps allow teachers to upload reports and photos of pupils’ work, and parents can use them to ask questions.

Writing in the Times Education Supplement, Beth Budden, of John Ball Primary School in Blackheath, south-east London, said: ‘Many teachers I know receive between eight to 20 messages a day, ranging from the update that granny is picking up a child (fair enough), to requests for a child to stay in since it’s cold (honestly), or even, as one colleague recounted, to see if “Bobby” could sip water from a bottle rather than use the tap because he doesn’t like the taste.’

She said that, despite the drawbacks, the apps could be ‘positive’ in communicating information to parents.