Bradford educationalists voice note of caution (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford educationalists voice note of caution

3:08pm Thursday 4th March 2010 in

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Parents and teachers would like to be able to contact each other via text message, e-mail and social networking websites, according to a new survey.

But schools should be cautious about exploiting technology to open up less formal means of communication between parents and teachers, say educationalists in Bradford.

A YouGov survey of 1,989 parents and 672 teachers, commissioned by Tesco, reveals 46 per cent of teachers and 66 per cent of parents would welcome additional contact by e-mail.

More than a quarter of parents would like to be able to text or correspond with their child’s teacher over websites such as Facebook and Twitter. More than one in ten teachers and parents said they would also like social evenings without children.

Sue Palmer, a former head teacher, said: “Parents and teachers may find it difficult to communicate in formal situations We need more opportunities to develop informal contacts.”

But Pam Milner, deputy secretary of the Bradford branch of the NASUWT, said embracing technology was risky.

She said: “It’s the road to hell. Parents have a face-to-face consultation once a year and if teachers are concerned about a child they can phone parents at any time to come in and talk about it.”

Ian Murch, Bradford branch secretary of the NUT, said: “Some of these things have problems that people don’t realise until they are implemented. It’s quite common for parents and schools to share e-mails but that has to be done through a school-based address.

“Similarly, teachers with their own phone line in school may find it opportune for parents to send a text to say their child is ill but certainly not using personal numbers.”

Jo Thomson, parental involvement worker at Frizinghall Primary School, said: “The use of parental involvement workers to bridge the gap between parents and teachers is growing and already we are seeing better communication.”