How to tame the chat at the new online school gate

Ask any parent with a child at school their experience with WhatsApp and you will never feel the end.

The Meta-Di Properties instant messaging service has become the reference point for communications between parents and it is not unusual for a child to bring several WhatsApp groups to their parents’ lives.

Usually, there is a sort of official channel, with one -way communication from the parent of the class crowned to their subjects. Over time, others are displayed: a less regulated thread in which anyone can publish reasons for missing hats and requests for information on excursions, a specific group for the child’s class, another only for the girls or boys of the class and separated threads for any post-school activity to which the child feels the hand.

WhatsApp serves a purpose as a school newsletter for the modern era. Unfortunately, it has also become the gate of the digital school for gossipy. And, as Christopher Harris writes today Sun-HeraldThese parents of parents are an emerging problem for schools.

The Private School of the Eastern suburbs Cranbrook had to write to parents last week to close the voices on exactly what happened in a school field after the parents’ discussions poured into national titles.

Michele Marquet, head of the acting of Cranbrook, told parents on Monday that the voices “had a significant impact both on the well -being of the students involved and the wider school community”.

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Educators who speak The sun-herald In the register and anonymously, he raised concerns about how the use by WhatsApp’s parents has developed over time. While appreciating a committed parent base, there are problems in which what is said in the WhatsApp thread is taken as a gospel and more serious concerns about the branches of the opinions shared on the groups of WhatsApp on teachers and other students.

The President of the Council of Parents of the New Wales of South Rose Cantali, says that part of the behavior can be explained by the parents who want to protect their children and defend them.

The WhatsApp groups also provide a window on what is happening at school for a generation of parents who have less hours not filled with paid work than their predecessors. It is not only the Digital School gate; For the many families who cannot be around at 9:00 or 15:00 – let alone spend time in the school voluntarily for reading groups or going on excursions – these threads are a connection with the school community.