Parents overburden teachers with untimely questions

There is a growing trend of teachers receiving queries from parents by phone or social media beyond regular work hours.

This has now become so prevalent that the Teacher’s Association is asking parents to respect teachers’ personal space and limit such enquiries to school hours.

Eyðbjartur S. Skaalum is a committee member of the Teachers’ Association and works as a teacher in Argir, Streymoy.

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“Parents often contact their children’s teachers with queries late in the afternoons, in the evenings or on weekends,” he says.

“Many teachers say that this amounts to an invasion of their personal space.”

Teachers can obviously choose to ignore these messages, but it’s not always as simple as that.

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"You can choose not to respond immediately, but these messages linger in your mind, raising a host of questions about the urgency of the communication and possible solutions,” he explains.

“These persistent thoughts can easily escalate into stress – and that comes on top of the stress that teachers face during regular school hours."

Skaalum delves into the topic in more detail in this radio interview (in Faroese).

English version by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.