As the school management authority, can incidents of bullying inside your school be reported to you occasionally? Such cases should be attended to responsively because one bullying incident can pose a threat to a student’s emotional and physical well-being.
There are main stakeholders that you have to interact with to ensure that bullying is not practised in the school: students, teachers and parents. Parent-teacher communication applications are gaining much popularity due to their capacity to keep the school authorities and the parents on the same page regarding student-related issues.
In this article, we will look into the employment of Parent-Teacher Communication Apps and their benefits when it comes to bullying prevention at schools in Singapore.
What is a Parent-Teacher Communication Application?
- First, let us start this article by introducing the true essence of Parent-Teacher Communication tools. Gone are the days when schools relied on traditional parent notes, telephone calls, and physical meetings to discuss issues related to students and their progress. Times have changed, and the whole education system in Singapore has evolved. Then why should the communication between the teachers and parents not change?
- A Parent-Teacher Communication Application is a digital platform specially designed to encourage flawless and efficient communication between parents and teachers.
- These apps offer a single platform for exchanging details about a child’s behaviour, academic performance, school functions, and significant announcements. In order to create a clear communication channel and a cooperative learning environment between parents and teachers, schools need to use these new-age collaboration platforms. In that sense, you can actually feel it like a bridge! Yes, it is a communication bridge that links two dead ends.
- Now, let us explain what these platforms usually do for school management. The services are unlimited, as you can see. These tools give parents the ability to stay active in their child’s education, monitor their academic achievement, and quickly handle any concerns or difficulties that can arise by providing real-time updates, progress tracking, incident reporting, and resource sharing.
- On the other hand, they simplify communication and enhance parental engagement while significantly contributing to creating a supportive and informed school community in Singapore.
How Do Parent-Teacher Communication Tools Help Prevent Bullying in Schools?
Behavioural Monitoring
As a school management authority, you know that the behaviour of a bullying victim changes drastically after such incidents. The time students are under your wing is limited to a few hours, yet the time they spend at home is unlimited. Obviously, if there is any behavioural change, somebody in the family will notice for sure.
On the other hand, if a student gets bullied at school, he or she may express an unwillingness to attend school. These tools contribute significantly to bullying prevention by utilising their behavioural monitoring capabilities. With the use of these technologies, schools and guardians can monitor and evaluate the behavioural patterns displayed by their students, providing them with a complete picture of their interactions, attitudes, and any possible red flags.
These platforms allow early identification of changes or warning signs that could mean that a child is being bullied or participating in bullying actions by constantly tracking behaviour. As a result of this preventative approach, actions can be implemented quickly. Teachers and parents can work together to develop support measures, start conversations, and give the victim and the offender the required direction or counselling.
As you can see, this behavioural monitoring capacity lies inside this tool, which helps you as a crucial early-warning system for sure. It not only encourages a vigilant environment that prioritises student well-being but also helps to create a world that is free of bullying.
Identification of Victims
This plays an important role in preventing bullying by aiding in the identification of potential victims. There is a high chance that the student will not come to you with a bullying complaint for various reasons, such as shame, fear, etc. Also, he or she will not share this with the parents. However, the Parent-Teacher communication tools can play a significant role in identifying the victims of bullying with the help of other parents.
How is this possible? These tools create an open channel for parents and teachers to share concerns and observations regarding a student’s behaviour, mood changes, or social interactions. For example, if one student is bullied yet does not want to come forward, there is a chance that another student will report this to his or her parents at the dinner table. If everyone is encouraged to talk about such issues in the open channel of the app, it would be convenient for you to take the necessary actions.
Together, parents and teachers can identify small clues or changes in behaviour, like abandonment, anxiety, or poor academic performance, that could be related to a child being bullied.
This provides open channels for communication, yet if a parent wishes to be secretive when it comes to reporting, these platforms allow for anonymous reporting as well. This encourages students and parents to express concerns without fear of being exposed, increasing the likelihood of identifying victims who might otherwise remain silent.
Therefore, with their capacity to identify potential victims, Parent-Teacher Communication tools empower schools and parents to intervene, offer support, and implement preventive strategies while building a safe grid to protect themselves.
Reporting is Made Easier
Such collaboration tools significantly aid in preventing school bullying by encouraging real-time reporting of incidents within the school community. As we mentioned before, these platforms offer a direct and efficient channel for students, parents, and teachers to report bullying instances as they occur, ensuring swift intervention and resolution.
These tools encourage students to speak out about bullying experiences by giving them easy ways to report incidents, which creates an environment of accountability and support.
With the use of real-time reporting, teachers and parents can take appropriate disciplinary action or assist as needed to resolve bullying incidents and start investigations.
This immediate response not only mitigates the impact on victims but also sends a strong message that bullying behaviour will not be tolerated at any cost. These communication tools help create a safer and more responsive school environment that prioritises the protection of its students.
Collaborative Strategies
It is true that you are responsible for what happens at the school. However, you know that you cannot clap with one hand. You need to have the assistance and encouragement of the parents as well.
This is absolutely the kind of forum! It helps parents and teachers work together to address bullying behaviour through collaborative conversations and action plans. These technologies promote the sharing of ideas, concerns, and points of view by offering a common arena. This allows the participants to combine their expertise and experiences to develop customised interventions and support networks.
These environments support the formation of collaborative initiatives that provide an organised strategy in both home and school settings for responding to bullying situations.
Through the latter, it will always be a joint effort. With the right strategies in hand, teachers and parents can reinforce anti-bullying initiatives, implement preventive measures, and offer continuous support to both victims and bullies.
Boosting Awareness
Taking action after something occurs is valuable. But prevention is the most important thing in this case. This is why you need to focus on bullying prevention awareness in the first place. Both the students and their parents should be mindful of this issue in the educational environment.
These platforms function as informative centres that come under one singular roof. This helps in sharing tools, manuals, and training sessions about identifying, stopping, and dealing with bullying behaviour. These tools teach parents and teachers about the warning signs, effects, and tactics to stop bullying by often distributing relevant information and updates on anti-bullying laws and activities.
Also, they act as consolidated systems and promote conversations that encourage open communication, pushing all parties involved to be honest about bullying. Plus, it helps develop understanding and stresses the value of establishing a polite and friendly atmosphere for those who need help.
On the other hand, you are empowered to share knowledge about the school’s stance on bullying, protocols, and procedures for the penalty process, all through these open collaboration channels. Imagine that a parent of a bullying victim receives this information at the right moment and brings the issue to school management in real-time. This is all because of the power of the Parent-Teacher Communication App.
With this application in hand, your students are protected under the pillars of collaborative communication between teachers and parents.
Making a Bully-Free Educational Environment with New Tools
There is no space for violence to reign when there are people with the right wisdom. This is exactly what the Parent-Teacher Communication App does for you. However, you need to align with the requirements of your school when purchasing an app. Collaborating with an industry expert will take your worries away, for sure.
