How to make good use of school WhatsApp groups

Oct. 22 (Portaltic/EP) –

In recent years, the so-called ‘back to school’ has become an event that goes beyond schools and institutes and is installed on messaging platforms such as WhatsAppwhere groups of parents and guardians who do not always follow good practices in chats multiply.

This Meta service has become one of the most used channels between parents and guardians to promote communication outside educational centers, to the point that 66 percent of Spanish parents tend to be in one or two groups, according to data from GoStudent.

This private class platform has carried out a study to find out what is the perception that adults have regarding group chats created for informational purposes in the school environment, as indicated in a statement sent to Europa Press.

To do this, it has conducted more than 2,000 interviews with parents and guardians with minors between 6 and 18 years of age in their care, compiled in the survey ‘Impact of going back to school in Spain’, from which he has drawn different opinions.

For example, 47.5 percent of them considers that these they are informative, while 31 percent believe that they are overwhelming and 15 percent describe them as “hell”. The latter happens, in most cases, due to poor management of the groups.

Among some of the negative practices for the effectiveness of these groups are, for example, that of giving ‘good morning’ or ‘good night’ dailysending jokes and memes or parents who ask for homework every day through this channel.

To make WhatsApp an effective and pleasant means of communication, GoStudent has made a list of everything that should not be done, such as, answer chain. This is something very common when a child is sick and his parent communicates it in the group.

Reply with messages like “get better” it only creates noise in the chat and generates a series of unnecessary notifications, because it is understood that everyone present hopes that the minor will recover.

Nor is it appropriate express political ideas or opinions or religious, which are alien to the main purpose of the group. Adults should know that in these groups there is a variety of ideologies that should not take place as it is a chat created for school purposes.

To avoid a negative environment, it is advisable not to criticize teachers, parents or other children, since these generate cyberbullying and they do not solve the problems that can be addressed in an environment of trust and respect.

Finally, from the platform they advise that parents do not ask for their children’s homework, except if they have not been able to attend class due to illness. It is an annoying attitude and, moreover, It does not favor the learning of minors.

It is pertinent, however, to share through these groups good experiences with extracurricular activities or support classes, which can be useful for other parents who need to reinforce certain qualities of their children.

To express doubts, it is also important to do it clearly and concisely, without the need for speeches or endless paragraphssince the main objective of these group chats is not to convince anyone, but to expose a problem or a solution.

You should also cooperate with other parents, in case you have not been able to attend a meeting, for example, make a summary of what they have not been able to hear and it does concern them. Furthermore, it is relevant answer questions privately instead of promoting exposure to other contacts who may not be interested in a particular topic.

Finally, GoStudent remembers that these group conversations fulfill their function when reporting diseases such as Covid or pests such as lice. Through them it is possible to inform that a case has occurred so that the rest of the parents can protect and observe their children.