The image was so utterly disconcerting which didn’t take long to go viral. A few weeks ago the University of Granada it was news because a vice dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences hung a poster reminding that teachers “do not serve parents”, and insisted: “All enrolled students are of legal age.” something similar made by the University of Oviedo, which also hung a similar poster pointing that their students are now adults and the regulations limit the information that the center can give to their parents.
The phenomenon is not, however, exclusive to Spain. In Japan, overprotective parents have become such a serious problem that it has forced the authorities to move tab in schools. The goal: protect teachers.
New guidelines. That a body like the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education publishes guidelines on how schools should act in certain circumstances is nothing new. It is true that these guidelines do not focus on the teaching load, schedules, extracurricular activities or anything that has to do with the education of young people or the organization of the faculty.
The objective of the new recommendations of the Council are focused on something else. Basically how teachers should act when they encounter what in Japan they have already started to call (and not without reason) ‘monster parents’overprotective fathers and mothers who do not hesitate to get into fights with teachers, demand accountability and have long discussions about all kinds of issues.
But is the problem so serious? It seems so. And there are a couple of studies that help understand it. a survey published in April with some 12,000 public school teachers in Tokyo revealed that 22% claimed to have received “socially questionable” treatment from people outside the school, especially parents. A previous reportfrom just a year ago, prepared by the Japanese Association of Mutual Aid of Public School Teachers, also identified that dealing with students’ parents was a source of stress for teachers.
Connected with the karoshi. It’s not just that parents increase teachers’ anxiety. As remember This Week in Asiaeach teacher usually has several classes with dozens of students (about 30), so in the end the meetings and telephone conversations with parents end up becoming an extra workload that lengthens the faculty’s day. Sometimes several hours every week.
A recent report on karoshiknown as “death from overwork”, reflects that during the last three years the education sector has been one of those with the highest percentage of personnel who work more than 60 hours per week. They are only surpassed by transportation, logistics and hospitality.
“Irrational requests”. Why do they complain? ‘monster parents’? What makes them show up every now and then at their children’s teachers’ offices, send them messages or keep them on the phone for hours? The Japan Times speaks of “irrational requests” related to students who refuse to go to class or have been reprimanded, but other media cite stranger cases.
This Week in Asia refers complaints from parents upset because the cherry trees had not bloomed in time for their children’s entrance ceremonies, about the taste of school menus or about insect bites. “There are two types of parents, those who are demanding but kind, who sometimes offer us gifts, and those who seem to always be dissatisfied, no matter what,” says one teacher.
Of insects and girlfriends. Tsuji, professor of sociology of culture at Chuo University in Tokyo, recognize their fear that the phenomenon is going beyond schools and reaching faculties. “These young people are in college and yet their parents insist on telling their teachers what they should do,” he says. “The university has received complaints from parents about the quality of the food and one mother called demanding to know why her son had not made new friends.”
Not long ago, she herself had to assist a mother who was worried because her university son couldn’t find a girlfriend. “I didn’t know what to answer,” he confesses.
Other teacher relates the ordeal that school trips entail. “Parents call or message teachers at midnight or even later to ask what their child needs to bring, where to meet, what time they need to arrive, what they’re going to see, and so on.” The most curious thing, he regrets, is that all this information is given to all students well in advance.
putting order. Against this backdrop, the Tokyo Board of Education has issued a series of guidelines for metropolitan centers. The goal? That their teachers know how to act in each case. Your guidelines are clear and simple: meetings with parents will no longer last 30 minutes a week, a maximum of one hour in special cases to prevent them from interrupting the rest of their work.
In these meetings there will also be at least two teachers and if the parents insist on meeting with the center, the case will pass from the teachers to the management.
From the fourth meeting onwards, other professionals will come into play to address the matter, such as psychologists or even lawyers. Of course, the talks will be recorded and if necessary (if a parent loses his manners) a security company or even the intervention of the police.
Because? The big question. What explains the phenomenon of ‘monster parents’? Although in Tokyo the focus has been on schools, not so much on faculties, the backdrop is not different from that of the controversies that have arisen here in Oviedo or Granada: protective parents and the diminished authority of teachers.
“This problem has been increasing in recent years,” Tsuji confesses.who remembers that in the middle birth crisis In Japan, parents are invested in the well-being and academic success of their children. Added to this are cultural and social changes, which include the fact that new parents come from educated generations who feel more authorized to deal with teachers.
Images | Egor Myznik (Unsplash) and Stephanie Hau (Unsplash)
In Xataka | There is a national symbol that Japan has kept unchanged for generations: a very expensive school backpack
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings