Messaging Apps in Teacher-Parent Digital Communication

The authors analyze current teacher-parent digital communication practices via school group chats and define the communicative competence of stakeholders in education in connection with the use of instant messaging applications.The latest research in pedagogy, digital and media literacy is discussed in terms of its didactic potential regarding instant messaging apps as a 'new normal' in the learning environment.Content analysis of 32 media texts, including articles and posts, and over 800 comments published on teacher forums, professional journals and special interest magazines reveals that the roles of teachers and parents as communicators as well as their strategies for interaction are rather controversial.There is a distinct contradiction between school administrations' expectations about developing a more open and collaborative communicative environment via messaging apps and reality.Teachers complain of increased working loads and poor ethics on the part of parents; the latter disapprove of the content and amount of the received messages.As a result, teachers tend to stick to the strategy of abandoning two-way communication in favor of one-way, thus limiting the role of parents.New styles and strategies for communication between teachers and parents using instant messaging services should be modeled.