denunciation, rumors, playground atmosphere… The abuses of parent-teacher WhatsApp groups

Conversations between parents tend to echo rumors that go so far as to ruin the reputation of teachers.

They can be titled “5eB” Or “parents of 6th7” and have become almost essential on parents’ smartphones. In these WhatsApp groups supposed to facilitate the circulation of information between school and family, we can find comments on the inappropriate tone of a teacher or on the number of absences of another, often on the basis of this what the students report, as recounted Le Figaro.

Since moderation is not possible on the application, the Grenoble academy classifies WhatsApp among the platforms to be prohibited for communicating in a school environment. However, these conversations are, for parents, a direct and accessible source of information, since 91% of users of the application are members of at least one group according to an Ifop study, published in March 2023.

Messages without filters

However, the abuses are legion, between accusations of racism against teachers on the basis of comments reported by students, which ultimately turn out to be nothing more than rumors, and denunciations between parents. This playground atmosphere can have a devastating effect on the reputation of a teacher or an establishment. Some parents, stunned by this pile of messages without filters, in addition to the sometimes impressive number of notifications, leave these conversations. Even the parents’ federations, elected representatives, struggle to manage them.

This black picture, however, needs to be nuanced, when these conversations make it possible to denounce real situations of harassment or abusive behavior. In Spain, a WhatsApp group of parents of students from Barcelona is at the origin of the movement “Adolescence without mobile” for the ban on cell phones under 16, which managed to capture the government’s attention.

But rather than facilitating exchanges, some of these conversations increasingly resemble an Internet comments section, where Internet users let loose, forgetting that they are talking about humans to other humans. At a time when the time spent by young people on screens is causing concern all the way to the Élysée, parents are not setting an example.