The new Parent Connection app in Microsoft Teams allows teachers to directly communicate with students’ parents/guardians via the chat function. Here’s how to get started with messaging parents/guardians via Teams.
- Select the Parents tab to see a list of your students and the names of their parents/guardians.
- Select the chat button to send a Teams message to the student’s parents/guardians.
- Type your message using the Teams chat function and hit send.
Firstly, the Parent Connection app must be enabled by an IT admin. Here’s how to set up the Parent Connection app in Microsoft Teams.
When the Parent Connection app is enabled, it should appear in the left-hand side panel on your Class Teams.
This will be sent as an email to parents with an email link to join a free version of Teams.
When they click on the link, they will be asked to create a personal Teams home account, which they should create separately from any work accounts parents may already have. Once they sign up, these messages will appear as a message in their Teams app.
Things to know about the Microsoft Teams Parent Connection app:
- The Parent Connection app can be enabled for individual teachers and doesn’t have to be turned on for everyone in your organisation.
- There is the ability to block certain external users if needed.
- The parent/guardian data is pulled from School Data Sync so only parents/guardians who have been added to your school data will be able to use this feature.
- If a parent/guardian is no longer listed as a parent/guardian for the student, you will be notified by a banner across the top of the Teams chat.
The Parent Connection app is a great way to boost parental engagement in their child’s learning and Microsoft has plans to improve this chat function to include even more features. As always, we’ll keep you updated with any new additions to Microsoft for Education.
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