What is the problem we are addressing?
One of the main tasks of the social worker and the administrative supervisor in the school is to communicate with the parents to support the educational process, but this task is often subjected to duplication and repetition due to the lack of a unified communications system. Communications are recorded individually, so it happens that the social worker and the supervisor contact the parent on the same day without being aware of that repetition. This is in addition to the lack of a database on the incoming and outgoing contact information that clarifies the procedures of communications and the issues that place in this regard. Moreover, it happens sometimes that the source of the communication remains unknown where the parent may call to find out the reasons for the missed call, which he/she was unable to respond to, but as a social worker I cannot know the reason and the source of the outbound call which might be from the supervisor, nurse, principal or deputy principal.
What is our solution?
A unified communications system that contains contact data (name, phone number, day, date and time, source of communication: parent or employee, reason for contact, result of communication). The system saves numbers and names automatically and records the day, date and time and it is the role of the employee who made the call to record the reason for contact and the result. This goes available to all workers in the institution who have the right to contact parents, and because of the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of employees may have to work from home, so the personal phone can be used as a transferring communication channel instead of the school receiving the parents’ calls and communicating through it without the personal number being shown to them.
An overview of our impact
- Non-repetition of work and the clarity of the procedures that have been taken, as reviewing all previous communications of the caller at the moment of his/her communication or at any time, which helps to provide the best service to support the educational process.
- Knowing the caller ID before answering the call, in addition to getting to know the source of the previous call, while identifying his/her request to communicate with those who contacted him/her earlier.
- Saving time and effort of the employee and parents
- Documenting the communications
- Issuing periodic reports to the school administration about the communications made
Examples of implementation
- The first example explains the current situation in the school: A student is absent from the school, the administrative supervisor contacts the parent and then transfers the case on paper or via e-mail (in case of absence for more than three times without an excuse) to the social worker to explain the procedures that have been taken for the case. After that, the social worker communicates with the parent and then contacts the administrative supervisor or sends an e-mail to indicate the procedure that was taken for the case. In the event that this initiative (For Effective Communication) is implemented, all communication procedures will be clear to both parties, so there is no need for further procedures; which will contribute to saving time and effort.
- The second example is in the case of applying this innovative initiative (For Effective Communication): The parent calls and the student’s name and the date of the contacts made with this number will appear for the employee, which will facilitate the procedures and make clear the help the parent or student needs. If another employee wants to communicate with the same parent because he/she notices a certain problem with the student, the employee will be able to know if the parent was contacted earlier by another employee about the same subject or not.
What are our future goals?
- Developing the system from communication function only to the ability to send text messages and e-mails automatically to the phone numbers of the parents, employee phone number and email, which is useful in the event of a case transfer from the supervisor to the social worker.
- The ability to transfer the work line to the personal phone in order to encounter any circumstances that may make the employee works from distance, as it is now during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Collecting the students’ academic and behavioral reports, where only social workers can view them to maintain the confidentiality of the students’ data.
How can someone else implement it? What do they need?
- It needs Oracle or another program similar to it. This type of program accommodates a large database in which students’ complete data or their problems are recorded in addition to preserving the school personnel data.
- Data are collected allowing for school staff to communicate with the parents and prepare weekly or monthly reports on the students; in terms of academic or behavioral details.
- The program is to be designed on the basis of demand and can be used in government entities and hospitals.
- There is a need to allocate a budget to work on this program.
