NASUWT has published clear action instructions on the use of email correspondence.

Instruction 13: Members are instructed only to send and respond to work-related emails during directed time.

Emails can be a very efficient and effective way of exchanging information between staff in schools.

However, of increasing concern to members is the abuse of emails where they are being used to hold teachers to account, have requirements that they should be read and answered in a specific time and where they are being sent during the evenings on weekdays, at weekends and during holiday periods either with the expectation of a response during those times or to put pressure on teachers.

This instruction therefore confines the sending of and responding to emails to directed time.

Members should neither respond to nor send emails outside that time.