I am a parent of a child at a well-regarded north London state sixth form. There have been a number of occasions on which teachers have failed to turn up without notifying students at all, who end up hanging about for a bit and then drifting off.

I suggested that students be notified of absent teachers by SMS text message (Education, education, computers, Intellect blog, intellect.computing.co.uk). This suggestion was brushed aside with the comment that I appeared to have a lot of faith in technology. I think real-time feedback to parents and students is a long way away.

North London parent submitted on the web