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Post by Shocked79 on Feb 8, 2016 19:46:39 GMT
What are your thoughts? I've been quite shocked tonight while looking at a friends status and noticed one of my 8yo daughters teachers had commented. I went on to her profile (being the nosey person that I am) and couldn't believe that she's "friends" with quite a few of the parents and I was even more shocked at some of the selfies she'd posted. I'm no prude and do realise she's as entitled to a private life and can post what she wants but find it strange that she shares stuff with parents who I know for a fact let their children look at this stuff. I also know that some of the teachers are friends on facebook with some of the pupils and was told about one of the teachers using the f word in her status one day which was seen by some of her year 3 pupils. Surely the school shouldn't allow this? Thankfully my daughter doesnt see this stuff
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Post by bushbaby on Feb 8, 2016 20:08:13 GMT
I am a teacher (secondary) and my Facebook account is as private as it can be. It is most unprofessional to be friends with students and parents particularly if your privacy settings are not adequate. It is not acceptable and can put both student and teacher in a compromising position.
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Post by Philippa on Feb 8, 2016 21:04:37 GMT
I think it's wrong on all levels. There are certain sectors who really should not be plastering themselves over social media. I appreciate people are entitled to a personal life but when you are in the forefront of the public eye then you must take this into consideration where social media is concerned.
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Post by Toaster on Feb 8, 2016 21:43:57 GMT
Some people nowadays just don't understand what professionalism is and for a teacher/solicitor/doctor etc I would expect them to have a private profile with carefully selected and limited friends or at the very least two profiles, one for letting their hair down and the other for more formal stuff (though you could argue that Facebook is not and was never intended to be formal)
LinkedIn was invented for a reason after all!
I do have a Facebook profile and have several ex and current colleagues and bosses as friends on there but I am careful what I post, I remove anything in the least bit controversial if I am tagged in it, I do like to relax on facebook but I also want anyone who looks at my profile to see a fair representation of a decent person and not endless self indulgent pictures of me or endless family dramas, I always look over my profile to ensure that if my nemesis were to ever look at it they'd find no dirt
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Post by face ache on Feb 9, 2016 7:42:23 GMT
I would snap shot her posts that you feel are against the professions code of conduct and report her to the governing body. If what you are saying is correct this is a matter for the school to investigate. Her profile should be private with a select friendship group. However she may be she is naive and is not aware of the complications so you would actually be assisting her. As for "he said she said" you don't have evidence so leave that lie until you do. Totally agree Toaster face book is never private so we are accountable for what we post as we are accountable for what we post on any web forum!
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Post by gillwales on Feb 9, 2016 17:53:54 GMT
I cerainly hope that she does not post anything relating to the school. I would do a screen dump and refer to the Head. From what you have said it sounds like she is behaving un-professionally.
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Post by brindlerainbow on Feb 9, 2016 18:52:17 GMT
I'm finding this whole thing really rather bizzare. Why on earth would an adult want to be FB friends with 6/7/8/ year old children and also why have 6/7/8 year olds got FB accounts? What on earth are their parents thinking of ? They need investigating more than the teacher. Also why are parents letting their children look at pictures and postings of their teachers on FB ? I was a teaching assistant for 10 years and it was the policy of our local authority that no member of staff was allowed to be FB friends with past or present pupils or their parents. I know all authorities are different depending on the area but I'm pretty certain the majority have strict guide lines on using social media. I also can't understand any teacher wanting to be FB friends with parents as I'm sure there would be endless messages about home work, classroom issues etc etc. Of course her FB account should be private although if her parent friends are allowing their children to view her account then what can she do ? Teachers are the same as everyone else, at the weekend they go out and let their hair down, maybe get drunk, go out partying. They may have silly photo's taken of them selves which end up on FB but this is all in their private life. When I was a teaching assistant I went to my local carnival, during the evening I spotted lots of children there from my school with their parents. I don't drink but I was having a good time partying with my friends, quite a few of which were a bit merry so of course there's a bit of bad language and we were all fairly noisy. I felt very uncomfortable knowing that children and parents were watching me even though it was during the summer holidays!! I felt like everything that I did or said would be remembered, not that I did anything bad but I didn't particularly like the fact that even in my free time I should be on my best behaviour just in case a pupil or parent saw or heard something they didn't like whether it be from me or the friends I was with. If this teacher is posting things on her FB page relating to school issues then that certainly needs addressing, but if it's just her own private life then it's just that, her private life which doesn't relate to school.
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Post by maxandpaddy on Feb 9, 2016 19:08:28 GMT
This is such a mine field, social media is becoming a blooming nightmare. I work with pre-school children in a tiny village where a lot of the parents were/are friends/facebook friends before I took the job on. I'm now in the position (as careful as I am on social media) of having to take them off and explain why after our local area safeguarding advisor explained how complicated it can be.
On top of this we have a Facebook page for our charity run early years establishment, where we promote ourselves with pictures of things we've done (not children) news etc. Which again it now looks like we'l have to close down because its just not worth the risks involved, even though its a protected business site, no one can start a thread/post on it without our clearance. OFSTED frown on social media and you have to have strict policies and procedures/signatures/permission slips to share ANYTHING nowadays.
What was pointed out to us was:
If a member of staff liked a picture on our Facebook page or had parents of children on their Friend List and their own Facebook profile wasn't closed/protected....access is gained to their personal life/data Their friends list is accessible...can you vouch for EVERY friend on your friend list? Could a link be done between you and the fact you work with children be done? Do you want a parent or possibly a child seeing details/pictures on your private life ? Do you want a link of grooming/tracing single/vulnerable children/parents to come from your Facebook account?
And thats on top of the unprofessional/unethical side of things
So the answer is NO NO and NO to social media for teachers. For the safety of the children and to protect themselves...I would speak to/air my concerns to a Parent Governor as a first port of call. Failing that the Head
Good luck xx
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Post by Ziggy on Feb 18, 2016 9:02:50 GMT
I think that's dreadful. Social media is most definitely a minefield. In my profession, nursing, there are incredibly strict ruling on conduct on social media that are set by the NMC and rightly so. Headtescher at my sons school goes on holiday with some parents, does not seem right to me but that is just me I guess
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Post by Kg not logged in on Feb 23, 2016 9:16:44 GMT
A friend of mine who's also my daughters best friend doesn't have any friends on FB who are involved with school in anyway. School frowns upon it and rightly so, most schools have policies on social media so I'm surprised this person can get away with it.
As for young children having FB accounts, that's just wrong. Even teenagers can be unaware of the dangers of having an account as my 15 year old niece found out when she was being stalked. She had so many 'friends' and hadn't a clue who a lot of them were.
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Post by Louise Dixon on Feb 23, 2016 11:51:50 GMT
It is a tricky one, I can understand why some people would say it is unprofessional to be friends (real or on Facebook) with parents of students, but I do think it depends on your situation; I live in a very isolated rural area, and my son attends the school I teach at two days a week. If I was not allowed to be friends with any of the other parents, I would only be allowed to be friends with the other teachers, who would also have no other friends. My children wouldn't be able to have playdates and so on, and it just is not a realistic situation for how we live. Personally, I do not put anything on social media that I would not be happy for absolutely anyone to see or hear, and I would not accept a friend request on Facebook from anyone who is not genuinely old enough to have an account. If I was teaching at a high school, I would definitely extend that to say no school pupils at all. I am friends with some high school students on Facebook who I have taught previously, it is by far the most convenient way for organising things like baby sitting and so on, especially as there is no mobile phone signal where we live. You've got to be allowed a bit of common sense about these things. I do know that some of the primary pupils where I teach have Facebook, but they are very well aware of my views about that, so aren't daft enough to send my friend requests.
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Post by catkin on Feb 24, 2016 12:18:09 GMT
Corporate/work social media policies are very difficult to set, monitor or actually maintain because the platforms change constantly as does the way people use these channels. I have tried introducing fairly strict policies (that some of you describe above) and they are just not often practical. I think we need to think about social media not as an evil tool, but just another communication channel that can be wonderful or abused in the same way as written (think poison pen letters), blogs, chat rooms, face to face, via a third party, etc,etc. That said, I do think there are some common sense rules that need to apply. For example, I do not friend anyone who is a current work colleague, I do not comment on work profiles, and, above all, as Louise Dixon rightly said, I do not publish in the public domain anything that I am not happy to have as just that - public. Users also need to remember to delete shared or tagged posts they deem do not represent them as they wish. Same for comments. You can always hide them. Its a minefield but also fact of life that can be a useful and enjoyable tool. The problems arise when what one person thinks is obvious common sense, another doesn't, so some broad guidelines such as 'do not friend your pupils' could be adhered to, perhaps, but all in all there is no case of one size fits all that I have found.
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