Teachers warned on perils of social networking sites

11:39am Tuesday 7th August 2012 in News

GUIDANCE is being issued to East Lancashire teachers about the risks of using social networking sites.

Lancashire County Council has issued guidelines to staff to avoid forming 'on-line friendships' with pupils on sites such as Facebook , Bebo and MySpace.

It comes after more than 40 teachers nationally were referred to the General Teaching Council in 2011 for unprofessional conduct related to the inappropriate use of social media sites.

Lesley Ham, the NASUWT union's negotiating secretary for Blackburn with Darwen, said teachers were falling foul of the rules as they do not use the privacy settings available.

She said: “It's been a problem for a few years. People are entitled to a private life but they need to use privacy settings on these sites.

“It is unwise to engage in social media with pupils.

“Staff have got into problems where they have been open on things like Facebook. They have been off ill and published pictures where they had been on a day out.

“There could be a low level aggrievance where somebody has had a drink, lost their temper and published derogatory comments about a colleague.

“At the other end of the spectrum, which are less frequent, are a member of staff engaging with a pupil. Those can lead to suspensions.

“We have not seen it this year, but there have been cases in the past.”

Staff are advised not to conduct or portray themselves in a manner which may bring the school into disrepute, be derogatory towards the school and its employees, be derogatory towards pupils or parents and carers and bring into question their appropriateness to work with children and young people.

It also urges staff not to form on-line 'friendships' with parents, carers and pupils and communication with former pupils, especially under 18, should be 'strongly discouraged'.

County Coun Susie Charles, Cabinet Member for Children and Schools, said: “We have provided all schools with our own advice based on the government's Guidance on Safer Working Practices for Adults who work with Children and Young People.

“And in addition we are supplying all schools with hard copies of the guidance.”

Comments (5)

11:53am Tue 7 Aug 12

AndyW says...

It should be common sense to be fair.

If you're a teacher, or any professional for that matter, you should either not partake in social media websites or be extremely selective with who you 'friend'.

And as a teacher, you would think that a pupil of yours would be right at the very bottom of the list.
It should be common sense to be fair. If you're a teacher, or any professional for that matter, you should either not partake in social media websites or be extremely selective with who you 'friend'. And as a teacher, you would think that a pupil of yours would be right at the very bottom of the list. AndyW

1:16pm Tue 7 Aug 12

Michael@ClitheroeSince58 says...

I like facebook it usually has all the answers I need to crack some ones hotmail etc :)
I like facebook it usually has all the answers I need to crack some ones hotmail etc :) Michael@ClitheroeSince58

5:49pm Tue 7 Aug 12

123Jon123 says...

Michael@ClitheroeSin
ce58 wrote:
I like facebook it usually has all the answers I need to crack some ones hotmail etc :)
try working instead, much more rewarding!
[quote][p][bold]Michael@ClitheroeSin ce58[/bold] wrote: I like facebook it usually has all the answers I need to crack some ones hotmail etc :)[/p][/quote]try working instead, much more rewarding! 123Jon123

7:52pm Tue 7 Aug 12

brendancharles says...

The teacher/student relationship is definitely complicated and social media sites like Facebook have definitely dropped the ball in bringing this relationship online. I work for a social networking startup called Hibe (Hibe.com) and we are looking at how education can benefit from social media.

We’ve explained how our platform can be used for educational purposes on our blog. Basically, the university system is very complex and not only are there the needs of the institution, but of the individuals who work there as well. We recently published an extensive blog post on social media and education and we'd love feedback.
The teacher/student relationship is definitely complicated and social media sites like Facebook have definitely dropped the ball in bringing this relationship online. I work for a social networking startup called Hibe (Hibe.com) and we are looking at how education can benefit from social media. We’ve explained how our platform can be used for educational purposes on our blog. Basically, the university system is very complex and not only are there the needs of the institution, but of the individuals who work there as well. We recently published an extensive blog post on social media and education and we'd love feedback. brendancharles

10:48pm Tue 7 Aug 12

Graham Hartley says...

"we'd love feedback"

Here, 'we'd feed love back' is the trouble.
"we'd love feedback" Here, 'we'd feed love back' is the trouble. Graham Hartley

Comments are closed on this article.

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