17 June 2009
What happened?
A teacher in her second year of teaching accessed the micro-blogging website Twitter* via her personal mobile phone and posted regular updates throughout the school day (sometimes in class time) and outside of school.
Comments often related to her work, e.g "not looking forward to the staff meeting tonight”. Several members of staff and students were following the teacher on Twitter and a colleague who read the comments complained to the head teacher about those related to school activity.
All members of staff had signed an acceptable use agreement that included the following clause: "I will ensure that any private social networking sites / blogs etc that I create or actively contribute to are not confused with my professional role.”
*Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the Web
What should I do if this happens to me?
- First of all, you can prevent this from happening. As a teacher, you shouldn't feel you can't use social networking sites or blogs such as Twitter but it's essential that care is taken with the information you make public and at what time you choose to post it. You can find useful advice about Twitter on the Teacher Support Network website - we've included some of their tips below:
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Be diligent:Think before you post comments on the internet - ask yourself if you'd be comfortable with your students and their parents, your colleagues or your manager seeing them.
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Check who is following you on Twitter: This will enable you to block anyone you do not wish to see your "tweets” (updates). Once you've logged in, Twitter shows your home page. Click on "followers” in the upper right-hand menu. There you'll see a list of everyone who has subscribed to be updated whenever you post something. You have three options for each follower: You can click their picture to see their own Twitter page; you can choose to follow them as well; or you can block them from seeing your updates or "tweets”. You may want to block students and colleagues from seeing your updates if you're posting personal items.
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Set your privacy settings: Again, this will limit who sees your updates and also enable you to change your user name so it is not your actual name. In the top right sidebar menu on Twitter there is an item called "settings.” Go here to control what others can find out about you.
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Pick a user name that's not your actual name: Your user name is also the URL that Twitter gives you and the name all your tweets are posted under. To separate your work life from your home life, choose something that affords you some degree of anonymity on Twitter but also remember to choose something appropriate.
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Your profile picture: If you don't want colleagues or students to follow you on Twitter, you might not want to put up your own photo. Consider using a graphic or some sort of icon. If you do want to be recognised, consider not posting anything that shows you in a way that you wouldn't want to appear if you were actually standing in the classroom.
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Don't talk about work in your "One Line Bio”:Twitter offers a one-line biography of up to 160 characters with which to describe yourself. Consider mentioning your hobbies or other interests instead of your job title or where you work.
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Consider using a "teacher” Twitter account : Twitter can be a fun and useful way to engage your class. Students and teachers could work on group assignments via Twitter or learn about online media using Twitter as an example. If you are going to use Twitter with your class, or want your students or colleagues to find you via Twitter, consider creating a separate account from your personal one that they can subscribe to. You can then post school-safe things here, talk with your students and co-workers via Twitter and keep your other one for family and friends. Just make sure you're logged in to the correct one when posting. The easiest way to do this is to set the colour and background options differently for your different online personas.
- Keep your professional and personal life separate - it's recommended that you don't become ‘friends' with any of your current or former students on your personal social networking site or blog.
- Remember your role within the school community and that you should always consider how your conduct could affect your professional reputation and the reputation of your school.
If you're a member of a teaching union, you could get their advice about professional conduct.
- If your students or someone else come across information on the internet that they shouldn't, speak to a senior manager (eg head teacher) immediately.
- Your senior management team should offer you adequate emotional and practical support during the process. If they don't, contact your teaching union for assistance. You can find contact details for the UK teaching unions here.
- Professionals working in schools should agree and follow an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), which should cover websites like Twitter. If you inadvertently breach your school's AUP in terms of, report the matter immediately to your head teacher and the named person responsible for data protection. It is recommended that you make the report in writing and copy in your trade union representative.
- If you're a head teacher or the school's named person responsible for e-safety, you should re-issue your AUP on a regular basis and reinforce strict protocols on new/emerging technologies.