teachers advised NOT to have Facebook ( or similar) accounts

[NoahFence]

we were told today
what do you think..

[MmeLindt]

My aunt is a teacher and does not have a FB account. She said that she prefers to keep her private life private.

Although, you can have a FB account and just not accept friends requests.

What is the reasoning behind the advice?

[leothelioness]

why?

[popsycal]

ihave one
allsettingset to private and photos friendsonly

Interested in reasonsbehind

[NoahFence]

They would find it hard to arbitrate if a kid was pestering you I presume
No one asked tbh.

Thing is even if private you can see a) you and b) your mates

[BosomForAPillow]

Can you give a link?
I agree that teachers shouldn't make Facebook "friends" with pupils (current or former) but they can have an account with privacy settings that mean only their real friends see their profile and all photos etc. I don't see why they shouldn't have an account at all.

I'd be more worried for police officers, judges etc.

[NoahFence]

i have one i got sick of after about a month and after the stalkery hoo ha on here.
I acitvate it once a blue mooon to stalk then deactivate all in about 20 mins

[castlesintheair]

You can set your a/c so noone can see your mates which is what most of the teachers at my DCs school seem to have done.

[QueenOfFuckingEverything]

I think it shouldn't be an issue if they set privacy settings properly and use it responsibly - ie not adding pupils as friends etc.

I mean why should it matter if teacher has a facebook account if it can't be seen except by friends and no pupils are friends? My FB account has no photo visible on search so it's hard to tell its me, and is set so only friends can message me.

What are the reasons given?

[NoahFence]

Mate of mine had a kid hammering on her flat door etc - his parents were away.
real pest - these thigns though tend to be one persons word against another

[LadyMuck]

That has been the advice for years hasn't it?

We were a bit shocked to see our son's 22yo teacher's facebook entry complete with some rather revealing photos. Not very impressed to see her FBing during the schoolday though I guess it might have been a free session.

You might hope that stuff is private, but it is easy to make a mistake with privacy settings etc.

[NoahFence]

If oyu have no pic you can still see " here are Mrs teachys friends" cant you?

[wem]

but you can have settings super private so you don't even appear in searches or on other people's friends lists. You just have to find everyone yourself

[NoahFence]

Yes coudl be a PPA session where teachers can do what the hell they want tbh - but still general public dont get that

[QueenOfFuckingEverything]

I'm pretty sure you can set what options are visible on your search results.

[ilovesprouts]

my pal it a ta in dds old school and they are not allowed to have pupils on fb she is not allowed to add me as to what my other pals are like !!

[LadyMuck]

Well it might be a PPA session, but they are still being paid, and as I can't get away with posting pictures of last night's orgy on Facebook during work hours, I don't get why my son's teacher can.

Very hard to take her seriously after seeing her electric blue underwear though. Pity, she was, and I guess still is, an excellent teacher.

[wastingmyevening]

I don't think children should have facebook accounts. My Dad told me off for swearing on facebook because my younger cousins use it. He'd have told me off for swearing anyway I expect. Fer fucks sake.

[popsycal]

just checkedmy privacy settings - allok.......
would suggest all teachers checkand reflect onprivacy settings

[cazzybabs]

I have a facebook account but would not accept friends that i used to teach...but to be quite honset my lack of ability to drink is no reflection of teaching ability...i have no problem with seeing photos of the nurery nurses who look after my dd going out after work and getting drunk- they don't do it in work time.

i find it strange that people think teachers need to be whiter than white

but I do think there is a whole generation that is setting themsleves up for a fall...there is all kinds of embarrassing photos of 18-25 year olds on FB which may well turn up in the papers in a few years when some of them hold high powered jobs

[cazzybabs]

we don't have fb at work

[leothelioness]

I think you can set your privacy settigns on FB so you are unsearchable so if you want to add a friend you have to do it they can't. Same goes for for photos can be friends only etc.

[NoahFence]

I think ppa is in lieu of ny work teachers may choose to do at weekends so a lot of them go home or whateveer

[Corporalcornsilk]

Lady Muck - why are you checking her account anyway? Bit stalkery.

[tibni]

Advice at school i'm in is only to use school e mail with pupils and not add any as friends on social networking sites. It is done to protect staff from possible accusations.

This was direct advice from social services during child protection training.

[cece]

Oh hear I let an old pupil be one of my friends on fb. It is fine, it was a long time ago that I taught her and she was a lovely girl plus I don't live in that area anymore, plus she has moved away too so not in touch with the rest of the class iyswim. I did think about it but in the end I was curious to see how she was doing. Can I just say that 16 year old's language is like a foreign language to me?! I can't make head nor tail of anything she says to her friends!