To feel sorry for this teacher

[ReallyTired]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-16929442

I know what she did was stupid and inappriopate. Am I unreasonable to feel a little sorry for her.

It shows how careful we need to be with the internet.

I don't get why teachers would want pupils as FB friends, is it a sort of "look how cool a teacher I am" sort of thing? I have a friends 15 yr old that I have known all her life however I restrict what she can see as I also do to ILs too.

I don't have anyone under the age of 16 on my FB including my nieces and nephews.

Me too, celticlassie. It isn't facebook that is the problem, it's some of the idiots who use it. Nobody you don't want to can see anything you post if your security is set correctly (whatever MrsMuddyPuddles says) and it isn;t a hassle if used sensibly. I think schools could be on dodgy legal ground to insist teachers stop using it at all, though: we are entitled to a normal life. My daughter goes to my school. SHe is my friend on fb so that I can snoop on her . It means I have to have my settings to Friends Only but I've had no problems.

I agree with celticlassie. As a teacher, I just do not understand the wish to be 'friends' with pupils. I have a life outside school and no desire to share it with children. Just weird.

Honestly, I don't get it. I teach adults and I don't even have them on my facebook, so no idea why you'd have kids on there. Yes, I have really liked some of my students, but I tend to keep them at a distance - sometimes a little hard with adults, as you inevitably end up chatting up non-educationy things sometimes, but totally easy with children.

I don't understand why people are so lax with their security, it's honestly not that hard to change all the settings so you are unfindable.

I feel sorry for teachers who get in trouble for posting photos of nights out when they aren't even friends with their students, but not for this woman. She just seems a bit pathetic.

whilst I agree that she should not have had former pupils who are under 18 it is still remarkable that people believe that teachers should act like saints out of school...

I have this with my DM - I should not get tipsy when out with my DH in town as I am a teacher and some 6th formers may see me! I am allowed to have a live and not hide away drinking coco every evening

I have compassion for the situation she finds herself in but I have no doubt about the reasons why she is in that situation and the fact that she is responsible for where she finds herself. She is a professional who is a role model and she has abused that power and has acted incredibly unprofessionally. Because of that she cannot be trusted to continue in the position she held.

As a former teacher myself I have zero sympathy for her. She's been totally unprofessional and the sanction is perfectly fair.

I think she was beyond silly, that shows a shocking lack of judgment really. I do feel sympathy for people who fuck up but I don't disagree with her losing her job, it has to be that way really.

MrsMuddyPuddles
^ps- for those not on facebook: about 6 months ago they changed things so that anyone can read comments you make as you make them. or see what other website you're visiting. or sometimes see posts to groups that they're not a part of.
It is not clear at all how to turn this "feature" off, short of logging out of facebook and deleting cookies.^

Do you mean the 'ticker' that shows down the side of your news feed? There is no way, that I know of, of YOU stopping your updates showing (although they only show to people you are friends with) but you can ask your friends to turn it off on your behalf.

as a primary school teacher myself, i have zero sympathy and do not understand how she could not have known that was a stupid thing to do! i'm incredibly precious about my privacy and still teach under my maiden name rather than my married name to protect that. i have a facebook account, but none of the children or their parents know my married name so they can't look me up on there (or via the phonebook which has happened to a colleague recently). i also don't have a picture of me as my profile picture and make sure that my privacy settings are really tight. you have to be so careful it's not worth putting yourself at risk!

I don't feel at all sorry for her because I know teachers are warned repeatedly a out this (I am not one but I get the TES online bulletins and this issue seems to feature about every second one). Sorry.

She's been very, very stupid and most likely gone against every single bit of advice she's been given by her senior management.

My 11yo isn't allowed on FB, but I wouldn't want him around this teacher either. As far as I can see, there is a fair bit of middle ground between having to live like a saint and talking to young children about drinking, clubbing and your sex life.

Agree cory.

I work in a secondary school; we are forbidden from having current students as friends on FB and strongly encouraged not to have anyone who has left in the last couple of years.

As a teacher there is a natural desire to maintain contact with students and find out what they do on to achieve; but it's simply unprofessional to share access with pupils in this way.