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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this inappropriate for a teacher?

131 replies

Dollymixtureyumyum · 25/09/2015 22:30

Sorry for two posts in one day especially as my first day posting but just a quickie
My friend is a teacher and has just started in a school. She has posted a picture of some lines set as a punishment for one her pupils (no name just the lines) which say
"I won't talk when dollymixtureyumyums friend is talking" over 100 times with the status update above it saying "no she won't ha ha
Would I be right in telling said friend to tread carefully

OP posts:
TheSnowFairy · 26/09/2015 08:28

Same as catrin, I monitor staff and students' online activity and have even been asked to check FB of an SLT member of staff.

Those who think this stuff is private are totally misguided.

BrianButterfield · 26/09/2015 08:30

I am a teacher, so is DH, and so are very many of the people on my FB. I have never ever seen anyone post a child's work or anything about students at all. The most I've ever seen is a picture of the friend with their colleagues, or maybe something like "so proud of all my Y11 after seeing them at their prom tonight!" (without any photos of students of course).

PlaysWellWithOthers · 26/09/2015 08:38

If someone's OH posted any of my DS's writing so that his ridiculous friends could take the piss out of a child with autism's hand writing, I would make it my job to ensure that person was a) sacked and b) never allowed to work with children again.

I know what a tough job teachers do, and on the whole, most of them do it brilliantly. Idiots who pull stunts like this shouldn't be allowed to bring their profession into disrepute in this way.

CookieMonster101 · 26/09/2015 08:43

I am interested on this. Are teachers allowed to ask for advice online, on Facebook and on social media? E.g. about how to deal with a disruptive class or how to teach certain things? Just wondering where you'd draw the line.

I do agree shaming an individual child is awful though :( As for the writing of an autistic child.... I don't even know where to begin with that. Disgusting

Frecklesandspecs · 26/09/2015 08:52

Said teacher sounds very immature. You are being the adult here Dolly, I would. If she gets found out then at least you warned her.
(sigh) Kids teaching kids

Frecklesandspecs · 26/09/2015 08:54

Cookie, yes, I think that's fine if it's general and not personal like this was.

glamorousgrandmother · 26/09/2015 08:58

Totally inappropriate to mention anything that happens in school. The examples mentioned by Junosmum are awful and the teacher would have been in trouble at my school.

hazeyjane · 26/09/2015 09:00

Looking at Juno's post, she doesn't say anything about laughing at a sentence written by a child with autism, it could a 'wow how amazing, the first sentence - well done'

HOWEVER I would still be appalled if I knew that teachers were posting stuff about and by my child.

glamorousgrandmother · 26/09/2015 09:01

Cookiemonster101 - teachers ask each other for advice online all the time on TES and Mumsnet Staffroom - just don't say anything which would identify the teacher, the school and most of all the pupil.

TheSnowFairy · 26/09/2015 09:05

For me, I'm looking for the stuff that really shouldn't be found easily and needs to be made private.

So many teachers have students and / or parents as friends on social media and if you do, be careful what you say and what pictures you post.

Asking for advice is fine as long as there's nothing to to indicate where you work.

Eg Jane Smith - works at Mumsnet High School

'How do I deal with Year 8 girls who are being aggressive?' - Not ok.

'Where can I get the best resources for my Year 8 science class?' - Ok.

And set your privacy settings high.

parrotsummer · 26/09/2015 09:05

Inappropriate? Yes I think so.

Horrific, disgusting, she should be sacked, humiliating an anonymous child - no.

Some posts are waaaay OTT.

BigGreenOlives · 26/09/2015 09:22

As a volunteer at school I've had to sign a confidentiality agreement, don't teachers have to do the same?

Ashvis · 26/09/2015 09:29

The sheer lack of respect this teacher showed disgusts me, and makes me wonder what other massively inappropriate things she might consider as being ok. The handwriting could make the child identifiable, but in a school community people do talk, and a child could tell his parent he or she had to do lines, she could get found out that way. . If she's a problem with a child's behaviour there are lots of very appropriate things she can do. Crowing about a perceived victory over a child in her class, aside from being massively unprofessional, shows a lack of regard for her pupils. Just think how you'd feel if you were that child, or that child's parent. It's not as if she hasn't received info about how to behave online, it's drummed into you. She chose to behave this way despite this, showing blatant disregard for important training, making me wonder what else she has disregarded. At the very least she deserves disciplinary action, but that kind of behaviour and attitude could well lead to being struck off. I wouldn't want her teaching my child in case she did something like that to him, I would not want her teaching my friends' children for the same reason. Why then, would I expect anyone else to want her teaching their children?

Feckingfeckfeck · 26/09/2015 09:31

Also, even if her profile was totally private, all it would take is for one person to share it and it would be everywhere!

Junosmum · 26/09/2015 09:33

I've been asked to clarify the "first post by an autistic kid" - my friend works in an SEN unit attached to a state school. She posted the first sentence one of the children she works with every wrote- he'd been non verbal for all the years she'd been working with him and never before put pencil to paper she was immensely proud of what he'd achieved!

As for social media policy, my husbands school has one (he's the IT ciriculum advisor and teacher for 5 schools) it says don't bring the school in to disrupute, don't name children, friend children, or parents. If the name of the school nor the name of the child is on anything he posts, or anything he writes about himself he isn't in breech.

Also you people have heard of security settings right,where only your friends can see your posts?

Junosmum · 26/09/2015 09:34

Feckingfeckfeck- if someone's profile is totally private you can't share someone else's image- it says "attachment unavailable" to anyone not authorized to view it.

PlaysWellWithOthers · 26/09/2015 09:38

Also you people have heard of security settings right,where only your friends can see your posts?

Also, even if her profile was totally private, all it would take is for one person to share it and it would be everywhere!

Was already answered for you.

You do know not to post anything on facebook you don't want the whole world to see and judge you on, don't you? DH and DS both internet security specialists, for an employer that really takes this stuff seriously

PlaysWellWithOthers · 26/09/2015 09:40

if someone's profile is totally private you can't share someone else's image- it says "attachment unavailable" to anyone not authorized to view it.

Phew! That's ok then. Lucky no one knows how to copy/paste an image, screenshot and paste or any of the other ways private account's posts have been shared in the past....

TheStripyGruffalo · 26/09/2015 09:40

It's totally inappropriate.

hazeyjane · 26/09/2015 09:48

I've been asked to clarify the "first post by an autistic kid" - my friend works in an SEN unit attached to a state school. She posted the first sentence one of the children she works with every wrote- he'd been non verbal for all the years she'd been working with him and never before put pencil to paper she was immensely proud

Sorry Juno, but I still think that is inappropriate - unless she had express permission from the child or the parent's it just isn't on to post it on Facebook.

BoffinMum · 26/09/2015 09:50

She needs to take that post down right now before she gets in BIG trouble.

LyndaNotLinda · 26/09/2015 09:50

My profile is set so that only my friends can see my posts. But everyone can see photos of me that have been my profile pictures. There's no such thing as 'totally private' in facebook.

Your husband is shit at his job Junosmum.

Lizzylou · 26/09/2015 09:54

Yes it is very inappropriate. If she doesn't want to heed your warning though there isn't much more you can do.
We were warned about social media use on first day of teacher training. Kids can and do hack into even the most secure of accounts. Have heard of kids setting up profiles in name of a teacher then becoming friends with other teachers. Lots of horror stories mean that I am very careful now.

ohtheholidays · 26/09/2015 09:59

OP your friend deserves to loose her job and Junosmum so does your husband,the first sentance an autistic child wrote how fucking offensive!

I hope to god these so called teachers get caught and get the bloody sack!

Nearly all schools now make parents sign an agreement that any pictures they take of they're child whilst at school are not shared on sites such as facebook in case they have any one elses child in the background.Lots of schools now have banned parents from taking pictures or recording shows ect on school premises.

So god only know's why any teacher would think that is acceptable behavior.

I worked in schools for years,nurserys,infants,juniors,primarys,secondarys and I have never came accross a teacher that would ever think that was a normal thing to do.

SuperFlyHigh · 26/09/2015 10:01

I know nothing about social media and teaching but I do recall as a teenager on a few rare days where I went to my mum's school where she taught as a primary school teacher.

Yes you got venting in the staffroom (par for the course) when that venting crosses a line however and you get teachers targeting a particular child or 10 (this was in an inner London school in a rough area rife with problems) and saying the sort of things you wouldn't say about your worst enemy (these teachers (only 2 or 3 of them) should have NOT been teaching).

In fact it still sends shivers down my spine (happened in mid-late 1980s) how teachers can be so vitriolic about children in their care and use a lot of the punishment as "power trips". Angry Sad

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