Reception children on teachers TikTok

[zingally]

This isn't my issue as such... It's happened to a close friend, and I said I'd ask on here... ;)

So... I was scrolling on TikTok yesterday morning and my attention is immediately caught by my best friends 4yo DD, who has just started Reception. She was sitting on a bench/log with about 5 other children, all in their school uniforms, watching their teachers dance around in Elsa/Anna costumes. All the children then shake their heads and smile in a very choreographed way. In another part of the video, one of the same teachers is doing a forward roll, with a little boy standing watching. The joke is that they're "performing" for the children and wanting them to judge their efforts.

I go and look at the channel itself. There are about 20 videos, of which about 15 feature the children. Most of that 15 are "this is what we did in class today" type videos, but some, like the one I first saw, are basically just meme videos of the teachers dicking around, with the kids in supporting roles. The school itself is named in the bio of the channel, and the school logo is their user-pic.

Speaking as a teacher myself, I'm pretty go with the flow. But I was shocked by this. This seems like a huge mis-step. To be using the children, during learning hours, to feature in silly meme-style tiktok videos... And to prominently feature the name of the school to the world... Seems like a huge safeguarding red flag.

My friend is pretty upset to see her little child on social media like this. She did give permission for her DD to appear in social media when they joined the school. But she assumed that meant things like a school FB or X account.
She wants it taken down/the children removed, but as an ex-teacher herself, understands how young teachers can make mistakes and doesn't want to get anyone else into big trouble.

I'm unsure how to advise her. Any script ideas for what she can say/do?

That’s madness.

If she gave permission for social media, then she is naive not to think it would cover all platforms. Facebook and X are increasingly outdated and TikTok and Instagram used more and more.

Well you're a teacher what would you do?!

I’d say just that.

that she has given permission for Lucy to be on social media but assumed that it was first the social media of the school and not the personal account of the staff and that she withdraws the permission.

I’d seriously consider moving schools immediately.

Came to say the same thing. FB and X are very dated platforms these days; however, consent can be withdrawn at any time so your friend could approach this by saying she’s seen the TikTok account, and would like to withdraw consent.

She needs to withdraw consent and ask for any videos with her dc in it to be removed.

I would also ask the school to email the parents and make it clear that the consent also includes tiktok videos.

A teacher was recently struck off for putting nine year olds on TikTok.

OP says the school name and logo is the bio so I assume it’s a school account.

I don’t think giving permission for the school to post their child’s face on social media means that teachers are find to post on what sounds like their own channel for likes.
also you earn money from TikTok if the videos are over a certain length (60 seconds I think it is) so I would strongly object to the teacher using the kids for content.

OP first port of call could be to go and directly speak to the teacher, point out all of the safe guarding and permission issues. Give them 1 half day to get it taken down as otherwise it’ll be escalated to the school.

take screenshots in the mean time.

It doesn’t sound like it’s the teacher’s personal account, but the school account. Still, school social media should be used for information updates and pictures/videos of what the children have been doing, not “hilarious” videos of teachers performing.

Is it the school's official TikTok page? If so then I don't think it's to be unexpected if she gave her permission for social media use (but obviously she has the right to withdraw that permission any time).

ETA I also wouldn't worry about getting the teacher in trouble if it's the school's page since presumably they already know?

My friend has taken screenshots, as have I.

To address an early comment of what I would do as a teacher myself. I wouldn't have done it at all. The moment I saw it, I grimaced and saw the immediate risk. However, I'm 41 and have been a teacher for 19 years. The two teachers on this look about 25 and very green.

I'm not so bothered by the "this is what we did today" videos. It's the jokey ones that are wrong. What are they teaching the children while they're putting on costumes and telling the children how to react? It's inappropriate use of learning time. What are the children getting out of it?
But I was also teaching in my early 20s once upon a time, and I get how young teachers sometimes make silly judgement calls. They don't mean any harm, but they didn't think it through.

Stupid as it is, I assume it wouldn’t be a sackable offence and they’d just get a stern telling off. Which is exactly what they need if they can’t see with their Gen Z perspective that this is inappropriate use of the school social media platforms.

Sounds like the teacher is doing it openly with the knowledge of the school if she has the school name and logo displayed.
She also has correct permission from the children's parents.

Personally, I do what want my children on social media or used in marketing for schools or clubs so I don't give permission.
If your friend has decided that actually she doesn't want her child on social media she needs to go to the school and change her consent form.

Why is it a safeguarding risk?
What's the difference between this and the children on the school's main social media account?

We had a similar experience at my DDs school. Her teacher is a fairly successful tiktoker and she was filming content in the classroom, she didn’t use children but the children’s desks and possessions were on display. Another parent whose older daughter is a solicitor wrote a pretty stern letter to the school about privacy and now the council have changed their rules and no content at all is allowed to be filmed in school grounds. This teacher has now taken on an office space that she’s changed into a set up classroom so she can still film content. Bonkers.

If it’s a school account and the parents have signed consent forms (albeit naively), then I don’t see what the issue is.

I don’t give consent for my children to be pictured because of the lack of control it results in. If parents do agree, but then realise they hadn’t understood what it entailed, they are perfectly reasonable to withdraw consent at a later date.

Oh god. I have said yes to socials but there’s a big difference between a carefully curated Facebook and a TikTok account!

But if you have said yes to socials then you have consented to TikTok and that’s the platform that is increasingly being used, not Facebook.

Send a link to the head and ask if it was authorised by them? It could be the head's not aware of it.

I think I know the account (blue uniform?), as the nosey parent of a reception child I like getting to see the sort of thing they get up to but I hypocritically would not want my own child online.

If its the one I'm thinking of every video gets some comments asking why they're sharing children and they reply saying they have permission / the kids parents like to see it.

Yabu in that you say you're a teacher but can't decide if this is a Biggie or not?

HUGE safeguarding risk and HUGE part 2 teacher standards breach. That teacher deserves to have their arse handed to them on a plate.

Report to HT and DSL. Needs action today.

It beggars belief that ECTs (and seemingly long-qualified teachers) think this is anything other than absolutely idiotic and potentially career-ending.

Don't assume that the school are aware just because the name and logo are there - unless whoever runs the school SM accounts is regularly looking for other accounts that use the name then they wouldn't necessarily know.

My biggest concern is that the teacher is using their private device to film the content. All the schools I've taught in have clearly stated in the IT policy that pupil images must not be recorded on personal devices.

Also, it's reasonable of a parent to assume that the consent for social media means the school's accounts and not the account of some random teacher for views. I wonder if the teacher was to explicitly ask parents if they consented to her filming their children for her personal TikTok account, how many would say it's fine.

Yes, it is a blue uniform... But I guess lots of schools have similar. I'll just add that it's an infant school.
I guess it's been pushed out to me, because as a teacher I've engaged with education-related content before. But I also live in a completely different part of the country.

My colleague does that and keeps filming videos and taking pictures in my classroom to promote herself as some cool and trendy teacher, who uses TikTok. It's her personal account and she's trying to establish herself as a consultant on making schools happier places. It's embarrassing at best and a breach of data protection guidelines at worst. (My Year 7 class can be heard in the background and several children can be clearly identified in one of the pictures.) I'm not sure our SLT are aware but she's only started with us this academic year.