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?

I was just going off the thread title.

My child’s school uses TikTok and other platforms. Some videos are meme like but are part of an activity they were already doing. The edit turns it into a meme but at the time it was an activity.

First and foremost is this a school sanctioned account, or a copy of a video the school have already put in fhe public domain?
If not she's not problems but if so (and it sounds as though it is) then its absolutely fine!
You sound very 'old school' if what you see is teachers 'dicking around'. Teachers are expected first and foremost to build relationships and rapport with their kids. This video is supposed to illustrate kids and teachers having fun together, and reassure nrw parents thinking of applying to school but worried by the stories of draconian punishment for 5 year olds they read about on mn

Don't know why you're getting arsey with me. I feel the same! But wanted to get a ballpark opinion BEFORE I email the headteacher.
As a general rule, I don't set out to potentially ruin other teachers careers on a whim. But if others agree that a major no-no has been committed, which my gut tells me it has, then of course I'm ready and willing to whistleblow.
But I think being level-headed and thinking it through goes a long way!

There is no difference between the two. They’re both public platforms and most share the same content across all platforms.

Why is it a safeguarding risk? The parent gave social media permission.

In the tribunal on the teacher who was struck off, she was condemned for not telling safeguarding that nine year olds were using TikTok when you are supposed to the thirteen to use it. The teacher didn’t even upload it, she just recorded the children for TikTok.

“On the last day of term, pupils in the Claimant’s class wanted to show her a TikTok
dance. The Claimant agreed and said would teach them the dance version as she
used to be a dance teacher. They asked the Claimant if she would record it and
she agreed to do so on the School’s iPad. The video was not uploaded onto any
social media site. It was evident that the children had been viewing Tik Tok but the
Claimant made no further inquiries of them, nor did she report it as a safeguarding
concern because they were underage (13 being the legal age)”

I've read the details of this case and thst absolutely had little bearing on the reason she was dismissed, i dont think she was struck off. For example she had loads of time off sick.

I agree with most of the other PPs. I gave permission for my dc to be on social media; the school post a few photos of a class smiling on a trip etc. If they were watching teachers piss around joining I'm tik tok videos I would remove the permission. I have a nearly 11 year old and I don't want her teachers who are role models promoting tosh like that. She is going to pick it up, see if from friends etc, I know all this but teachers should set a professional standard.

Yes but there’s TikTok which gives useful updates, shows what the children have been up to during the school day etc . And then there’s stupid “fun” videos featuring the teachers performing as described in the op. The latter is not what parents expect when they give consent, because it’s inappropriate.

Thank you for all the quick comments on this.

I think for now I'm going to give it 48 hours and see what happens to the TikTok account. I did leave a comment on the video in question, basically raising a concern, and asking if they had head teacher and/or parental permission for this.
I am rather assuming that my comment will either get deleted, or I'll get blocked.
If I do get deleted/blocked, I'll be emailing the head teacher.

In other words, I'm going to leave it in the hands of the universe for now, to see if these teachers see sense.

I will advise my friend to do the same, but obviously can't stop her if she decides to do/say something before then. It's her child/school after all.

Thanks everyone.

I think your thread title is potentially misleading because sounds like its a school account and not the teachers personal account if the school name is in the bio and the picture is the school logo. It’s a really significant distinction because the school’s account will be covered in the social media permissions whilst obviously the teacher’s personal account won’t be. So clarify that first. And yes social media is increasingly TikTok and Insta, not Facebook which is pretty old fashioned now. So your friend’s issue is really with the type of content the school are producing and she doesn’t like the comedy type skits and prefers the ‘what we did today’ type posts. Nothing wrong with raising that politely to the school as feedback because it’s a very reasonable opinion and I wouldn’t like it very much either but ultimately she might just be best withdrawing social media permissions altogether.

Loads of schools use TikTok and Instagram - it’s very normal.

Absolutely mad. Concerning on so many levels!

I would flag to the headteacher as opposed to the teachers in the videos as I really don’t think you can trust their judgement (clearly) and imagine the videos and evidence would be swiftly removed.

If these are the videos they’ve posted, How much time has been spent prepping these videos / rehearsing them / costume changes?! It’s just such a wasteful use of the kids’ learning time, and the monetization / shareable nature of TikTok makes this feel exploitative of the kids involved at best.

Your complaint should be multi layered:

1. That social media permission was given on the basis that these would be formal / recognised school official social accounts that align with the school’s safeguarding and social media policies
2. The fact this account is sitting live globally - as you can’t geoblock on TikTok - suggests it is viewable by literally anyone, with kids faces and school logos / school name in plain site and no control over who can view this material
3. That the videos have no bearing whatsoever on education / corriculum, and the teachers have filmed these on school premises during the school day. How much time has been given not just to the filming of these but of the crass choreography / rehearsal needed to get infants to “perform” in this way.

This crosses a boundary both in terms of safeguarding but also basic professionalism. I would come down quite hard, and definitely escalate to the head as if the teachers have been this lax / blatant on a public platform it suggests a much wider discussion across the school on pupil safety.

I know, the school is a part of a MAT I’ve worked for so I read a lot about it too at the time. She did other things but TikTok was still talked about in the tribunal and was a contributing factor.

I agree with this. It wouldn’t cross my mind that teachers were going to be making arsing around tiktoks featuring my child.

Is it the school account if there's a logo and a name of the school or is it the teacher's personal account?
If it's a personal account I would complain to the school about it and I'd also withdraw permission for my child to appear on any social media and point out to the school what your friend is not happy about (the nature of the videos etc).

This really is not on especially in this day and age of the Internet. If a teacher is going to put up a video it should just be of an item or piece of food related to the activity and definitely not someone else's children. I would be furious and threatening the school with a data breach. Even at my WI we just photograph the food or item related to the event and these are adult ladies.

But are these children viewing TikTok because there isn’t an age limit to be filmed for uploads, just to view them.

Given the parents have given social media consent it comes down to whether it’s a school or personal account. If it’s a school account then it is no different to any other social media platform and if parents don’t like it, they need to withdraw consent.

Exactly. There seems to be a lot of naivety on MN about schools and social media. Unless you have signed something that expressly says “no TikTok” or “not including TikTok” then agreeing to your child being on social media means agreeing to them being on all social media.

Come on, why would anyone be worried about tackling the school!!!! Go on there and tell them to take your child off the platform and refuse all other social media!! Some folk need to get a backbone here, the school is not God!

This!!!!!!

Bonkers. Consent for use of images in photos and video will cover the school’s public accounts. Not some teacher’s private social media.

We are strictly forbidden as parents at our school from posting anything with other children besides our own on social media. I imagine most schools have this policy. A teacher should absolutely not be posting images of children to personal social media accounts. When do they even bloody have time for choreographed TikTok dances. Most teachers are on their asses with work.

And yes, I’d put it in writing direct to HT and DSL. That teacher probably needs to be fired.

Why are YOU emailing the head? Why isn't your friend whose actual child it is??

I would contact the school and find out if this is an officially sanctioned school account or the teacher’s personal account. I had a colleague who used his personal account in this way, school found out, he was asked to take it down, the consequences were explained to him by slt as some sort of a warning. To be honest it was probably appropriate as it was poor safeguarding.
if she’s given school permission to use child’s images on their social media and it is their account then that’s different, but she could withdraw the consent if she’s not happy with it.