To add teacher on social media?

[CocoBean22]

DD finished school last week and the teacher she had is moving to Australia to live and teach there.
DD has become very fond of the teacher and would like to keep in touch and is sad that she is leaving the school and moving away.

Is it acceptable to add teacher on social media to stay in touch now that the teacher has left the school and moved to the other side of the world?
Or is it still not appropriate?

Sadly I don’t think the teacher would accept the request.

As a teacher myself, there have been countless students that have moved on and I do wonder how they are getting on in life. I have also had a few parents friend request me and I don’t accept. It’s against code of conduct unless we know the parent personally before we started teaching the child.

Ouch! Did you say that to the teacher? Please don't put her/him in that position. Kindly, your daughter is one of many. The teacher might have liked her while teaching but it ends there. Don't embarass yourself and leave the teacher alone.

I'm a teacher and I love my students, but I really don't want progress reports through social media once I move on.

Times have certainly changed. As a secondary school pupil when my teacher left she gave me her address for me to write as she wanted to know how I got on. Some teachers do care a great deal.

I am cringing on your behalf. Why do you think the teacher wants to keep up with your daughter’s achievements? Good god

A one-off update letter from a (presumably) late teenager is one thing. Having an 11 year old by her mother's proxy, as a Facebook friend is vastly different. For starters, the mother had access to the teacher's day to day life! It's madness!

As a retired teacher, I'd he pleased to come across ex pupils while out and about, there's, at most, only three ex pupils that I wonder about enough to be curious about how they're doing. But no way would I want them/their mum as a Facebook friend.

You could follow in Instagram but not be friends in Facebook in my opinion, but I'm no expert

ask the teacher if they have an Instagram page for travelling adventures your daughter can look at?

If she accepts she accepts and if she doesn't then she doesn't.

It wasn't a one off as we kept in touch on a mutual basis for a while.

I do get your point that it's different though. As I said, times have changed and safeguarding wasn't such a thing then.

It is very strange that you assume she would care. Yes she likely cared when your DD was her student but now she probably won’t even remember her. Us teachers see hundreds of children every year.

Policy at my school is that we dont connect with students or their parents on any social media, even LinkedIn.

I have a 13 year old. I still see their primary teachers through my younger children. Teachers occasionally politely ask after 13 year old, who was a fairly memorable child for various reasons (most of them unfortunate). Never in a million years do I think former teachers want a play by play account of their achievements via my social media, and quite honestly I don’t want to see what they get up to in their private lives either. If in twenty years there’s a school reunion, or child wins a Nobel prize and writes to them about it, then that’s a different thing.

I also don’t think putting my child’s achievements on my FB account is a reasonable thing to do either. No one else is going to care they got grade 5 flute or came third in a gymnastics competition or even their GCSE results, and even if they did those achievements are theirs not mine to share.

I'm still in touch with several of my DC's former teachers, including on social media. However, we live in a rural area where everybody knows practically everybody else and we have other connections besides them having taught my DC, such as belonging to the same sports clubs, which I think makes a significant difference. If your only link to this woman is that she taught your DD I wouldn't attempt to maintain contact to be honest, it feels a bit intrusive to me. In all likelihood she wouldn't accept a friend request anyway. It feels sad to say goodbye to a favourite teacher right now, but it will soon be forgotten. Like the teacher, your DD will be starting an exciting new chapter in her own life in September and primary school will soon seem like a distant memory.

No. Teacher shouldn't accept.

She won't care, OP. She's moving across the world to a new life, even.

This is bonkers. The teacher will have taught 100s of children, do you really think she’d be interested in keeping up to date with all of them? Or is that you think your daughter is special? I mean obviously she is to you, but surely you can understand that the teacher is not her mum. She won’t be interested, don’t embarrass yourself.

Why does your daughter have Facebook at 11?

Please read the comments 🙈 SHE does not, it’s my account.

Ok, I see. Just as strange, imo.

Ok, I thought you thought she might be posting valuable things for your daughter to keep up with about being in a different country or something more worth while.

However I think you've got your answer here but honestly, no one can stop you from trying. I personally think just let your daughter add her when she is older and has her own social media if she wants to let her teacher know how she is/what she becomes.

Why do you think the teacher would be remotely interested in what your child is doing?
Teaching is her job. She's not your friend, it is overstepping and may make her feel awkward. Im sure she was a great teacher and your Daughter enjoyed learning from her but at the end of the day, shes probably not going to give more than a passing thought to any of her former pupils.

To add another voice to the no, this is a terrible idea, don't do it. The teacher deserves to have a private social media for friends and family without having to worry about parents and ex-pupils. Don't put her in an awkward position.

Don't do this! It is just weird.

I have 2 teachers from my children’s primary school as friends on social media. They added me after they left (had a couple of mutual friends anyway). They were great teachers and it’s nice to see what they are up to occasionally and they are both lovely, both have said it’s nice to see the odd thing I post about the kids (not much these days as they are boring teenagers!) on my FB which is set to friends only.

if you’re planning on letting your child use your account to message their old teacher then that would be weird.

Teacher here ....please don't