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Primary education

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Original poster

Teacher's facebook page

53 replies

mumum224 · 27/05/2014 15:44

My son came back home from a playdate & informed me him and his mate had a good laugh looking at his teachers facebook page (which according to him incl. wedding photos, kissing girls and somewhat privet photos).

My son isnt allowed a facebook page and he informed me it was his friend who just showed him and he said his mum knows so it's ok. I was shocked and i dont think it's right at all to poke his nose into his teachers facebook page, i`m slightly surprised it's exposed so easily but than again i do not know much about social media expect for the fact i have banned it in our house. His teacher is a VERY good teacher and i want my son to repect him. Shall i just ignore this, he says all students do this and it's allowed and harmless but i wonder .... any thoughts ?

OP posts:

SweepTheHalls · 27/05/2014 15:46

His teacher should know better and have their security settings locked down. You need to contact them/their line manager to get it sorted.

Impatientismymiddlename · 27/05/2014 15:46

I would have a quiet word with the teacher and suggest that he makes his page watertight private (changes his privacy settings). He is entitled to do whatever he wants in his private time, but he might not have realised that his students are noseying into his private life.

WillieWaggledagger · 27/05/2014 15:50

dp is a teacher and has his privacy settings up to the max - he's not discoverable via searching. even then you still have to be careful (before dp worked at his current school, a pupil had managed to impersonate another teacher on facebook and had one successful friend request to one teacher whose privacy settings were a bit lax, and was then able to add loads of other teachers via their friends list)

Original poster

mumum224 · 27/05/2014 15:57

I see, I just called a friend of mine (whom i know has facebook, I do not), she also found this teacher within 10 min on facebook and could see everything! It's not up to me to say what the man can and cannot do, he's a fab teacher so i can only praise him for this, but the facebook-door into his detailed privet life is wide open and maybe i should just mention this ... my friend said there are several unsuitable photos and my son is clearly thinking less of him now. He's even boasting about if he says "x", he might want to know i saw "y" which isn`t acceptable at all!

OP posts:

zippey · 27/05/2014 16:07

Im sure there is no law against teachers being on Facebook. Im assuming his family and friends have access to his Facebook page and he is not embarrased about the goings on in his life.

Speak to the teacher if you are concerned.

AuntieUrsula · 27/05/2014 16:14

I have several friends who are teachers and none of them are on Facebook for this very reason. I'd have a word with the teacher and gently point out to him that his FB page is way too accessible, which could end up causing him embarrassment.

Original poster

mumum224 · 27/05/2014 16:15

Not really concerned, but just thought that i rather not have my son doing this stuff, seems it hard to stop on playdates though.

OP posts:

LynetteScavo · 27/05/2014 16:21

The teacher should know better than not to have the highest settings on fb! I would be worried that the school generally aren't taking internet safety seriously and not education the DC to stay safe in line.
I'd be having a quiet word with the teacher or ht, in the nicest possible way.

Jellyandjam · 27/05/2014 16:47

As a teacher he really should be aware of the dangers of being so public with his information and have better privacy settings. I am a teacher (taking time out at the minute) and am married to a teacher. We both have fb but have very high security settings which we both check regularly. Same for all the teachers I know. Even then I don't put anything about school stuff as you still have to be careful. I think he is perfectly entitled to put what he wants on there but he should have it private. Besides anything, I don't want children I gave taught going through my personal life. Maybe as others have said just have a quiet word and let him know, he may well be completely unaware and as such embarrassed by the whole thing.

Impatientismymiddlename · 27/05/2014 16:52

OP - is your son a primary aged pupil as I just realised that you have mentioned 'playdates'. If your son is primary aged and his friend is too then as well as letting the teacher know that his privacy settings need adjustment you also need to speak to the parents of your sons friends as children that young should not be on facebook (the legal age for joining is14).

JonSnowKnowsNothing · 27/05/2014 16:54

It's not as easy as you think to ensure your page is totally private. Facebook seems to constantly make it harder to make your page wholly private, as I found out to my cost from a parent who wanted to make trouble, decided to print off my "inappropriate" photo and send it to my chair of Govs.
Luckily the best she could do was me and a group of friends smiling tipsily, which nobody gave two shits about. But it scared me people do this. When you see the teacher, I'd subtly let him know. He'll be grateful.

Misspilly88 · 27/05/2014 16:59

Quite often there are policies for staff in schools regarding social media, and this guy might not be aware that he's breaching it. If you like him as a teacher just have a quiet word... ' I hope you don't mind me telling you that your security is not very high'.. He'll probably thank you.

doodledotmum · 27/05/2014 18:40

I would have a quiet word about checking his settings, as he may not realise. Social media is not evil but needs careful use. Most teachers are very careful for this exact reason

clam · 27/05/2014 19:31

Out of interest, what do you understand by "the highest" privacy settings? I would have said mine were (am a teacher also) but I'm wondering now if there's more I could do.

RolloRollo · 27/05/2014 19:35

If it bugs you that much have a quiet but very friendly word with the teacher. Say how great you think he is and that you aren't at all concerned by what he has on his page (it is his life) you thought you'd warn him

RolloRollo · 27/05/2014 19:42

JonSnow I am shocked at how OTT a parent was and the lack of respect for teachers they clearly have to print such a photo off and decide to potentially ruin your career. Glad governers were supportive.
There is a clear line between a bit tipsy, socially enjoying a glass of wine and obviously off-your-head drunk and staggering about in photos, but nonetheless if you decide to be off-your-head drunk out of school hours that is your decision and it is very stalkerish of a parent to firstly search for you but secondly then confess that they have been spying and send it to the school!!

JonSnowKnowsNothing · 27/05/2014 19:46

I was a lot drunker than the photo suggested
Yes that person has a special place in my black book!
However this is the person who instructed their very able child to sit through the SATs and not answer a single question as a delightful "f* you" to the school. Result = one very distressed child and massive implications for a school just below floor target.

Feenie · 27/05/2014 19:48

I am boggling at the thought of this guy's privet life

voodoochimp · 27/05/2014 19:51

Even if your security settings are set really high, if you have friends in common with any of your pupils or their parents they may be able to see photos of you that your friends have posted.

I've seen pictures of DDs primary school teacher out on the piss because we have a friend in common who posted photos that came up on my feed not that I care

clam · 27/05/2014 19:56

feenie

Xihha · 27/05/2014 23:28

I have lots of teacher friends but they all use fake names on fb to avoid exactly this as fb privacy setting aren't great, Id just quietly mention to the teacher that there are students looking at his profile.

juniper44 · 28/05/2014 01:42

There are some things that Facebook makes public automatically.

I always set myself onto the highest privacy settings, but as someone else mentioned, Facebook change the rules every second week.

I announced the birth of my baby on my private page, but after the update it suddenly became public knowledge. So the post in which I listed her full name, place of birth etc was suddenly free for all. I'd listed it as a life event, rather than just a status, and so Facebook published this publicly once it changed its settings.

Same with cover photos- they've suddenly become public too.

It is inadvisable for the class teacher to have a public Facebook, but then what he does in his free time should not affect his job. We are not nuns; we are allowed privet lives. Even if we have to hedge our bets.

ravenAK · 28/05/2014 02:49

I'd have a quiet word with the teacher at handover & let him know that his pupils are enjoying his privet pictures. He might shrub & say it's none of your business, in which case yew can't do any more.

Impatientismymiddlename- there's no legal age for joining FB.

FB ask you to sign a declaration that you're over 13, but that's a commercial decision of FB's as data harvesting from under-13s would require them to abide by an extra layer of legal faff in the US. As none of their users are ostensibly U13, they don't have to worry about that, which is convenient for them - but that certainly doesn't make it 'illegal' for someone U13 to have given them inaccurate information.

Also, accessing a FB page doesn't require you to have an account yourself at all, so you don't need to be of any age to 'go on' Facebook & have a snoop for your teacher's account.

Given my full name, you could search mine now, although if you were one of my students looking for scandal you'd be disappointed. You'd see two people with my name. You could tell which of them's me by the profile photo, but that's as far as you'd get!

blameitonthecaffeine · 28/05/2014 03:08

If you click on the privacy tab on the far right of the facebook toolbar thing you can view your profile as it appears to the general public.

I'm only a part time dance teacher and most of my pupils are 15+ but I'm very happy with mine. I see my name, my current cover picture (but I think that's because it's a poster banner I took from a website), current profile picture, my location and things like pages liked, groups, books read etc. Nothing interesting at all. No friends list, no photos, no posts.

I like to stay discoverable and under my real name otherwise what's the point of fb? I want to be able to stay in touch with actual friends and I want them to be able to find me. Just because I'm a teacher (sort of) shouldn't mean I can't have a virtual social life!

Impatientismymiddlename · 28/05/2014 07:53

Ravenak - illegal was the wrong word as you are correct in that there is no legal age restriction (not that it could be policed anyway). However, facebook does state that users should be over the age of 13.

en-gb.facebook.com/help/210644045634222

Regardless of legalities and whatever facebook states I don't think it is appropriate for primary aged children to be accessing facebook either as a member or just searching it without being a member. If my 10 year old went to his friends house and started looking at stuff on facebook I would be having a stiff word with the parents because, in my opinion, lots of stuff on facebook is unsuitable for younger children.
I wouldn't be going in all guns blazing with the teacher though and would probably just have a quiet word to raise his awareness as teachers are allowed to get drunk and do what they like in their private time. I would just want to save him the embarrassment of his pupils looking at his private life antics.

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