A dilemma that I and many others have in this ever-growing digital word is around social media and parents/students/colleagues. There are some fine lines that can easily become blurred with the simple click of a button. Although I find it easy to decline any friend or chat requests from students, I find it harder or more of a dilemma to decline parents. Does it or should it make a difference if their child is no longer in my class? If they are a board member and parent? What about colleagues? Is it ok to like or comment on posts on the school facebook page?
Henderson, Auld & Johnson discuss the four common ethical dilemmas that teachers need to consider when using social media. Consent, Confidentiality (Traceability), Boundaries, Recognizing and responding to illicit activities are all points or dilemmas to consider. The main dilemma I am finding at the moment is the confidentiality or traceability through the school facebook page. The school facebook page is run by the principal and two other teachers who mainly add photos of events and upcoming reminders. When I see photos of students or of events that I am proud of the students for my natural instinct is to ‘like’ it. I have to stop myself to think - will parents then ‘stalk’ me as I am now traceable on Facebook, will I offend any other parents if I haven’t ‘liked’ or commented on other posts that their child might be in? The questions are endless.
Glenbrook School has a clear policy as part of the ‘Staff Responsible Use Agreement’. It outlines clear guidelines to ensure Staff are acting appropriately and in a way that also protects ourselves from any backlash. “Teachers should be approachable but they are professionals and should maintain a professional distance” (CTT, 2012), by keeping that distance ensures we are maintaining our responsibility to the profession and upholding high professional standards. Social media has a vast audience all of differing opinions and perspectives. If I was to make a comment or ‘like’ something that was suggestive towards one perspective, while one party may agree, another may find it unprofessional and leave me open to misconduct. “The community has an expectation that a teacher will behave in a professional manner” (CTT, 2012), this is especially true in a small, close-knit community where information is shared through the grapevine very quickly.
Since the Glenbrook School Staff Responsible Use Agreement has been rolled out I have removed the two ‘friends’ I had that are parents and won’t be accepting any other parents whether their child is currently in my class or not. I have accepted colleagues that I know well and have built up a mutual trust with.
To ensure I manage this dilemma I often remind myself of the agreement I have signed during these after-hours dilemmas to double check that my actions are not going to have any repercussions. Although I am not an avid Facebook poster I also manage this to ensure my behaviour and conduct are not overstepping any boundaries and are of an appropriate manner. If I decided I wanted to be posting more controversial posts I would make the decision to keep my page 100% private and not have any professional colleagues etc as friends to prevent any breach of ethics etc.
At times I have observed colleagues often discussing their workplace and although they do not directly state where they work it is very easy to identify where and who they are talking about. I am often concerned where colleagues are asking for legal assistance and others quickly share their opinions. Do they realise this is opinion and not legally binding? Each school is different and each school may have different ethical and digital professional expectations. Would it not be easier and friendlier for the profession to set a very clear guide on what is and what is not acceptable for all? From policies to procedures, from a code of ethics to staff agreements? The Education Council is currently sharing its ideas around our new professional standards but the use of social media is still a grey area.
At this stage, I am quite happy to be more of an ‘observer’ on facebook until the profession can quite clearly draw lines between the black, white and the grey.
Resources:
Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2012). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educators: Facilitator’s Guide. Retrieved from http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual....
Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014). Ethics of Teaching with Social Media. Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2014, Adelaide, SA. Retrieved from http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/attachments/HendersonAuldJohnson_EthicalDilemmas_ACEC_2014_0.pdf
Kia ora Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point about how identifiable people are on the internet. It is often very easy to find out who where people have posted from even it they have made their posts "private" To another of your points about guidance for teachers' online interactions, the Ministry have put out several documents about internet safety and so has Netsafe. But is frustrating for those of us who have to manage a schools online presence to hunt down the information from the variety of sites that hold it.
You bring up a lot of relevant points. I found it interesting to read that you have a school policy or agreement that teachers need to sign in regards to safe use of the internet. We do not have this. I can relate to parents and students wanting to be your friends on facebook. I tell students that I am not allowed to have students as friends on social media. I am also finding I can be stalked by parents on messenger. I guess this is the world we live in. I am diffinately careful at what I post and who I friend.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte, your post confirms for me why we must be so cautious around social media in our professional context. I have never had Facebook and despite several attempts by others have never been tempted to. It seems like one more thing that increases our vulnerability, even when totally innocent posts are made. I am in no way against social media, or Facebook, but am pleased my school doesn't (as yet) have a page or an expectation that teachers are on social media with school related issues and events. We have had some very strong points raised by some in our parent community around the use of their child's images, including a consent form used by a charity we were working with. Everything is under scrutiny. All of the time. By someone. It keeps us accountable of course but also adds another level of uncertainty. You comment about showing favouritism by 'liking' one but not the other, is a great example. Thanks for your post, it prompted a lot of thought for me.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlotte,
ReplyDeleteI too work in a small close knit community and upon reflection after reading this post, not to engage with anything school related on social media, such as the Facebook page, or accepted requests from parents, past or present. Although I am friends with colleagues, none of us post much on Facebook or use it as a place to vent opinions about things, so I have never really encountered any issues thus far using social media. However, I have read a few blog posts now with examples of where it has caused some serious issues so I agree, it would be good if there were some clear guidelines that applied to everyone in the profession that turned this grey area into one that was a bit more black and white, but it would also be hard to apply rules for everyone because there will be some unique situations such as one at my school where we have a new DP who has just started and her kids attend our school also, so she currently has personal relationships with many members of the community as a parent and I don't think she should have to delete the parents who she has developed personal friendships with. Social media is definitely a grey area that can't be really hard to navigate and can create a variety of potential issues.