Posted by Freddie92

With our new code of conduct issued by the GTCS it seems there are new implications for those who have social networking sites. I don’t see the harm as long as you keep your site private. I’ve been told of a teacher who has added CURRENT pupils on her BeboFacebook. Is it just me or is that a bit dodgy?

Posted by going_lala

That is dodgy!! Shouldn’t do it - pupils are not friends. I have these things but they are private and the only way people can see it is if I accept them as a friend. If a pupil asked me to be a friend I’d decline.

Posed by mortonmad

Very dodgy. I use these sites too and keep them private. I’ve had pupils ask to be my friend and refused. At the request of the head I had a chat to our older pupils and explained why no teacher could be their friend. On the other hand, lots of our pupils have public sites and the content is very disturbing.

Posted by going_lala

So is it OK as a teacher to be looking at pupils’ public sites?

Posted by mortonmad

Prob not but they applied to be my friend so I figured it was fair game.

Posted by Freddie92

Pupils do not realise that they are telling the world everything about themselves. You hear them talking to their mates about what they got up to at the weekend and you think “How can you be so silly?” I tell my S6 pupils who are going to uni to be aware what they post on these sites, to keep it clean and private.

Posted by mushbrain

Have nothing to do with weans and social sites. Bag of trouble. Use a nickname and keep it private. Why would you want weans as pals anyway? Phrase springs to mine. Get a grip!

Posted by carol75

I know of a teacher who let the kids in his class (mainly the girls all aged 10 and 11) access his Bebo page. There were complaints from parents to the school, so he was asked to stop. He made his page private, but accepted the kids as his pals. I think he should have got more than just a “please stop doing this”, considering some of the content.

Posted by CanuckGrrl

Seems to me the police should be called in.

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