Step Teachers acknowledges that social networking sites provide a number of benefits, but all candidates should be aware of the many challenges and potential difficulties associated with electronic communication and social media. The aim of this policy is to provide clear guidance to all candidates whilst engaged in schools, alternative provision, online tutoring, and private nurseries.
- Ask for the school’s IT policy and procedures for the use of equipment and make sure you are familiar with it; you are expected to abide by this whilst working in the school.
- Social networking sites should not be visited during the school day for personal use. You should not use the school’s computers to send or receive personal emails.
- If you need to access the school’s network as part of your role at the school, ensure you use the
username and password provided to you by the school. Do not use your personal account details nor those of another person. - Never share your password with other members of staff or pupils. Always lock your computer if you are walking around the classroom and always log off after each lesson. If you suspect that someone knows your details, report it as per the school’s IT policy.
- If you need to use the internet as part of your lesson, research, or planning, make sure you only use sites that are relevant. If you accidently visit a site that could be considered inappropriate,
immediately exit the site and report it as per the school’s IT policy. - If you believe that the school’s computers have been used to access inappropriate material previously, report it as per the school’s IT policy.
- If you ever need to send emails on behalf of the school you should use appropriate language, be
professional and make sure your email could not be misconstrued. - Protect your mobile phone, laptop, and computer with a PIN whilst in school to protect access to its content and potential misuse and never have your mobile phone visible during a lesson.
- Do not exchange private texts, phone numbers, personal email addresses or photos of a personal nature with pupils or parents and carers. Turn off your bluetooth setting on your mobile phone while at the school.
- Never take photos or videos of pupils and never take any photo or video on school grounds using your mobile phone. If you need to photograph or video anything as part of your role at the school, use the school’s device and ensure that you have permission to do so before hand.
- Working in a school or tutoring a child online places you in a position of trust, which means there are specific boundaries between teacher/support staff/tutor and pupils that you must follow in the
classroom and online. You must always maintain a professional tone online. Use of expletives, sexual content or any form of discrimination or harassment is always unacceptable. - Do not allow pupils or parents and carers to make you their online ‘friend’ and do not instigate any befriending yourself. This includes Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/YouTube/Tiktok/MySpace or any other social network sites. Parents and carers should be encouraged to use formal channels to contact you.
- Differentiate friends from professional connections by using access and privacy settings. Keep these under review and regularly audit and re-evaluate the information about you and who has access to it.
- Headteachers, parents, pupils and prospective employers may look you up on social media. Ask
yourself if you would be comfortable about your content being viewed. If not, remove any dubious
material.
Do not engage in online activities that may bring yourself, the school, alternative provision, nursery, or the agency into disrepute. Derogatory, defamatory, or offensive comments about pupils, parents and carers or colleagues must not be posted. - Do not allow others to tag you in photos without your permission – this needs to be agreed with your friends, especially on a night out.
- No confidential information about pupils, parents and carers or colleagues should ever be disclosed on social networking sites.
- Do not use networking sites to raise concerns about work or your colleagues – use the appropriate internal channels or call your Step Teachers consultant.
- If you do post your opinions online, make it clear that these are your personal views and not those of your employer by adding a statement to that effect.
- Contact your consultant if you come across any material that is likely to reflect badly on yourself, the school, or Step Teachers.
