Get Educated About Facebook

With Facebook being the number one social networking site around at the moment, everybody seems to have an account. Even from young children to pensioners, from builders to doctors, everybody wants to be part of the Facebook crew, however for some professions such as school teaching this is against the norm (a bit like inviting your secondary school teacher to your birthday party!?)

Teachers across Britain have been warned not to ‘friend’ their pupils on sites such as Facebook, as this has been seen as a method of transforming a professional relationship into an ‘overly friendly’ one. It appears that it is mainly upper primary and lower secondary school pupils which are sending requests to their teachers online.

Teachers have also been warned not to post photos which illustrate them having a ‘social life’ such as ones on a night out or on a holiday wearing inappropriate clothing as this has been seen as being ‘unprofessional’. Some teachers were even giving a warning for attending a gay pride march and posting it online. Teachers are being made to ensure that their online profiles meet the General Teaching Council for England’s code of conduct and if not, then they face being disciplined.

The code of conduct introduced in October 2009 states that 'teachers should display a high standard of behaviour both inside and outside of school that are appropriate given their membership of an important and responsible profession’.