Web Safety NZ New Zealand Internet Safety
Teachers and Children on Facebook. As our education systems move more into the computer environment, the boundaries between the Teacher and student can become muddled. While some schools may setup a Facebook page for school related issues, the boundaries of friendship between a Teacher and student should never be crossed.
Teachers are at risk on Facebook of having students sending them ‘friend’ requests. On some occasions the request may come from a Teacher. Likewise, Teachers are vulnerable to ‘Facebook slagging’, where a student may setup a defamatory page about them. This has already happened several times in New Zealand.
Parents should educate their children on the consequences of Facebook contact with a Teacher, if it is outside the realm of standard teaching methods. It not only puts the child at risk, but also the teacher.
Installing monitoring software such as PC Pandora, will show the parent WHO their children are talking to on social networking sites.