Supply Desk recognises that mobile phones, cameras, and digital devices are now an integral part of our culture and can be of considerable value in education, particularly in relation to personal safety, however, personal mobile phones also have the potential to be used inappropriately. All schools now have specific school policies for IT (including mobile phones and removable hardware) and social media. Please ensure you adhere to it whilst undertaking your assignment.

Navigating social media is hard enough as it is – but if you’re a teacher, teaching assistant or another member of school staff, it becomes even more difficult. The Teachers’ Standards require that you uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, both within and outside school. Remember, conduct in your private life and online may be relevant to your fitness to teach; bringing your school or your profession into disrepute may cost you your career. As such, we suggest that you exercise discretion where necessary, and follow this guidance.

Use of mobile phones:

• Mobile phones should never be used to take photographs or videos of children or to store their personal data.
• You should never send to, or accept from, colleagues or pupils, texts or images that could be viewed as inappropriate.
• You should never contact pupils or parents from your personal mobile phone or give your mobile phone number to pupils or parents.
• If you need to make telephone contact with a pupil, you should ask in the school office to use the school telephone.
• You must have your phones on ‘silent’ or switched off during class time.
• You must not make or receive calls during teaching time. If there are extreme circumstances (e.g. acutely sick relative) please ensure you make a member of the school’s SLT aware and seek their permission to receive an emergency call.
• Use of phones must be limited to non-contact time when no children are present.
• Phones must be kept out of sight (e.g. drawer, handbag, pocket) when you are with children.
• Calls/texts must be made/received in private during non-contact time.
• You may be permitted to use your mobile phone during games sessions (if applicable) and when responsible for children away from school, only to communicate arrangements to parents or colleagues or for emergency purposes.

* The term ‘phone’ in this policy denotes mobile phones, iPods, iPads, MP3 players, MP4 players, smartwatches, and any similar portable electronic devices.

Do not accept friend requests from pupils:

By making, or accepting friend requests, or requests to follow you from pupils, or even parents, you could be making yourself vulnerable by sharing personal information or by having access to personal information about your pupils. Remember, whilst you might think that a photo or post is innocent enough, parents and the senior leadership team might have a different view. You may be leaving yourself open to allegations of inappropriate contact or conduct, or even find yourself exposed to claims of unwanted contact. So, firmly decline friend requests from pupils, and do not instigate any yourself. We would suggest that you also decline requests from parents, and remind them of more formal channels through which they can discuss their child’s education.

Removable hardware – USB sticks/portable hard drives:

Removable hardware and USB memory sticks have a very large capacity and therefore can pose a considerable security risk if they are lost, stolen, abused, or are infected.

With so many storage devices, from USB sticks and flash memory to portable hard drives being lost and stolen each year, a number of schools have banned staff from using them unless they are issued by the school. If a school does allow the use of personal removable hardware, they may require that the IT department scans the hardware to ensure it is virus free as infected USB sticks or drives can cause even bigger damage because they can infect more than just one computer; the virus will spread every time the flash drive is plugged into a new device. The school may also limit what they can be used for and the type of information that can be stored on them.

Ensure you check with the relevant members of school staff before using your own hardware or memory stick and never use personal hardware or memory sticks in school or pupils’ devices unless authorised to do so.

If you decide to use removable hardware, especially when it may contain personal data, you should think about, and limit, who has access to the removable media. Following the below steps will help minimise the risk of using them:

1. Make sure that the device itself and the files on it are encrypted and have strong passwords. Secure flash drives are available with an encryption feature built into them for this purpose
2. Never leave removable media unattended, even if it is encrypted.
3. Do not use the same USB stick for home and work computers. This limits the possibility of spreading malware from your home PC to the school PC (and vice versa).
4. Limit the data held on the stick and regularly review it to ensure it is relevant. Avoid storing any personal data.
5. Ensure you disable the autorun/autoplay features on all removable media.

Social Media Guidelines – Check your privacy settings:

The new KCSIE (September 2022) includes recommendations for potential new staff to be subject to a “digital screening” process prior to interview. On page 53, paragraph 220, the instruction reads:
“As part of the shortlisting process, schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidates. This may help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which the school or college might want to explore with the applicant at the interview.”

Make sure your privacy settings are set accordingly. It is important that, when using social networks, you are in control of who can see your account details and content, including photos, posts, and any personal information. Be aware that pupils will be naturally curious about your personal life outside school and may try and find out more about you. Similarly, schools and parents may try and view your online social media profiles. So, we recommend that you think about the following:

• Make sure that you operate online in a way which would not call into question your position as a professional, or your compliance with the Teachers’ Standards.
• Remember that privacy mechanisms in Social Networks are not 100% guaranteed.
• It is worth checking the information that is available about you on Social Networks, and checking who has access to it.
• You may want to use a pseudonym and, where possible, make your accounts private.
• Ensure that your settings prohibit others from tagging you in any photos or updates without your permission. Never be shy about asking others to take down or make private content that identifies you that you are not comfortable with.

Protecting your professional reputation:

Managing your online reputation is an essential part of being a teacher and support staff. Always think carefully before making any posts or status updates, or adding photos. Ask yourself:

• Might this reflect poorly on you, the school, or the teaching profession?
• Is your intention to post this material driven by personal reasons or professional reasons?
• Are you confident that the comment or photo in question, if accessed by others (staff, pupils, parents, etc.) would be considered reasonable and appropriate?

Remember, anything that is put online is potentially public and permanent. Comments made public could be taken out of context and could be very damaging.

You should not discuss the school, its staff, pupils, or parents in an online environment, even if your account is private. Posting derogatory comments about them is never acceptable. Always respect pupil and parent privacy and confidentiality.

Make sure that you use strong passwords for your social network sites (SNS) and keep these confidential. Do not access your personal social network site (SNS) whilst you are at school, and never using school devices. Make sure that your personal mobile phone is kept secure and hidden when you are in a school, and that it is locked with a PIN to protect access to its content and potential misuse. Do not use your mobile phone during lessons.

Do not exchange private text, phone numbers, personal email addresses or photos of a personal nature with pupils. Use only official channels of communication i.e. a school’s email addresses.

Using Social Media for educational purposes with pupils

Some schools do use Facebook or other social network to communicate with pupils, parents and governors, but they do so using professional or organisational accounts or pages, with the prior approval from their senior leadership team (and recognising that many social networks have a minimum age requirement of 13). If your school supports the positive use of social networks, always check the school’s policy or seek guidance from a senior member of staff if you wish to use these with your pupils.

Cyberbullying

If you are the victim of cyberbullying or are uncomfortable with comments, photos or posts made by pupils of or about you, bring the matter to the attention of the school, or Supply Desk. Do not respond or retaliate, and save or print all available evidence.

Inappropriate use of social media by pupils

If you become aware of inappropriate use of social networking sites by your pupils, you should report these to the appropriate person within the school.

If you have any questions about this Guidance or the use of social media, please contact your Supply Desk consultant.