Week 29 Reflective Post: Influence of Law and Ethics
I am your child's teacher, not your friend.
I feel that one of the ethical issues arising in the modern world is our use of social media and the boundaries around it. We all know as individuals not to post incriminating, explicit photos and posts as we are unsure of what others may interpret from it, be it parents, friends, employers etc., but where do our boundaries kick in as teachers? I was always taught cyber safe practice as 'if you wouldn't want everyone seeing it, never put it online', but where does this personal social media page become something that leeches into your professional life?
A friend of mine recently left her teaching position and that evening was flooded with friend requests from parents from her class on her Facebook page.
Where does the line get drawn, and should we really need to teach this to functioning adults? Yes we create a relationship with these parents and their kids, but you might have a good working relationship with your local doctor, who you've been taking your kids to see since they were born. Would a parent add them on Facebook? I highly doubt it because they are part of a professional service with ethics and councils to keep them in line. To a teacher, that sounds familiar but not to these parents, apparently.
The values that underpin our Code of Ethics as teachers state:
WHANAUNGATANGA: engaging in positive and collaborative relationships with our learners, their families and whanau, our colleagues and the wider community.
Whilst we create these relationships and my personal belief is that we need a good relationship or partnership between home and school, in my current school we are finding more and more that the lines are being blurred by parents rather than the actions of teachers. We are all careful to ensure that our personal lives are kept private as much as necessary according to the Code of Ethics, but we also have to be allowed a personal life by those that we teach.
Ask yourself - when was the last time you went online and 'stalked' a parent from your class? You wouldn't because as a teacher you are accountable to the Code of Ethics and would be judged against the standard:
COMMITMENT TO THE TEACHING PROFESSION: I will maintain public trust and confidence in the teaching profession by demonstrating a high standard of professional behaviour and integrity.
Hall (2001) gives a step by step process to solving ethical problems with reflective questions to guide your decision making, however when the issue is something that we might not be able to control without damaging the delicate relationships we make with parents, how can we solve that?
Laura, I am really interested in your thoughts and totally agree. The lines are very blurry right now, which is partly why I prefer to stay away from social media on a personal level. I have found creating blog posts and contributing to Google+ challenging enough!
ReplyDeleteYou have highlighted the Code of Ethics in a real way that totally makes sense. Perhaps schools need to create a Code of Ethics for communicating and interacting with teachers, parents, students via social media or online generally - working both ways. I know several are already doing so. We need to ensure we don't set something in place that promotes interaction beyond the lines of comfort and safety. It reminds me of the need to double check I have your make-up and are not still in my pajamas when heading to the supermarket (in case there is a parent or student at the check-out)!
Oh for certain! The boundaries at my current school I find appalling - parents are treating us more as friends and confidants rather than professionals, which whilst we might find flattering that we've developed these relationships and parents want to be involved and talk to us, we also need to make it clear that we are professionals. For this very reason I didn't apply for a job at a great school because it's literally a 5 minute walk from my house and I just couldn't handle being on show all the time! My partner is also a teacher and there are whole malls that we avoid because he is spotted all the time! Me being very new to Christchurch I'm less 'famous' for now!
DeleteYou make some interesting points. At teacher's personal life is absolutely governed by those professional responsibilities. Fair or not, we know teachers are held up to a higher ethical and moral standard, although this is hard to believe listening to the media sometimes! Most of the time there are no issues, however, it is surprising how many teachers friend parents and/or students and then continue on with photos or posts that are questionable. What may seem acceptable to someone, may not be at all to others. It is all so very subjective. What does a 'high standard of professional behaviour and integrity' look like? Does it differ for a teacher who is 55 to a teacher who is 22?
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point - at 22 you might expect the usual 20-something antics of having a few drinks at the pub and having friends take 'questionable' photos and post them on their pages, and whilst drinking excessively isn't a great idea as a teacher anyway (who has the time? :P), if it's a Friday night once in a blue moon then you're not hurting anyone, but you can guarantee that you'll be seen that once and your ability might be called into question, when in reality, whether you like a wine or two in the privacy of your own home at 55 or you like to go out with friends at 22, your life is your life and I'm feeling very strongly that the teaching workload and stress is encroaching on my personal and social life anyway, without the worry of being caught at my local with wine in hand by a parent or having it posted online! We don't seem to worry about our politicians having a drink and they're supposedly running the country!
DeleteI enjoyed your blog post. I liked the analogy of adding your doctor on social media. Does this perhaps say something about how teaching is viewed - are we considered professional enough within our communities? Maybe the line gets blurry when our roles are undermined with the way we are portrayed in the media (the perception that anyone can be a teacher or that it is a walk in the park)? I bet the line gets super blurry in smaller towns where everyone is either related or friends.
ReplyDeleteThanks Samantha! It's something that I feel quite strongly about. I'd suppose that the question of our professional nature could be viewed differently as we are perceived by parents as a caring figure who looks out for their children, but also that we are not held up as a professional figure in the current society. What with the pay increase media hype the last week or so, I think that really showed me how split the public view is! Just today I had a survey done with Stats NZ and the woman who came to my house to survey me was very chatty about how I was a teacher and she was very understanding and assumed straight away that I had been busy working all holidays, whereas other people assume the opposite and we aren't viewed as a professional... You can't always win unfortunately!
DeleteAs a teacher in a small special character school, I found this to be very challenging. Within the first few months of my employment I was inundated with friend requests from parents, many of which I did not know from a bar of soap. It was considered by parents to be socially acceptable to befriend their children's teachers, almost as if it was a right for them to see past your professional life into your personal one. Of course this was not supported by the school management but the lines for teachers were a little more than blurred, in my opinion. Fortunately I have little to no Facebook life and a letter home to parents outlining my acceptable methods for communicating helped to set what I would deem 'healthy boundaries'.
ReplyDeleteI'm in a similar(ish) position - my school is a small semi-rural school and our parents are very chatty and unfortunately some just don't take the hint! It is unfortunate that parents think that they have a right to peer into our personal lives - I'll share my holiday plans and say something like oh my partner and I are off to XXX these holidays or whatever, but I'm not about to share my whole life story just as we know little about their personal lives... A letter is a great way to address the issue - I might have to try that in future! :) Thanks for the tip, Tracy!
DeleteI think there has to be a certain amount of self preservation. The nature of the work we do, interacting on a daily basis with young children and teenagers places us at times in a vulnerable position. There have to be boundaries and both teachers, students and whanau need to respect those boundaries. I don't think we can fulfill our role as educators effectively if we have to constantly second guess every move we or our students make. At the same time we want to make ourselves accessible to our students and whanau. I agree that those boundaries can be blurred by the type of community we work or live in. I do know that medical staff face similar dilemmas.
DeleteThis has been a great post to read Laura. I live in such a small and close-knit community myself that it can seem tempting and normal to become Facebook friends with a parent, as we do become close with them outside of school. It certainly can be tricky to draw that professional and personal line! I have found that ensuring my social media profiles are very private and not including by full name has helped with this. Thanks for the insight!
ReplyDeleteThanks Laura, for your post. I recently have moved across the road from my school. The first time I have ever worked in the area I have taught. I constantly run into kids/whanau before and after school, in the weekend and at all times of the day and night. I have a blanket rule of no students or parents on Facebook or any other social media. I have had a number of ex-students try to add me over the years and a parent (who works at the local supermarket) who was very offended that I wouldn't accept her friend request. I think there is a line in the sand and it shouldn't be crossed. It is important to keep your personal and professional life separate. Even if kids say hi to you when you're hanging out your washing on a Saturday afternoon (the list goes on).
ReplyDelete