Firstly, I doubt any teacher would want their students anywhere near their social networking page. I think this would be appropriate only if the teacher created a dedicated social media page solely for the purpose of engaging with students. The only content a teacher would add here would be notes on the current curriculum, deadlines for upcoming assignments and it could also be used as a resource for students to communicate with each other. By having this separate private page that maybe staff and students parents can get access to it protects both the teachers and the students.

As a teacher, I believe it’s completely in appropriate to interact with students in Facebook. I don’t want to and I’m sure they don’t want to.

However, Edmodo is a social network specifically designed for teachers, students and parents. Teachers can share notes, give homework, tests and quizzes, students can ask teachers questions and parents can oversee the whole thing. It’s transparent and purpose built.

Social networking is a useful tool for schools and shouldn’t be seen as a complete no no. However, it must be transparent and fit for purpose.

Personally i don’t see a problem with it while its only used for professional purposes. Used on a public forum, it would be harmless ,ie teacher giving notes or studying tips etc, that may have been skipped over at school. But having private conversations about what they did last week would be off limits. No party should be allowed to get personal.

Teachers are exactly that teachers, they are not their students friends and should not be involved in their personal outside school lives.

Had there been social media when I was in school I would not have wanted to be associated with them in that capacity. I can only imagine there are students stupid enough to go on the hop and tweet about Stephens green

I don’t think they should be friends but that doesn’t mean a particular year can’t have a Facebook group page that their parents can join as well.

Either way, the simple fact is that very few colleges or universities, let alone schools, have policies to deal with this.

It’s 2012 – we’ve had social media for five or six years – it should be crystal clear by now what these rules should be.

Actually, to those thinking teenagers would be horrified at the idea of being friends with their teacher, I have taught kids both in Ireland and other parts of Europe and there are always a few who try to find you on facebook and add you or ask you after class to add them. Its not about friendship, its about having a level of access to your teacher’s private life that you can gossip about in school. I know when I was in school, not having access to this sort of thing, we just used to make stuff up about our teachers for the laugh.

Either way it’s beyond inappropriate for teachers to have students as personal friends on facebook. I always tell my students this now as part of my introduction to the class and keep my privacy settings on high just in case.

I doubt many teachers and students would WANT to communicate through social networking. However, in college I interact with my lecturers and teachers regularly over social media, and am friends and acquaintances with some of them. I feel it only helps to foster more mutual respect.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/23/teacher-misconduct-cases-facebook? Teacher-student relationship should strictly professional imo and any communication outside of school should be pertaining to educational matters.

As a teacher, I have a subject-specific site on Facebook which I use to share articles, upload files, post videos and pass on advice regarding exams and assignments. The students do not have access to my personal page nor I to theirs. There are strict rules in place governing the uploading of content, comments, times which content can be posted (nothing past 10:30pm) and other online etiquette. I have been using it for over a year now and both students and parents have commented on its efficacy. If I have neglected to cover something in class, I tell my students “I’ll post it on Facebook later”.

As students these days spend a significant amount of time on Facebook, I think it would be negligible not to try direct students towards more enlightening educational topics. Learning is being re-defined by social media and students are becoming more ‘displaced’ in virtual spaces such as Facebook. This is serving to ‘displace’ learning itself. As teachers, we must be willing to enter this space in a professional and rule-bound manner or we risk losing students.

I think the likes of moodle is ok as students can ask subject related questions, get essays marked etc. Facebook Twitter and Google plus are not appropriate means of communicating with students

As a teacher myself I would have to say absolutely not. It is entirely inappropriate as it blurs the boundaries between professional and unprofessional behaviour. At any rate, I don’t think many teachers want students as their friends: students are curious enough about our private lives without giving them a window to look through.

It’s problematic because communication between stud- teachers can cross the line between professional- personal and teachers can easily misrepresent themselves or aspects of the job role and this can lead to litigious action. There are already cases of this at third level ongoing which have yet to hit the media

VLEs or virtual learning environments with feedback options like comments and online tests are a form of social media, eg wikispaces.com. And the potential of them over doing everything on paper is tremendous. Keeping a clear divide between where a student goes to learn and where they go to socialize and what they will find in those places I think is the key. But there is as much chance of preventing learning extending itself online as there is chance of people suddenly losing interest in social networks.

Surely you have to differentiate between social and work. Maybe a school page could interact with students, but not teachers personal pages.

Edmodo is the perfect way to interact with students in an an appropriate way, while keeping up with technological advances. It is specifically designed for this purpose so there’s no need for Facebook.

an outright ban wouldnt be a good idea as some teachers would know their students outside of school too (relatives, family friends, neighbours etc.)

Perhaps a specialized social network designed with this purpose in mind? If computers are going to replace text books in school it would be madness to confine learning to the classroom.

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A blanket ban is small minded and regressive. Social networking can be an excellent and most efficient learning tool when managed properly. It is up to teachers to ensure that they do not put inappropriate materials online. I have used both blogs and twitter to help students and don’t feel that these activities constitute inappropriate personal relationships given that they take place in a public domain and are resources that I make available to all my students.

I wouldn’t want to have my teacher as a FB friend growing up. I just got a little sick in my mouth thinking about her in her bikini:)

I think edmodo is amazing and so do my students. Plus,think of all the students I’m helping online, particularly with English Paper 1 looming in the morning. 14,000 page views today. http://www.leavingcertenglish.net – have a look then tell me there’s no place for online interaction.

I do not think that students and teachers should be friends on facebook or other social network sites. in fact i have told my own children that if ever any of their teachers sent them friend requests, not to accept them or ignore them, for the simple reason that once this teacher is a “friend” they can see everything my child writes, which would otherwise be invisible to people who are not on her friends list and as so many of the posts are personal to the kids and have nothing to do with school whatoever i really don’t think it would be wise for teachers to be able to see so much about their student’s private live’s. many of the posts on a teens newsfeed are like a chat because many friends respond to the original status update (the kids seem to forget that it isn’t a private chat room and that all the friends of the original poster can see any entries made on the status update..) (and yes, i check my kid’s facebook on a regular basis as part of the agreement for being allowed a facebook account. this is how i know how stupidly kids often write on their public wall…)

I don,t have a problem with it at all. I doubt very much any teacher would want their students on their facebook pages, not too mention the students. Facebook is all about street cred for the kids who wants their teacher as a friend they will get dogs abuse in class.

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someone above says ‘teachers are teachers and that is what they are and they should not be friends’. Yes this is true but in a school environment the best teachers who inspire students are the one’s they have a respect for and a relationship. I think as long as parents and other staff know that the teacher has students as friends, then it can be ok. Its a tough one because the same question is relevant to others youth workers, volunteers with young people etc. I co-ordinate an education project and we have 2000 fans but also group pages and other ways to keep people up to date. By allowing our volunteers as well as the children (aged 11-16; yes facebook is meant to be for over 13s – I view this as parental responsibilty).

Facebook and other social media can allow students and young people to interact. The advantage if teachers/ adults are on the same page, they can monitor the comments of the young people. If adults refuse to befriend then the young people will engage anyway and unsupervised online access allows for online bullying.
So overall, I think the Minister has jumped the gun on this one and erred too much on the side of caution. He should direct the Ombudsman for Children to draw up a good practice policy because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Absolutely not.

Why on earth would students and teachers want to “friend” each other or share social media in the first place? Has relationships between both parties significantly improved that much from my school days when either party spent as little time in each other company as humanly possible!
Of course this shouldn’t happen nor should there be any need for guidelines, let common sense prevail!

can’t see how it would be of any benefit to students or teachers .

Certainly teachers should not have students as part of their social networks.

However, one big issue is that teachers need to get to grips with is understanding their privacy settings and also understanding that what is published on social media doesn’t vanish very quickly. Apparently, there have been cases of teachers discussing pupils with other teachers with their privacy settings set to “public”.

Teachers should review these settings and then review their friends list.