Social Media sites were again in the spotlight at the NAHT Annual Conference in Harrogate as members of the Association expressed their dismay over the way in which sites like Facebook enable pupils and parents to publicly criticise, humiliate and bully school leaders and teacher.
The motion presented before conference was:
‘Conference calls on National Executive to press the DfE to investigate the misuse of social media sites and to produce safeguards to protect schools.’
Gloucestershire head Paul Woodward, speaking to the motion, insisted that the DFE need to provide guidance on the use and abuse of social media in schools. Personal attacks on staff are an ongoing issue that needs action by DFE. He said the government need to produce tips and guidelines on this, in the same way as they have for bullying.
Paul acknowledged that the issues are hard for police as they find that the closing down of one page is sometimes followed by the publishing of another. He also suggested that the DfE need to put pressure on social networking sites to deal more quickly with reported abuse.
London director of e-learning, Sue Street, expressed further concern that even after abusive comments are removed from such sites, there are archiving sites, such as ‘waybackmachine’ that enable these things to still be viewed.
Members voted overwhelmingly for the motion.
Page Published: 05/05/2012
