Facebook and Twitter ‘can Ruin Teachers’ Career’

A leading teachers' union in Scotland has warned its members against revealing too much of information about themselves on social networking websites.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) is of the view that teachers are risking their careers by becoming too familiar with their students as a result of opening themselves up on Twitter and Facebook, a BBC report has noted.

The report has added that the General Teaching Council of Scotland is preparing guidelines for teachers on the use of social networks.

"First thing is don't bother telling anybody else about your social life. Nobody is interested about your social life and it doesn't help," Jim Docherty, assistant secretary of the SSTA, has been quoted in the report as saying.

"Secondly, never make any comment about your work, about your employer, about teaching issues in general. There is always a possibility it will be misinterpreted," Doherty added.

A report commissioned by the University of Plymouth in August 2011 showed that British parents were increasingly using Facebook and Twitter to bully teachers and schools. "Facebook is becoming a bigger fear for schools than Ofsted. Increasingly, social media are being used to fuel campaigns against schools and teachers. Twenty per cent of our members have received threats or abuse online - parents or ex-pupils being the most common source," Rusell Hobby, an official of National Association of Head Teachers, told the Telegraph newspaper then.