Social Media Guidelines for Teachers

Social media is one of the best resources for teachers. If you’re looking for some advice on how to navigate the online world as a teacher, this article is a great place to start.

Here are a few pointers for how to approach social media as a teacher:

Do’s	Don’ts
You can share useful information. Many teachers have a community online, sharing tips and advice.	Avoid posting about individual students. It doesn’t look professional and can feed negative feedback.
Use your social media to engage and build relationships with other teachers.	2) Avoid posting photos of students, especially without parent consent.
It’s a good idea to post the classroom displays that you’re proud of.	3) Avoid making your account public, always set it to private.
You can be honest about your experiences. This can be helpful to initiate conversation when you’re struggling.	4) Don’t add or engage with students online, this isn’t professional and can get complicated. The same applies for student’s parents.
It’s useful to Google yourself and track what shows up. This can prevent unwanted information from being found.	Try not to post during work hours or overpost. Limit your hours on social media as it can be distracting.
6) Download Pinterest! It’s a useful app to take inspiration from for classroom designs and activities.	If you want to remain unfound by students, don’t use your surname on social media platforms.

Why is Pinterest useful for teachers?

Pinterest is great for discovering new ideas for the classroom.
Track trends in education. You can stumble across another teacher’s method that works well.
Get inspiration for classroom displays.
Build creativity boards to keep track of ideas and themes.

Why is it a bad idea for me to add a student on social media?

Social media plays an important role in many students’ lives, especially for those based in secondary schools. For example, studies show that over half of students own a social media account before they turn twelve.

Alongside students, teachers use social media as an effective resource tool. Statistics conducted by Digital Trends in the Education Report (2019) show:

81% of teachers use social media for inspiration
54% of teachers use social media to connect with other educators
53% of teachers use social media to find discounts for teachers

Although both teachers and their students use social media, the two shouldn’t mix and connect on these platforms. Even with good intentions, this is a bad idea with many risk implications.

At the end of the day, everybody uses social media but it’s best to stay professional and avoid complications. If you’d like to receive more expert advice from one of our specialists, call 0121 260 0000.