The importance of building a network as an international leader

“No man is an island.” – John Donne’s observation that human beings need to be part of a community in order to thrive is never truer than when moving overseas into a position as a school leader. Regardless of your experience, moving to a new international context is always challenging. Not only do you have to come to terms with the foibles of the new school, but there is inevitably much that you need to learn about the regulatory framework in which you will be operating. 

‘No substitute for local knowledge’ 

You can spend hours on online research, but the reality is that there is no substitute for local knowledge. The most efficient way to get up to speed is to build a local network of more experienced colleagues and tap into their experience and expertise. 

Building a local network can be more difficult than it sounds. Most international schools are operating in a highly competitive fee-charging environment, where margins are tight and the recruitment of every pupil matters. 

 In this context it is difficult for school leaders to set aside their differences to collaborate or to help newcomers find their feet. Yet there is much to be gained from working together. 

Take Dubai for example. There are 58 British curriculum schools in Dubai, most are for-profit and the heavily regulated market is over-supplied. There is intense pressure on school principals to get high ratings in annual inspections and to grow pupil numbers. It is no surprise that the average tenure for a school principal is a little over two years. However, despite the fierce competition, there is a vibrant British Schools in Dubai (BSID) group of principals and headteachers who work together to navigate the changing regulatory landscape - “we don’t compete on compliance” is their mantra. The BSID is a valuable network for old hands and newcomers alike: the collective wisdom, understanding and knowledge of the group far surpassing that of any one of its individuals. 

If a local group of this nature doesn’t exist it makes sense for a school leader to meet with a few like-minded colleagues to start one. 

The importance of International networks: 

International schools have much in common with UK schools, but they are fundamentally different in a number of significant ways. Firstly, the children and students are usually drawn from a huge range of countries (JESS Dubai has some 82 different passports) and many are not native English speakers. Secondly, the teaching staff are expatriates, often living away from their home country support network. Also, staff and pupil turnover can be high; and there are other local challenges determined by geography, climate, politics and religion. 

It is hugely beneficial for school leaders to build a network with colleagues who have an understanding of these and similar challenges. The best way to do this is for schools to join a major international schools group such as the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) or the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA). These organisations curate the expertise of international school leaders and, though annual conferences and webinars, provide forums for them to share best practice and ideas. 

The importance of UK networks: 

One of the dangers of working overseas is that it is very easy to be become out of touch and dislocated from the issues which are driving education in the UK. This can have a negative impact on the school because UK debates ultimately impact on the international sector; and it can be detrimental for the school leader in terms of professional development and career progression. By maintaining close links with a UK-based network, international school leaders can remain part of the conversation and stay abreast of key developments. 

The importance of social media networks: 

Social media allows international school leaders to keep up to date, to play an active part in educational debates and to build a local and global network – indeed I have developed strong professional links with a number of colleagues whom I have never met in person. 

At a local level, Twitter and LinkedIn allow school leaders to build picture of their contexts by collating information from a range of sources, such as local media channels, government and regulatory agencies, good schools guides, relocation agents, other school leaders, and rival school feeds. 

At the same time, they are a forum for regional and global thought leaders and provide a platform for school leaders to publish their ideas and be part of the conversation. Social media is perhaps the most effective way for school leaders to promote their schools and to tap into a network of like-minded school leaders. 

Networks – the antidote to “it’s lonely at the top.” 

There are times when all school leaders feel isolated – even lonely. It goes with the territory. However, that isolation and loneliness can be magnified when working overseas. Here it is more important than ever that school leaders develop a strong professional network to whom they can turn for support and advice.

This article was published in Tes 24/07/2019

e-Safety for Teachers - Why teachers need to protect themselves on Social Media and some tips on how to do it.

Beware: Parents Troll Teachers

Last year, a parent, who was upset that her daughter had not been selected for a school sports team, took it upon herself to go onto the Facebook pages of the teacher concerned looking for some angle in order to get back at her. The mother contacted me complaining that the teacher was a "disgrace and shouldn't be working with children". She reported that there inappropriate pictures of the teacher at a party. Subsequent investigation revealed nothing more than a picture of the staff member at a party holding a cocktail obviously having a good time. I was shocked that a vengeful parent should 'troll' a teacher in this way. My response was to take no action in relation to the teacher and to run an INSET on e-Safety for the teaching staff. With full a Governor support, as a senior team, we also drafted a policy and procedure to deal with any future malicious or vengeful acts by parents: a formal warning would be given and any repetition would lead to the 'required removal' of the child because of a break down of trust between the school and the parent. The episode was a timely reminder of the vulnerable position that we find ourselves as teachers and of the importance of teachers doing all that they can to protect themselves. We spend a lot of time in schools exhorting and training pupils to take measures to be safe online, but many of the same principles equally apply to the staff room. 

Because teachers work in positions of influence with children and young people, society dictates that they conduct themselves as role models. There are expectations of higher standards of teachers' behaviour in their private lives that do not apply to other professions. Young bankers or solicitors whose wild Friday night out is documented in graphic detail on Facebook are not likely to have a problem at work so long as what they were doing was not illegal. Furthermore, child protection legislation and procedures dictate that there are circumstances when a teacher is treated as 'guilty until proven innocent'. A teacher who is subject to a malicious online anonymous accusation potentially could face suspension, pending a full investigation - with all the personal reputational damage that that entails. In this context, it is all the more important that teachers do all they can to take steps to prevent themselves from being open to accusation by ensuring that their personal life on social media remains private. 

Protecting your Digital Tattoo Teachers would be well advised to take the time to protect their online presence. Most obviously this entails a good understanding of the privacy settings on individual social media sites. However, teachers should bear in mind that, whilst, it is possible to prevent members of the public (including parents and pupils) from having access to personal pictures and posts, it is perhaps safest to assume that, in practice, everything that is posted online is in the public domain. Once it is out there, rather like a tattoo, it is very difficult to get it removed. The rule of thumb is 'don't post anything online that you wouldn't want to see in the Daily Mail.'
However, we are not totally responsible for our digital tattoo for others can post pictures and write things about us online. This is more difficult to monitor and control. Two useful steps are to Google yourself and to see what is out there about you; and to set up a Google Alerts which will inform you when your name appears on a website.

One of the greatest areas of concern for teachers comes in the form of the RateMyTeacher website. The site purports to provide "user generated feedback on teachers' and professors' teaching methods and their respective courses." In practice it provides an unaccountable platform for malicious comments, unbalanced judgements and the cyber-bullying of teachers. Because comments are posted anonymously and the site is now hosted in the US, there is in practice no legal redress for any slanderous accusations posted on the site (because US law protects the site from prosecution, and it is almost impossible to trace any individual who made the original post). The consequence is that teachers are vulnerable to potentially career damaging false accusations. 

Taking steps to have unwanted posts on the Internet is quite difficult - it is a combination of 'blocking' people and 'reporting abuse' to websites - but this doesn't always work. The most effective way to have a positive Digital Tattoo is be active on the web by blogging, tweeting and being referenced in good articles.

Keeping Professional Distance.  It is universally accepted within schools that there needs to be a 'professional distance' between teachers and pupils. This is necessary in the classroom, but it is all the more important in teachers' private lives. Part of this 'distance' is that teachers don't socialise with pupils: a young teacher who goes clubbing with the sixth form crosses a line which, at best, lays himself open not only to the charge of unprofessionalism, and, at worst, could lead to allegations of serious misconduct. In the same vein, teachers are well advised to ensure that all lines of communication with pupils are through official channels. It is generally accepted that teachers should not be emailing pupils from their personal accounts, or texting or phoning pupils from their personal mobile phones. Indeed, almost all schools provide an official school email for this purpose and some schools, recognising the necessity and ubiquity of mobile communication, provide teachers in pastoral roles with mobile phones which are paid for by the school on the understanding the communication may be monitored.

Teachers, Pupils and Social Media.  

The traditionally clear distinction between the professional and the personal is blurred by social media. 

Facebook 'friends' range from close family to passing acquaintances: it is a melting-pot of all whom we know and meet. One of the problematic features of Facebook is that it forces us to interact with all our 'friends' in the same way, which is not how we interact in the real world. The language we use when speaking to our oldest friends is often markedly different to the language we use in the workplace. How we talk to our mates when out on a Saturday night is far from the language and tone that we employ when teaching Year 12.
So should teachers be 'friends' with pupils on Facebook?  Some may argue that the privacy settings enable teachers to separate professional and personal relationships on Facebook. To some extent this is true - it is possible for teachers to prevent pupils from having access to personal posts and photographs. However, my greatest concern about social media is that they open up a private channel of communication between teachers and pupils, which can put teachers unwittingly into a situation where they are open to accusations of misconduct. How would a teacher who was a 'friend' with a Year 13 girl defend a claim that s/he had been conducting an online relationship? We can also turn the question around, can there ever be a good reason for teacher to be 'friends' with a pupil on Facebook? 

Facebook Friends with parents. The example above illustrates the dangers of being friends with parents on Facebook, but maintaining this distance is not always as easy as it may seem. Separating the personal and the professional is particularly difficult for those who have children in the school in which they work - for they are both teacher and parent at the same time. The prevalence of Form Facebook groups can put colleagues into a difficult position, particularly when the group gets up a head of steam on a particular issue. Teachers are best advised in these circumstances to maintain a discrete silence, lest their unique position be (mis)quoted to give extra weight to the argument. 

Twitter.  The way in which many people use Twitter confuses the professional and the personal: one minute the teacher is sharing a teaching idea picked up at an excellent INSET, the next s/he is posting pictures of the family reunion. My advice here is simple: if you want to post about professional and personal matters, run two twitter accounts; and if pupils are following you on Twitter, use the 'mute' function (from the settings menu) to disable their ability to tweet on your timeline or to message you directly.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional networking site - linking up is the social media equivalent of exchanging a business card. As such, LinkedIn is a useful vehicle for connecting with colleagues, parents and former pupils as 'professional distance' is built it. Users have full control of their own profile and it is not possible for others to post pictures or comments on the site that are publicly visible. Teachers would be well advised not to link with current pupils because LinkedIn does have a messaging feature and thus opens up the possibility of a private communication channel.  

Conclusion: There is little doubt that many teachers need to take much greater care when navigating the world of social media. Forewarned is forearmed.

Related Posts

• My interview with Nicola Woolcock of The Times published on Monday 20th October:
• The INSET presentation that I gave to Berkhamsted School Staff

How Headteachers can use Twitter for Continuing Professional Development

Presentation given at the HMC Conference in London on Wednesday 2nd October, 2013.

Another Social Networking Christmas

A Social Network Christmas

A creative contemporary take on the Christmas Story

Protecting a School’s Reputation on Social Networking sites and the Internet

Schools cannot afford to ignore Social Networking sites when developing their Communication and PR strategy. There are a two key issues that School Strategic Managers might like to consider.

First, just as in the 1990s there was a rush to buy up all the domain names that related to the school [www.yourschool.org.uk; www.yourschool.com etc.] it would be prudent for schools to establish that they have the right to key social networking web addresses for the school, such as www.facebook.com/YourSchool, www.twitter.com/YourSchool etc. Because Facebook and Twitter are privately owned and not governed by the rules that applied to website domain names, it is first-come, first-served in relation to these web addresses.

Secondly, social networking sites do pose an important challenge when it comes to protecting a school’s reputation. These sites need to be monitored daily for defamatory material and for inappropriate pictures. This is no mean task and there is a cost in time. It will not be possible to prevent individual pupils from damaging the school’s reputation all of the time, but there are some steps that a school can take to help.

The easiest way for a school to protect itself is to ensure that it has administrative control of the school Facebook Group, Facebook Page and of the Twitter account. This will allow the school to monitor what is posted on the site, to remove any offensive material and to block undesirable members. If the schools do not set up their own Facebook Page or Group, it is more than likely that someone else will. Ideally schools should set up these pages and then find some mechanism whereby pupils in the school and alumni chose to use that group than any alternative that they might set up themselves. [At Berkhamsted we achieved this by saying that we would announce on Facebook whether or not the school was open on a potential snow-day – we got over 800 members within 24 hours]. It is much better if the school has control of the Facebook Group that the pupils are using.

So long as the school sets up the Twitter account, it can control who is allowed to post “tweets” and to follow the school. The only problem with Twitter is that it is possible for people to write to the Twitter wall, so the accounts needs to be monitored quite closely. It is possible to remove unwanted postings, so long as you have editorial control. Monitoring tweets about the school is a relatively easy task by using the Twitter search site (http://search.twitter.com).


Protecting your School’s Reputation on the wider Internet

One of the unfortunate consequences of the Web 2.0 revolution that made it so easy to publish to the Internet is that a school now has to devote considerable resources to protecting its reputation in Cyberspace. It is so easy for the misguided pupil, former pupil or for a disaffected parent to publish defamatory information on the Internet.
The task of monitoring what is being said about the school is an important one, but need not be too onerous as there are a number of useful websites and free services that will help the person in this role:

Google Alerts is a very simple free service, whereby any user can be alerted as soon as something relevant to their interest is detected by the Google Search engine. What this means is that a school can set up a Google Alert so that every time the school name (or the name of the Headteacher etc) appears on a webpage that someone in the school will receive an email notification and a link to the relevant page. Be aware that Google Alerts do not pick up every posting on the wall of social-networking sites – these will have to be monitored separately - but they are an excellent way to keep an eye on what is being said about the school. www.google.com/alerts.

Here are some other useful sites:

• http://blogsearch.google.com
• http://www.whostalkin.com

This blogpost is the basis for an article 'Using Social and Digital Media as part of your School Marketing, Communication and PR Strategies' that will be published in the ISC Bulletin later this term.

Using Social Networking Platforms as part of a School's Communication Strategy

Schools always have been places where people come together, they always have provided a social focus for the community of parents and they always have been a hot topic on the dinner-party circuit.
Social networking platforms enable schools to continue to be a focus for shaping new communities and for bringing people together. They are fundamentally about communication and community. They are as much about listening as speaking. Not only can they provide new ways in which a school can provide up to date information about the school for parents and important ways to keep in touch with former pupils, but also they are a way to listen to these groups too. Social networking platforms a cost-effective way in which schools can extend their communication and marketing reach by “pushing” relevant information to parents and getting feedback from them.

It is not possible to set up a Facebook account for a school, but a school can set up a Facebook Group and a Facebook Page. A school Facebook Group enables anyone who is interested to keep in touch as part of their daily social networking activity. A Facebook Page operates rather like any commercial page. It is possible to have an official link [e.g. www. Facebook.com/YourSchool] and this can provide a more formal platform for the school and members of the group to publish relevant announcements, news stories, pictures and invitations to school events, such as Alumni reunions. www.facebook.com

Twitter provides an excellent information platform for schools. What is attractive about Twitter is that it is a much less invasive way of publishing information than, say, sending an email or a text. It lends itself to “pushing out” non-urgent or less important information; and thus is a very effective means of sending a gentle reminder to parents or publishing daily good news stories about the school. Twitter allows only 140 characters, which is enough to post to give the gist of a story, and it is possible to post a link to a full version of the story on the School Website. Parents can pick up school “tweets” either on their mobile phones or on their computers, at their convenience and then follow any links to the school website if they want further information. Some schools have taken the step of embedding their Twitter feed into their school website.

It is possible to set up a school Twitter account [www. Twitter.com/YourSchool]. It is possible to set up multiple Twitter accounts for a school, so news can be targeted to key groups [such as Twitter.com/YourPrep, or to Twitter.com/YourHouse]. Twitter not only can be run from a PC/Mac, but it is also available as an App so it is possible to “tweet” updates live, say, with results from a major sports tournament. www.twitter.com

The best way to manage multiple Twitter accounts is to use Tweetdeck, which is available both for PC/Mac and mobile devices. This program allows you to be logged in to more than one Twitter account at the same time and to post the same “tweet” to more than one account. It also makes the task of monitoring school Twitter accounts very straight-forward. In short it will save schools an enormous amount of time. www.tweetdeck.com

Joining LinkedIn is the Internet equivalent of exchanging a business card. It is probably the most important social-networking site for business people. LinkedIn has many of the features of Facebook (e.g. it has groups and it is possible to post to a wall and to send messages) but users tend not to post trivia about their private life. Schools will probably find a LinkedIn presence useful in terms of keeping in touch with both parents and Alumni. It is possible to set up a LinkedIn Group for your school and thus to send out news and information. LinkedIn has an excellent App for the iPhone. www.linkedin.com

This blogpost is the basis for an article 'Using Social and Digital Media as part of your School Marketing, Communication and PR Strategies' that will be published in the ISC Bulletin later this term.

Protecting your Privacy on Facebook

Two really useful articles with detailed instructions on how to protect your privacy on Facebook in light of the recent changes in privacy settings:

• The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now New York Times 20/01/10
  

• How to Protect Your Privacy with Facebook’s New Privacy Settings in 17 Easy Steps Inside Facebook Blog 19/01/10
  

How to be a good cyber-parent

Parents are anxious about what their children are doing online, and unsure what to do, a YouGov survey suggests. So can schools help?

How to be a good cyber parent Guardian PDA Content Blog 30/11/09
Seven in 10 parents demand compulsory online privacy lessons Daily Telegraph 30/10/09

Bebo introduce CEOP reporting button to protect children from Internet abuse.

Bebo, the social networking site which has a strong following among children and the younger teens, have introduced button which appears automatically under users' profile pictures, for users to log abuse directly to CEOP [the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre]. Clicking on the tool, opens a window inviting victims to log "violations of Bebo's terms of service" – including bullying, hate speech and sexually explicit content.

This is quite a radical step for a social networking site to take as it marks a move away from self-regulation, to reliance on the Government multi-agency system run by CEOP.

Facebook adopts a different approach, as outlined in their safety section, which is to investigate any complaints themselves. Their site maintains that "Facebook is solely responsible for complaint handling" although they do provide a link for users to contact the Independent Safety and Security Examiner (ISSE) regarding Facebook's complaint handling procedures.

There is pressure on Facebook and MySpace to follow Bebo's lead, but there are inevitably multi-jurisdictional issues here, which make this a much more complicated question than it first appears.

For further information see:

• More than 8 million young users get added safeupport as Bebo adopts ‘CEOP Report’ button. CEOP Press Release 18/11/09
• Facebook 'fails to protect children' Daily Telegraph 18/11/09
  
• Social networking sites criticised for failing to protect children Guardian 18/11/09
  

Understanding Facebook

For many parents and teachers the world of Facebook is an alien place: it certainly operates under a different set of rules. This article is an attempt to unpack two of the dynamics of social networking sites:

Making Friends

When we [parents and teachers] meet someone new, say at a drinks or dinner party, we trade snippets of personal information about ourselves as part of the "friends-making process". Where we work, where we went on holiday, our favourite film and what music we listen to - such is the stuff of social small-talk. As we get to know someone better, we share more personal information about ourselves and, over time, the transition is made from casual acquaintance to friendship.

Friend-making is at the heart of sites like Facebook. When young people “make friends” on social networking sites they operate in a totally different way - cocktail party conventions do not apply here. The whole process is truncated into a millisecond as they disclose their life story in a single mouse click, disgorging enormous amounts of personal information to relative strangers.

The dynamic in the world of social networking seems to be that the more information that you give out the more “friends” you will have. Openness here is virtue, a lack of disclosure is met with suspicion. Thus there is a contractual basis to the way in which young people use social networking sites they trade personal information for popularity – this is a key driver behind these sites.


“Famous for …….”

Social networking sites enable young people to emulate their role models. We live in the Age of the Celebrity. The famous live their lives in the eye of the media – the gossip pages of glossy magazines and fan websites share minute details of teenagers’ role models. Reality TV progammes such as Big Brother have fuelled this craze with celebrities’ most intimate moments being broadcast to the world for public scrutiny.

So why should we surprised that young people want to be any different? Unprepared to wait for Warhol’s “fifteen minutes of fame”, Facebook enables anyone to behave like celebrities and to put themselves permanently in the public eye. Young people are able to share their thoughts with their friends and to update the world on even the most banal aspects of their daily lives. For some, Facebook is their diary, for others is a vehicle for a “second life”: an opportunity to present themselves to world as they would like to be seen.

Ultimately Facebook harnesses the timeless need of young people to spend time together [our generation did it on the phone] and satisfies a basic twenty-first century need to receive public recognition from ones peers.

This blogpost was based on an article written for the GSA MyDaughter website

Social Networking Sites

Unpublished letter to the Sunday Telegraph

Sir

The Archbishop of Westminster’s comments [Sunday Telegraph – 02/08/2009] on the perils of social networking sites are misdirected.

Most young people are highly skilled communicators who have a sophisticated network of friends and acquaintances. Many, however, are naïve about the dangers of the adult world. Young people have a totally different attitude to privacy from all previous generations. When they meet new people on social networking sites, for example, they routinely disclose their life story in a single mouse click, disgorging enormous amounts of personal information and photographs to relative strangers. What is more, they do it in a digital format that is easy to store, share and publish.

Rather than despairing of the youth of today, parents, schools and even clergy have a responsibility to ensure that young people have the requisite skills to navigate the digital landscape safely and to protect their personal information.


Mark S. Steed
Principal, Berkhamsted School, Herts
Chairman, Independent Schools Council ICT Strategy Group.

Digital Natives, Social Networking and Privacy

With the way that the Internet is set up today, we routinely trade personal information for services or products. We provide name, address, telephone numbers, date of birth and email addresses and in return we receive a free Facebook or Amazon account or free OpenOffice or whatever. Firms then can use this information for various purposes, most commonly to target advertisements at us.

There is a contractual basis to the way in which young people use social networking sites too - only that here they are trading personal information for popularity. The dynamic seems to be that the more information that you give out the more friends you will have. To some extent this is what we all do in the offline world. When we meet someone new, say at a drinks or dinner party, we trade snippets of personal information about ourselves as part of the "friends-making process". Where we work, where we went on holiday, our favourite film and what music we listen to - such is the stuff of social small-talk.

But when digital natives meet new people on social networking sites they operate in a totally different way - cocktail party conventions do not apply here. They disclose their life story in a single mouse click, disgorging enormous amounts of personal information to relative strangers. What is more, they do it in a digital format that is easy to store, share and publish. This is a real concern.

"Young people who are living their lives mediated by digital technologies will pay a high price...... Most young people are extremely likely to leave something behind in cyberspace which will become a lot like a tattoo - something connected with them that they cannot get rid of later in life, even if they want to, without a great deal of difficulty"

Pafrey and Gasser Born Digital p.53

Those of us of an older generation, whether parents or teachers, have a responsibility to protect young people from themselves. I am staggered by how naive young people can be at times. Let me give you an example.

This week I discovered that there is a Facebook group for students from my school that consists simply of their mobile telephone numbers. For them this is an easy and effective way of getting in touch with their friends. But it is an "open" group: anyone in the world has access to that group. Teenagers cannot see that the juxtaposition of an attractive sixteen year old girl's profile picture and her mobile phone number might attract unwanted attention from a total stranger.

The same principle applies to photographs. Facebook is an outstanding facility for sharing photographs with family and friends - it is easy to upload pictures for all to see. However there are three aspects to this that concern me.

First, the facility to "tag" people in photographs means that your friends can post photographs onto your site. These might not be photographs that you would want there. There are mechanisms both to prevent others from seeing these pictures and to remove unwanted ones from appearing on your site, but often young people, either through ignorance or choice, do not activate these controls.

Secondly, young people do not distinguish between real friends and casual, passing acquaintances. Thus they give instant access to all of their photo album - whether that be holiday snaps or behaving badly at last night's party.

Thirdly, young people do not consider the long term consequences of posting embarrassing photographs. It is clear that employers are using social networking sites to vet employees [see New York Times]. Before posting a picture, young people need to think, "Would I want this picture on the front page of a national paper?" or "Would I be happy for this picture to be attached to my job application?" Lord help the next generation of politicians and celebrities - the gutter press are going to have a field day!

So, how can we as parents and teachers help the next generation?

When our children were young we taught about the dangers of the world around them: they learned from our actions that the cooker was hot and we showed them how to cross the road safely. In the same way, we need to educate young people about the dangers of publishing too much personal information on the Internet. Above all, we need to give them the skills to navigate the digital landscape and to protect their personal information. In this, I believe that we must lead by example. If we are going to have any credibility, teachers and parents need to have a presence in cyberspace and to have mastered these skills ourselves. There is a huge opportunity here for digital natives and their digital immigrant teachers and parents to open up an effective dialogue to share their collective expertise and experience.

For more information see

• Four tips on protecting your personal information on Facebook
• John Pafrey and Urs Gasser Born Digital 2008
• Facebook Safety Pages

Afternote

• Teenager is fired for Facebook remark [27/02/2009]
  

Four tips on protecting your personal information on Facebook

TIP ONE - How to prevent strangers from seeing your Friend list when they search Facebook or when they click on your profile.

1. Go to MY PROFILE
2. Click on SETTINGS - link on the top right hand corner (next to the “Search” facility).
3. Drop down box, click on PRIVACY
4. Then click on SEARCH (2nd in list)
5. You should see a check-box list. UNCHECK the MY FRIEND LIST box (and any others, you might want to do)
6. Click on SAVE CHANGES

Beware that, if you reply to an email in Facebook, that your correspondent will be able to see your Friends for one month.

TIP TWO - How to change your general privacy settings so that only your friends (approved only by you) can see your profile [personal information about you, personal pictures etc.].

1. Go to MY PROFILE
2. Click on SETTINGS - link on the top right hand corner (next to the “Search” facility).
3. Drop down box, click on PRIVACY
4. Click on PROFILE (1st in list)
5. I suggest you change all the drop-down box options to “Only Friends”
6. Click SAVE CHANGES.

Your new settings are operational with immediate effect – you don’t have to sign off and then sign on again.

TIP THREE - How to set up a Limited Profile group of Friends
[A limited profile allows you to distinguish between acquaintances whom you might only like to see certain parts of that profile and real friends whom you might want to see all that you post on your site]

1. Go to FRIENDS
2. Click on the Make a New List button
3. Choose a name, say “Acquaintances”
4. Select your friends whom you want to be part of the “Acquaintances” group
5. Save the List
6. Click on SETTINGS - link on the top right hand corner (next to the “Search” facility).
7. Drop down box, click on PRIVACY
8. Click on PROFILE
9. Click on the drop down menu next to Basic Information
10. Select CUSTOMISE
11. Select the ONLY FRIENDS radio button and type in “Acquaintances” in the EXCEPT box
12. Click Okay
13. Repeat steps 10 to 12 for each of the profile drop down menus.
14. You may like to consider setting up a number of these groups, say for "Family" or "Colleagues" and customise the settings to each of these
15. You will need to allocate your Facebook Friends to these groups
    

TIP FOUR- How to limited who sees your photo albums
[This assumes that you have set up a number of photo albums]

1. Go to the PHOTOS part of your PROFILE
2. Click on ALBUMS
3. Click the ALBUM PRIVACY button
4. Using the drop down menus select who you will allow to see each album

For example, if you want one album just to be seen by your family

1. First set up a group for your "Family" [see Tip 3 above]
2. On the drop down menu for the photograph album, select CUSTOMISE
3. Select the SOME FRIENDS radio button
4. Type in "Family" in the box that appears
   
5. Click OKAY
   

[Thanks to Steph Kirton with her help on Tips One and Two]

Facebook provides an emergency solution

It has been one of those weeks! It's never fun being between a rock and hard place - but I guess that, at times, it goes with the territory. Having made the relatively straight-forward decision to close the school on Monday and Tuesday, I was faced with an overnight 3" snowfall and a dilemma whether or not to close our doors again this morning. Having been told that the buses would run, encouraged by an improving weather forecast and empowered by a blitz spirit to make the best of the day, I decided that we should open - only to discover that the School Website had crashed.

One of the problems of technology is that one comes to rely on it. So we resorted to "old technology": the jungle drums beat, the phones rang and we did our best to let everyone know that we were open. However, the website remained down [a technical fault beyond our control!] and it was clear that we needed an effective way of communicating with pupils and parents.

That solution was to create a Facebook group for the school. Staff were informed of its existence by email, a handful of pupils were told over lunch.

It has been a fascinating study in viral behaviour. It began with a trickle of staff joining the group; but the exponential power of Facebook took off from about 5:00pm when the first pupils made it home. Friends, inviting friends, inviting friends: ten pupils have joined the group in the past minute. 150 pupils have joined the group in the time that it has taken to write this blog post.

We are on course for over half of our school community to have joined the group by 6:00 a.m. when I have to make a call about whether or not school will be open tomorrow.


Update the next morning:

The school is closed - Facebook provided an excellent emergency communication network.
The growth of the group was as follows:

1545 38 members
1645 80
1745 170
1815 262
1845 337
1945 444
2030 501
2115 531
0630 600
0815 683
0945 722
1045 760

Today we are closed, so the teachers are using Facebook 'Discussion Posts' to set work for pupils. Not a perfect system, but an effective solution to an emergency situation.

Should teachers and pupils be ‘Friends’ on Social Networking Sites?

Traditional, established and agreed boundaries between staff and pupils are being blurred by the way in which Social Networking Sites operate. Many teachers, particularly younger members of staff - who have grown up with social networking being an everyday part of their lives, have Facebook profiles and are accustomed to interacting with the people they meet "offline" through the "online" medium of a social networking site. So should teachers and pupils be ‘Friends’ on Social networking sites?

On the one hand, we might take the view that all contact between staff and pupils in this forum is inappropriate.

• Teachers are expected to keep a professional distance from the pupils whom they teach.
• There should be a clear separation of the private social lives of teachers and that of pupils.
• It would not be appropriate for a teacher to go clubbing with sixth formers, and it is wrong for teachers to reveal too many details of their private life with them.
  
• There is no need for "social networking" to go on between staff and pupils.
  
• With few exceptions, there is little educational benefit from teachers being friends with pupils.

On the other hand, we might take the view that having contact with pupils on a Social Networking site should be encouraged under certain circumstances:

• It is important that teachers are seen to have a presence on Social networking sites - this gives them greater credibility when discussing Internet-related issues.
  
• In some subjects, such as Media Studies and PSHE, it might be wholly appropriate to engage with young people online in this way, as part of the course, or to help them better understand issues of internet safety.
  
• Teachers should be allowed to exercise their professional judgment as to what personal information they choose to share with pupils, afterall they do this in the classroom daily.
  

Certainly it would be unwise for staff to allow pupils access to any information which would compromise their position and authority as a teacher in the school. However, this is sometimes more difficult than one might first expect.

There are basic Internet privacy and safety issues when using social networking sites that apply to both pupils and to staff alike. However careful a teacher is about the material he posts on his site, the problem with Facebook is that it is very easy for other "friends" to post pictures on a teacher's Facebook page through the "tagging" feature. Take the following scenario.

A teacher [let's call him, "John"] goes to a University reunion party. During the party a friend, "Peter", takes a number of photos of the John - dancing with girl friends, having a beer with former drinking mates, or worse. Peter posts them on his own Facebook site and "tags" John in the pictures. These pictures now appear on John's Facebook site. One of John's Facebook "friends", who happens to be one of John's pupils, downloads the pictures from the site before John has even had a chance to view/edit/ remove them. The pupil then emails the picture to other school friends and prints the pictures and pins them up around school.

Clearly there are "limited profile" features within Facebook, which would prevent this happening. It is possible to run a Facebook account on two levels: with wide access to true friends and a much more restricted access to "acquaintances", but it does require a sophisticated and disciplined approach to the management of a social-networking site to achieve this.


So should Schools get involved in this issue? If so, how?

There is nothing inherently wrong, immoral or unprofessional about teachers communicating with pupils through social networking sites, thus it is inappropriate for schools to attempt to restrict the use of these sites. There is also a pragmatic argument that, since it impossible for Schools to police how their staff interact with pupils in cyberspace, they should not get involved in this area.

However, I do believe that Schools do have a responsibility to protect the pupils and staff in its care, but this should not be done through Draconian and unenforceable policies. Rather they have an important educational role to play. Schools must ensure that both pupils and staff have the knowledge and skills to protect their privacy and to remain safe when on social networking sites. Thus both teachers and pupils will be able to maintain appropriate professional relationships and distance whether online or in the classroom.

For more on staying safe on a social networking site, see the

• Facebook Safety pages
• Tips on Protecting your Personal Information on Facebook