It’s a very sad day when you pick up the newspaper and read that a school teacher has been stood down after allegedly posting highly derogatory statements on Facebook about a student who had just committed suicide*.
Fairfax Media reported that a Darwin school teacher posted comments online in which he described the deceased student as a “bully” and a “disrespectful little brat”. A huge social media backlash followed.
In defending the Northern Territory Department of Education’s position, Susan Bowden, the Northern Territory's deputy chief executive of school education, said the teacher had been stood down immediately. She noted that the education department's social media guide, among other documents, provided staff with clear guidelines about what was appropriate to post on social media.
So we went searching. It’s pretty simple. Go to the NT Education Department website click on policies on the left hand menu bar and hit “S” for social media. Click on “Social Media” and you will find two documents:
Interestingly both documents have an effective date of October 2012 and a Next Review Date of October 2013 (that’s 2013 not 2014!). Wonder how the review is going?
These policies also both refer to a third document being a “Cyber Safety and Reputation Management Policy”, which doesn't appear on the department’s website and doesn’t appear on any relevant Google searches we conducted. Maybe it hasn't been published yet, or at least hasn't made the website.
The good thing is that the department has a social media policy and guidelines and procedures in place. The concerning thing is, that if you take some time to read these documents, you will note that whilst they do deal with the use of social media by staff in both an “official capacity” and a “personal capacity”, the documents are written in bureaucratic speak and at least in part fall into the category of a “policy to have a policy”.
By a “policy to have a policy” we mean that the department’s policy sets out that it is the responsibility of the Principal of a school to do such things as ensuring all school staff are informed of their responsibilities under the policy and that risk assessments of publicly accessible social media channels are conducted.
Playing devil's advocate, the questions to be asked are “if”, “how” and “when” staff members in a school have been made aware of the department’s policies and whether there are clear records of the fact that the policies have been effectively communicated. Were risk assessments carried out within the school in question? The department may well be able to answer these questions affirmatively.
The message for non-government schools faced with a similar situation of staff misuse of social media is, would you be able to defend your position by:
- Referencing your school’s social media policy;
- Evidencing the fact that it was effectively communicated to all staff;
- Providing evidence of the fact that you have provided your staff with social media training.
In other words would you be able to show that not only do you have a social media policy in place but that you have effectively implemented it.
For those schools who do not feel that they can positively answer all of the above questions, the following resources provided by CompliSpace may be of assistance:
*Support is available for anyone who may be interested in information on suicide prevention by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800.
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