CorpComms Magazine

One in seven teachers claim that they have been the victim of online abuse from either a student or parent while more than one third are concerned that information on their personal social networking sites could be used in disciplinary action.

The findings, which were announced at the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), revealed that 24 per cent of teachers have been asked to remove items from their personal sites.

One unnamed head of department in a state secondary school said: 'My identity was stolen by pupils on Facebook and used to send messages as 'me' to other pupils. Messages by two pupils were anonymously posted about me on a music website that alleged illegal activity with pupils.'

Alison Sherratt, executive committee member at ATL, said she had heard of incidents where an ex-pupil began a group which called for members who believed a married teacher was still a virgin.

The findings led to the passing of a resolution calling for the union to develop a policy and issue advice to members on dealing with social networking sites.

More than 40 per cent of respondents claimed that their workplaces had policies in place, but more than half are banned from using their personal accounts in school or college.

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet