Schools will often be placed in the spotlight when one of their learners does something silly on social media. Unfortunately what will often happen is that the School will have to deal with the public fall out associated with the misconduct and when they attempt to take action against the learner they will be told by the parents that they are invading the child’s privacy or undermining their dignity.

Schools have many responsibilities and duties when it comes to the protection of their learners.  However they also have a “brand” that they have to look out for.  When silly teenagers post questionable material on social media or get caught saying something that they should not it is unlikely that they would have been thinking about the consequences.  Unfortunately schools are placed in the position more and more where their learners are reported by the public for utterances on the web and then the school is expected to take action.  When disciplinary processes follow, which are undeniably unpleasant, parents get upset and rush to the defence of their children.

The answer is to have a clear social media policy which sets out what action the school is going to take in the event of a transgression.  Social media is now a part of everyday life and cannot be ignored.  It is always better to have a plan of action in place than to scramble for idea once “the horse has bolted”.  Parents and learners need to be informed about the contents of a social media policy and educated about how schools are going to deal with it.