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TEACHERS SHOULD NOT use their own personal social media accounts for school-related projects and avoid using personal photos in their profile information.
That is just two pieces of advice given to school staff by the Joint Managerial Board recently, in the wake of concerns that cyber bullying is becoming a major problem in Irish schools.
The body, which manages secondary schools across the country, issued a guidance bulletin on cyber bullying in schools last week.
Seen by TheJournal.ie, the document shows the incidence of students attacking teachers online is becoming more common. However, student-on-student bullying is still the most reported form, it says.
According to general secretary Ferdia Kelly, the best way to prevent bullying is to take a “whole school approach”, which includes the creation of anti-bullying initiatives and a code of practice outlining expected behaviour. This should include a policy on the use of social media a teaching tool, according to the JMB.
Teachers have also been asked to become familiar with the terminology used on the internet, for example ‘likes’, ‘tweets’, ‘re-tweets’ and MEMEs.
“Teachers are increasingly using the internet and social media sites as educational tools,” continues the document. “It’s important that teachers take precautions to safeguard themselves against cyber bullying and also protect their privacy.
“For example, connecting with students on social media sites can seem like an effective means of communication. However, this gives students potential to access personal information about teachers and the opportunity to target them with abusive behaviour.”
The JMB Professional Behaviour Guide asks for an “arms-length professional relationship” to be maintained at all times.
There was other practical considerations given to staff, such as a proposed ban on students taking photographs in school – of either staff or classmates -unless required for a project.
The Board advised that permission should always be sought from school management and parents before running a social media-related project.
Other advice given included:
The bulletin, dated 26 November, comes after three girls - Erin Gallagher (13) from Donegal, Leitrim teenager Ciara Pugsley (15) and Lara Burns Gibbs (12) from Kildare – took their own lives after being allegedly bullied online.
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Wonderful news! Common sense prevails. Rare but very very welcome.
This is great. If the kids with down Syndrome receive and are given the opportunity of a decent education then they will be fairly independent in later life.
They can hold down jobs and live a full and contribute to society.
Unfortunately the journal are jumping the gun on this one,while the bill will go uncontested,Minister Quinn have pulled the rug from under our feet,his new ‘special needs’ plan will precede all the that Finian McGrath has worked for and our kids will be at the bottom of the pile again,
cheers Ruairi,karma will win this one,I have no doubt!!!!
Seriously Nichola? That is a horrible thing for government to do.
That’s a start lets wait and see what Quinn has in store though. It would be really lovely if we as parents didn’t have to meet with the department inspectors to argue the case for keeping our child’s special needs assistant too.
Some good news :)
While this is very good news for children with Down’s syndrome and welcome, why is this only being offered to children with this specific diagnosis? There are many children who do not have an SNA or adequate resource hours at school because they “only” have mild intellectual disability.
The only reason for it coming up it is due to the very hard work of a group of parents and Down Syndrome Ireland supporters .
If this comes to into place then it points the way to all other interested groups. Everybody wants what’s best for every child no matter what their needs are.
The reason this is aimed at children with Down Syndrome was because Down Syndrome was not classified as a low incident disability and so resource hours were not guaranteed. This has now changed. Psychological assessments are used also in order to allocated resource hours presently. It’s true that you need a lobby group to enforce change but there are lots of groups out there who include all disabilities who could lobby on behalf of other children.
I am totally in favour of any resources being made available for people with disabilities but surely it would make more sense to provide resources to people depending on their level of intellectual disability rather than what disability they have i.e down syndrome. What about every other child who are born in this country with an intellectual disability that is an unknown syndrome or disorder. Surely more resources should be made available for them too. They should be passing a bill for mainstream schooling for people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, so every child is giving the chance not just down syndrome specific
Great news for those waiting for many years BUT ELECTION IS ON ITS WAY,,,
have your say