Personally, I feel that having a personal and professional presences as one on social media can be very beneficial when approached and handled correctly, if not it can be very dangerous. Having the mixed presence means that colleagues would be able to see the less professional side of you and get to know you better. It can also lead to common interests arising.  It can also help you learn more, as you might find a link that a fellow teacher has posted which is helpful for you. A link which you find can be shared to allow shared knowledge.

However, pictures from a night out can be seen by fellow colleagues and this may affect their views of you are a professional. I think you have to think carefully about pictures that go up of you and ask friends to remove any pictures that you think might affect other’s views of you as a professional.

I feel that social media can tie schools and families together. One of the schools I did placement with last year has a twitter account. On the twitter account, letters which are given to the children are posted on here to ensure that all parents are aware of what is going on. Events are also posted on the page. Any confusion can also be ironed out such as if it is come as you please day, etc.

However, there is always a risk. Some parents could comment something inappropriate about teachers or other children. The school would have no control over what is commented onto the page. Even if they deleted it as soon as they saw it, there is still a high chance that other parents have seen it.

I think as teachers we should have a good understanding of social media so that we are able to show children how to be safe online.