The GTCS states that teachers have to use social media wisely and in a correct manner. Even though they are entitled to a private life; what they say on social media or how they use social media can be classed as unprofessional and seen as going against the GTC code. Teachers have to maintain the trust of both pupils and parents. This trust is maintained through behaving in an appropriate way both in there personal and professional life.

For me personally I feel it would be difficult to marry up both your personal life and private life on social media and I prefer to keep both mine separate. All my personal social media accounts such as; Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are private. In your private life you could say something on social media which you see as harmless however others may think you are being inappropriate or unprofessional. I also feel it would be difficult to maintain a professional boundary if you tried to marry it up with you personal life as people can see you in a different light. My personal view is that people have very high standards regarding the way teachers behave and are quick to pick up on any negative behavior and come down hard on this.  I feel marrying the private and personal life can make a teacher vulnerable to scrutiny.

The use of social media professionally however I feel has great aspects. Social media is the forefront of everything these days and children are heavily involved within social media. I feel introducing social media sites into the classroom such as Glow makes learning more modern and relevant to the children. However I feel its so important to stress to children the dangers of using social media and that they should be taught how to use social media safely and appropriately. I looked into some statistics regarding social media and young children and one that really sprung out at me. On Guardchild (http://www.guardchild.com/social-media-statistics-2/) it stated that “Only 10% of parents of children aged 10 and under had frank talks about appropriate online behavior and threats” Children are using technology and social media from such a young age that this should be drilled into them especially when they do not get told in depth at home about appropriate use of social media.

There are many challenges to social media and I feel that social media is portrayed in a negative way. This could be due to all the horror stories you hear regarding it or that because its relatively new that some people of older generations see it a bit alien like. However I feel it is a very positive aspect of learning. Websites such as Glow allow you to communicate safely and appropriately with pupils. It expands pupils literacy skills e.g by using blogs. I feel there is always going to positives and negatives of using social media however it is the future and I believe we have no choice but to embrace it.