Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute recognises that digital and social media are widely used by students, teachers, and parents in a personal as well as professional capacity. The school recognises the potential benefits which the use of social media can have on teaching and learning. The school is aware that social media can both enhance and harm the school’s reputation and understands that the inappropriate use of social media carries with it both personal and professional risks.
Anyone using social media should be aware that once something is posted online, it has a persistence that is not like something that is said. Once something is posted online, its effects are often magnified and can be mirrored out of context. The post is replicable and searchable, and one cannot be sure who the audience is or will be.
Anyone using social media must remember that, when making a post, they have not only their own reputation to consider but also that of others and that of the school. Every member of the community must take responsibility for their own actions when online and is expected to demonstrate highlevels of professionalism and good judgement at all times.
This policy, which is the need of the hour, has been meticulously drafted to provide guidelines which ensure that staff and students use social media responsibly and in a way which maximizes educational benefits to all our social media users.
DEFINITION & SCOPE
For the purposes of this policy, social media shall bedefined as: ‘Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.’
Kashmir Harvard School’s social media policy is applicable to:
i Everyone who works for, with or at the school, including even those providing services on behalf of the school, trainee teachers and apprentices, parents, and volunteers.
i Covers personal use of social media as well as the use of social media for official (School)purposes.
i Applies to the use of all public social media such as
– Social networking sites (Facebook etc.)
– Blogs and microblogs (X – formerly Twitter, Instagram, TikTok etc.),
– Chat Rooms, forums, podcasts, unrestricted accessonline encyclopaedias (Wikipedia etc.),
– Content sharing sites (flickr and YouTube etc.)
Notably, since the internet and social media are continually and rapidly evolving, it is impossible to cover all circumstances of use or emerging media. This policy does not seek to list in minute detail all potential social media platforms but does aim to establish broad principles of use, which must bead hered to by everyone in the school.
PROFESSIONAL USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The school maintains a presence on a variety of public and secure social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram) and recognises that these sites can provide highly effective additional channels of communication with students, teachers, parents, ex-students, friends of the school and the wider community. Social media sites allow information and news about the school to be collated and publicised and staff use social media to enhance students’ teaching and learning in their subject and professional networking.
Here are the guidelines to use the social media ina professional capacity:
i Social media should only be used as a professional communication tool and all posts must show the school in a positive light. Accuracy of content, spelling and grammar is of paramount importance and posts should be written without ambiguity or any rhetorical device (such as sarcasm) which might be misinterpreted. Personal views should not be expressed when communicating the School matters.
i Posts should only be used as a one-way channel for distributing news and dialogue should never beentered into. If any student engages a member of staff in direct message conversation using social media, this should be reported and the conversation should be continued in person.
i Images of students should only be posted on social media sites approved by the school authority designated for the purpose.
i The school occasionally streams events live. In this instance the teacher in charge should ensure that all the students understand it is a live stream and that all the students involved do not have any restrictions on them being filmed.
i Video content must not be uploaded to public hosting services (e.g., YouTube) without explicit permission from the school.
i No member of staff who works for, at or with the school may open a Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram etc. account which purports to represent the school in any capacity.
i ‘Blogs’ can be a very engaging format for student-teacher dialogue and represent an opportunity for teachers to share their thoughts on subject-specific ideas and concepts. However, no member of staff may create a personal blog which purports to represent the school and any blog used in aprivate capacity must not make mention of the school or the activities of pupils or colleagues at the school.
i No member of staff or student may create aprivate website which purports to represent the school or the activities of anyone related to the school. All School related activities e.g. societies and academic, sporting, or cultural endeavour must be communicated via official channels only i.e., the school’s website, etc.
PERSONAL USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Members of staff may, of course, maintain a personal social media presence outside school but it is essential that a distinct separation exists between a member of staff’s personal and professional online presence. Staff should be aware that even when as trict separation between personal and professional online presence is adhered to, it remains straightforward for students, colleagues, parents, ex-students, future employers etc. to connect staff in schools with ‘private’ social media presences.
Following guidelines are required to be adhered to by the staff of the school:
i Staff members must not have contact, through any personal social medium, with any student.
i Staff members should not have social media contact with ex-students until at least one year after the student has left the school.
i Staff members should not put themselves in a position where extreme political, religious, orphilosophical views expressed via social media conflict with those of the school. Even if separation of professional and private lives has been maintained, expressing such views may make their position at the school untenable.
i Staff members should not use social media to document or distribute evidence of activities intheir private lives that may bring the school intodisrepute.
i Staff members must not use social media and the internet in any way to attack, insult, abuse ordefame students, their family members, colleagues, other professionals, other organisations, or the school.
i Personal public social media accounts should not be used to share school or student information.
i Staff members are strongly advised to ensure that they set the privacy levels of their personal sitestoas high a level as possible and to opt out of public listings on social networking sites to protect their own privacy.
SOCIAL MEDIA A TEACHING TOOL
Research indicates that the most useful social media for supporting teaching and learning are those which enable collaborative work and research. When using these forms of social media to enhance teaching and learning, staff must manage and oversee student activity extremely carefully. It is expected that where students can communicate online via posts or chatting the supervising member of staff will check content regularly or to avoid misuse.
BREACHES OF THE POLICY
Any breach of this policy may lead to disciplinary action being taken against the staff member/sinvolved in line with the school’s Disciplinary Policy. A breach of this policy leading to breaches of confidentiality, or defamation or damage to the reputation of the school or any illegal acts or acts that render the school liable to third parties will result in disciplinary action appropriate to the severity of the breach.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The school is committed to ensuring that all staff members provide confidential services that meet the highest standards. All individuals working on behalf of the school are bound by a legal duty of confidentiality and other laws to protect the confidential information they have access to during their work. Disclosure of confidential information on social media could constitute a breach of several laws and professional codes of conduct.