dany2010 Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Hi, We have been asked to allow Facebook for staff so they can use it in their free time. I'm not sure at the minute if I agree with this or not. What do you think? Probably can't stop it but just want to see what everyone's thoughts are.
Mullaney18 Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Do you use any kind of filtering system like Smoothwall?
smadison Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Leadership group only for investigative reasons.
CyberNerd Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Sounds like quite a poor management decision to me, I've no idea why they would encourage their staff to slack off in work time. They'll be asking you to unblock porn and gambling sites for them next.
Mullaney18 Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Sounds like quite a poor management decision to me, I've no idea why they would encourage their staff to slack off in work time. They'll be asking you to unblock porn and gambling sites for them next. Free time is free time..
glennda Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Free time is free time.. but it only takes one teacher to leave themselves logged in at lunchtime and boom that one picture of one teacher that appeared on facebook years ago gets printed out and sent around the school by all the kids.
strawberry Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 This is not a support staff decision. It causes problems with work routines, privacy and potentially child protection. The decision needs to made by a member of SMT. Your not paid enough to deal with the fallout of this if/when the poo hits the fan/ someone holds you responsible.
witch Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 but it only takes one teacher to leave themselves logged in at lunchtime and boom that one picture of one teacher that appeared on facebook years ago gets printed out and sent around the school by all the kids. This would be why I would say NO to this - teachers often leave their laptops logged on - it doesnt matter what I say or do they still do it. Facebook on the laptop would be a nightmare
localzuk Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Free time is free time.. No? It is untimetabled time. If they're onsite, then the equipment is for school use, not facebooking. We have it blocked for everyone - it just isn't safe to have it open for anyone tbh. If someone left their account logged in, which they would, there could be all sorts of consequences. I wouldn't feel happy with it being allowed in school, no matter how much the new-age views of some in school ICT have taken hold (ie. those who think blocking is the wrong thing to do). Just like we have personal email sites blocked too, and gambling sites. They are all inappropriate for school use.
dany2010 Posted January 21, 2013 Author Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) Yep, all pretty much what I'm thinking. You wouldn't believe it comes from the SLT, they over ruled my manager and said to enable but they will disapline anyone for being on it too long. My thinking is, it's either on there or it's not. How long is too long and who's going to have to go through the logs. At the minute admon already have it but for work related only. If only there is a network security concern... Edited January 21, 2013 by dany2010
witch Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 TBH I dont see the issue with going on Facebook in their lunchtime but the issue of how long is completely irrelevant compared with the safety and security issues!
strawberry Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Yep, all pretty much what I'm thinking. You wouldn't believe it comes from the SLT, they over ruled my manager and said to enable but they will disapline anyone for being on it too long. My thinking is, it's either on there or it's not. How long is too long and who's going to have to go through the logs. At the minute admon already have it but for work related only. If only there is a network security concern... Just make them aware of what you can and cannot do in terms of reporting and open the gates of filtering!. Sounds likeva badly thought out decision but if they're responsible they'll have consulted all the relevant experts and made an informed idea. Either that or someone has had a go at one of them!.
RTFM Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 We allow it for our HR department and for our Assistant headteacher who is responsible for bullying and esafety to deal with incidents. I'm surprised any SLT have made a decision to unblock facebook within school. All it takes, as has been said, is for a teacher to leave it logged in and walk away from their desk without locking it (which happens all the time) and suddenly thats a potential major issue. As you say, who is going to check your filter logs every day to work out who was on it, when and for how long.......each to their own, I'm surprised by that decision though
RichCowell Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Facebook is blocked to everyone here, apart from me - as I update the school Facebook Page, and any issues arising relating to Facebook come to me too... It's never come up in discussion, other than some staff asking after seeing that I can get on... I can't imagine ever unblocking it for staff, I'm sure productivity would drop dramatically... If it did ever come up, I would strongly urge them to allow me to just unblock it before and after school, rather than any time... as others have said, there's too much risk of an increase in issues if they're on it while all the pupils are about...
AngryTechnician Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Yes. Allowing a reasonable amount of personal use of school IT is good for work-life balance in my view. As professionals, staff are expected to manage that time so that their use does not interfere with their duties. We do have Smoothwall in place so use is logged, and I am militant about staff locking workstations to prevent kids getting to it. Also worth pointing out that in my last school, which was a secondary school, we allowed Facebook for students too, subject to the same expectations. It was actually very useful in gathering evidence of cyberbullying that would otherwise have happened at home where we couldn't monitor it.
Tsonga Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 My previous school allowed it for all staff and 6th form, quite a good school so this worked fine. We also had smoothwall for logging.
Pottsey Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 We allow it mostly for teaching safe use and showing how to setup privacy settings. But it is only works when staff log into emails accounts to make staff filtering active. That filtering times out after 20 to 30mins.
featured_spectre Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 I had it unblocked for 2 periods of 15 minutes a day, these occurred at 10:45-11:00 and 13:45-14:00. This allowed all staff half hour a day on the site, and it was operated during break and lunchtime. If a member of staff was on duty then they didn't go on. The only 2 people that had unrestricted access was myself and my line manager and that was for investigative purposes only, we had to log every time we went on beyond the 2x 15 min allotted times and it had to match up with out MX records. If we used it for investigative purposes, we had to have each other overlooking to ensure what we were doing was above board.
elsiegee40 Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) I agree with others. There is no free time during the working day at schools. Merely time off timetable. If your school is to go ahead with this, then I think SLT should be putting some robust "Protecting your professional identity" training in place... actually that training should be there anyway. Oh... and get my facebook privacy settings document (see link in sig below) on the reading list for your teachers. It won't help with them accessing facebook with the IWB switched on, or help with them walking away from their computer, but it will help! Edited January 22, 2013 by elsiegee40
CyberNerd Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Better tell the VAT man that the ICT equipment is being used for personal use. 1
elsiegee40 Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Better tell the VAT man that the ICT equipment is being used for personal use. It's not the VAT that's the problem with personal use, it's the Income Tax... but it's HMRC for both these days anyway!
AngryTechnician Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Better tell the VAT man that the ICT equipment is being used for personal use. Not unless the amount of use is "significant", which would be a problem anyway without HMRC getting involved. EIM21613 - Particular benefits: accommodation, supplies and services: meaning of not significant use for private purposes ...where a computer is provided by an employer because it is necessary for an employee to be able to carry out the duties of the employment either at home, or whilst travelling or at work, it is highly unlikely that any private use made of that equipment will be significant when compared with the business need for providing the computer in the first place. In these circumstances section 316 will apply and no tax charge will arise.
CyberNerd Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Not unless the amount of use is "significant", which would be a problem anyway without HMRC getting involved. EIM21613 - Particular benefits: accommodation, supplies and services: meaning of not significant use for private purposes that's useful to know, thanks
witch Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 We do have Smoothwall in place so use is logged, and I am militant about staff locking workstations to prevent kids getting to it. @AngryTechnician Yes, but you seem to be able to get your staff to do the right thing - how on earth you do it is beyond me
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