You probably already know that social media and teaching can be a complicated combination. But knowing it and really thinking through what it means in practice are two different things.
This post pulls together some of the most important points from a webinar I run for trainee teachers and early career teachers, covering the things that can easily go wrong, and what you can do right now to get ahead of any problems.
Your Online Presence Is Already Professional
The moment you step into a school as a trainee, your social media life and your professional life start to overlap, whether you want them to or not. Parents will search for you. Students will search for you. In some cases, Ofsted inspectors conducting a school review will do a quick sweep of social media to get a sense of a school’s community. That includes staff.
Under the Teacher Standards, there is an expectation that teachers uphold public trust in the profession. Posts on social media are not considered private, even if that is how they feel when you are writing them. A legal adviser I came across put it plainly: anything you say that brings a school into disrepute can be used by your employer as grounds for dismissal.
That is not meant to be alarmist. It is just worth being clear about from the start.
Separate Your Personal and Professional Accounts
One of the most practical things you can do as a new or trainee teacher is to run two separate accounts: one private, one public.
Your private account is for friends and family. Lock it down. Use a username that is not easily searchable, approve followers manually, and be thoughtful about what you share there. Your public-facing account is where you follow educational communities, share resources, and engage with the wider teaching profession. That one can be open, because the content there is content you would be comfortable with anyone seeing.
It sounds like extra effort. In practice, it takes a few minutes to set up and saves a significant amount of worry later.
Your Digital Footprint Goes Back Further Than You Think
If you grew up with social media, there is a reasonable chance there are accounts, posts, and videos out there that you have completely forgotten about. An old YouTube channel. A Twitter account from your early teens. A Facebook profile you stopped using at university.
Do a search on your own name. Try Google, Facebook, and Twitter or X. See what comes up. You might be surprised. If you find old accounts you can no longer access, try to get back in and delete or disable them. If you can edit the information so it is harder to connect to you, do that.
This also applies to content you did not post yourself. Friends tagging you in photos, comments you are mentioned in, group posts you appeared in. You can turn off tagging permissions on most platforms, and it is worth doing.
One useful way to think about it: a digital footprint suggests something you leave behind that might fade. A digital tattoo is more accurate. Once content is shared, it is very difficult to fully remove.
Never Use Social Media to Contact Students
This one is not negotiable. Do not add students as friends or followers on any platform. Do not send direct messages. Do not accept follow requests from pupils, even if they are in sixth form and close in age.
If you need to contact a student or parent, use school email. That communication is stored centrally, can be reviewed if needed, and provides a clear record. Direct messages on social media leave no trail, and an absence of a trail raises questions you do not want to have to answer.
This comes up repeatedly in disciplinary tribunal records published by the DfE. It is not a rare edge case. Spend five minutes on that part of the DfE website and you will find case after case where a teacher’s career ended because of inappropriate contact made through social media.
What You Write in Private Can Still Become Public
A common mistake is assuming that a message sent in a private group chat, a WhatsApp thread with colleagues, or a locked account is genuinely private. It is not.
Anyone can take a screenshot. Anyone can forward a message. If you have typed something, it can be shared without your knowledge or consent. That comment about a class that felt like an offhand remark between colleagues can end up in a disciplinary hearing.
A straightforward test: before you post or send anything, ask yourself whether you would be comfortable with your headteacher reading it aloud. If the answer is no, do not send it.
Check Your Privacy Settings Regularly
Platforms change their settings frequently, and what was locked down last year may not be now. It is worth going into your accounts every few months and checking who can see your posts, who can tag you, and whether your friends list is visible to people outside your connections.
On Facebook, you can view your profile as it appears to someone who is not a friend. Use that. See what a parent or student would find if they searched for you today.
Turn off geotagging on your phone’s camera and within apps like Instagram. Photos taken at school during the day can carry location data that places you, and pupils, in a specific location. That is an unnecessary risk.
Passwords and Account Security
Use different passwords for different accounts, particularly for anything professional or linked to your school. A password manager such as LastPass or the one built into Google makes this manageable without needing to remember dozens of combinations.
Lock your devices when you step away from them. At school especially, an unlocked laptop or phone is a risk. Even if nothing malicious happens, if someone posts something from your account while you are away from your screen, it is almost impossible to prove it was not you.
Three Things to Do This Week
1. Run a search on yourself. Put your full name into Google, Facebook, and any platform you have used in the past. See what comes up and address anything you would not want a parent or employer to find.
2. Review your privacy settings. Go into each platform you use and check who can see your posts, who can tag you, and whether your location data is enabled. Make adjustments where needed.
3. Set up a separate professional account if you have not already. Even a simple public-facing profile where you follow educational communities gives you a space to engage professionally without mixing it with your personal life.
Book This Webinar for Your School or Training Provider
This session is available as a live webinar for initial teacher training providers, SCITT programmes, university education departments, and schools running their own ECT induction. It covers digital professionalism, online safety, and practical social media guidance for teachers at every stage of their career.
If you would like to book a session for your trainees or staff, get in touch via the WhiteboardBlog website and we can discuss dates and formats that work for your organisation.
