A new Missouri state law, which comes into effect at the end of this week, limits teacher's social networking contact with pupils - making it illegal for teachers to 'friend' students on any social network.
Teachers will, however, be allowed to create public groups and pages for the sharing of resources or providing homework assignments.
The law, named after a student who was sexually assaulted by a teacher, is called the 'Amy Hestir Student Protection Act'. It has raised debate about the use of social networks by teachers to communicate with pupils.
According to reports, the law comes as a result of an investigation that found 87 teachers from that state had had their licences revoked due to sexual misconduct - and a number of these cases are said to include the exchange of explicit online messages.
Officials say the law is part of an effort to “more clearly define teacher-student boundaries”. The law allows for online teacher-student contact if the site and posts can be viewed by parents, administrators or the public.
Any e-mails or text messages between teachers and students also have to be copied to a third party.
Unconstitutional?
The Missouri State Teachers Association has filed a lawsuit claiming that a ban on social media contact is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit states: "The act is so vague and over-broad that (teachers) cannot know with confidence what conduct is permitted and what is prohibited and, thereby, 'chills' the exercise of first amendment rights of speech, association, religion, collective bargaining and other constitutional rights.
"Plaintiffs have used and are using non-work-related social networking sites as an important avenue for contact with students, both during emergencies and for everyday educational issues, such as when a student has difficulty with a classroom assignment or identifying bullying.”
The law may, however, not just protect students. A recent survey conducted by Plymouth University revealed that 35% of teachers (of which 60% were women) said they had been the victim of some form of online abuse by pupils or parents of their pupils.
According to the study, the online bullying predominantly occurred via chats on social networks, YouTube videos and Facebook groups. Seventy-two percent of the bullying came from students with 26% coming from parents of students.
"Clearly, some people are viewing social media as a bypass to the traditional routes (head teacher, board of governors) of discussing dissatisfaction with the school," says the author of the report, Professor Andy Phippen.
In SA, there is currently no defined policy governing the use of social networks in schools, and school governing bodies determine the code of conduct within the established framework.
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