Guest Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Thanks Maz Maybe my new flush of posting got a little carried away, hope that explains it better. There was me sitting looking in the mirror trying to make out if I was Draconian or not............. lol The Token Male Tony
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 There was me sitting looking in the mirror trying to make out if I was Draconian or not............. lol See what a reflective practitioner you are? Mirror mirror on the wall...
Guest Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) And I absolutely agree and see where you are coming from, but we are not stopping them using these sites, what we are doing is asking them as professionals either not to have parents in their friends list so they cannot read such posts OR to be aware what they are posting may be viewed by parents and act responsibily. We have had no problems from the staff although we have spoken to one and asked them to review what they had posted, once the reasoning behind the request was explained, they asked to use the pc and removed their comment immediately and there has been no repeat. ALL my staff use facebook (in their own time) and are in my friends list and I have no intention of asking them to stop that, but I hope we as professionals are raising awareness of the damage that can be done. The Token Male Tony I really cant see the problem with social networking with Parent on facebook, I own my pre-school and I have a number of parents on my friend list (many of whom have approached me). All staff members are friendly and chatty with parents because we are close to their children. Parents ask me where I am going on holiday and vice versa etc. I believe that small talk and chit chat with parents either via facebook or face to face is no problem at all. It builds an ethos of openess and friendliness within the setting and I beleive this is why a lot of parents feel comfortable with us. I also have a closed group on facebook for past present and prospective parents to join and see what we do. Neither me nor my staff are on their discussing anything that should be kept confidential infact we dont mention the children unless it is an old parent who we are asking about how their child is getting on at school. What does it matter if you have mentioned what you have got up to on a saturday night? we are all human and have social lives outside of the setting and me and my staff are around the age of a lot of the parents so we even see them when we are actually out! It seems a sad state of affairs that you now have to draw into a contract who you can and cant socialise with. You have made your choices of who to employ, I guess, on the fact that your employees are professionals and I think that there should be a level of trust - as you would at any point of them being away from work that they will not discuss confidential matters. I think policing them to the point of they cant choose who their friends are on websites is absolutely terrible Im afraid. I have a great team of girls who work for me they are completely aware of setting boundaries and I would never dream of telling them who they can and cant be friends with on facebook. What if a parent approached you to be a friend and you turned them down? How would you deal with that when you saw them at work the next morning? I think this thread raises a lot of questions and I for one trust my staff enough to know that they are professionals and are able to make their own judgements about who they socialise with out of hours. Edited March 30, 2009 by deejay
Guest Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Looks like this topic will run and run....... I too own my own full daycare setting, but unfortunately my average staff age is I suppose about 22, whilst I trust them, sometimes it helps to have ground rules. Don't forget this policy only came to light as a result of attending a Safer Recruitment training course where we as Managers and Owners of settings were told that we 'should' be aware of staff activities outside of work. An example given was a member of staff (male) befriending parents outside of work and then having access to the parents children alone outside of work hours. You and I know there may be nothing in it whatsoever BUT with the experience of age it is unprofessional to leave yourself open to any allegation. We were also advised that if a parent does make a complaint agains a member of staff, in this authority that the member of staff's social networking sites would also be the subject of investigation. Yes its sad and it is unfortunate that society has come to this, but that is the training advice being given. Just my 4d worth The Token Male Tony
AnonyMouse_12805 Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 but we are not stopping them using these sites, what we are doing is asking them as professionals either not to have parents in their friends list so they cannot read such posts OR to be aware what they are posting may be viewed by parents and act responsibily. Tony, sorry, didn't understand you at first as your previous post gae the impression staff wold be 'banned' from using these sites. However the above does make sense
AnonyMouse_75 Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Ive got parents on my friends list but I also take care what I write on my page I have a second "annonymous" page if I want to bragg and blab about what I have been doing saturday nights and there are no parents on that page and I dont tell anyone who I am or what I do its totally seperate to work I can totally understand an employers concerns and desire to ensure their employees dont bring the setting into disrepute I know there are businesses that enforce similar codes of conduct I know Asda dont like employees working anywhere other than asda a friend went for a part time job there but they wouldnt take her on unless she gave up her preschool sessions that was a while ago so I dont know if they still enfoce that policy?
Guest Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Now you see, some of us don't belong to Facebook or other sites other than this one> Too tired and just a boring whatsit I think. And actually, I'm quite glad I don't after all this discussion. What a minefield
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Hey, you know my views on this, but now I'm shaking my head in total and utter disbelief!!!!! Tony says that it's a shame society has come to this, but isn't that because we're letting it!!! Policing staff on who they can and who they can't socialise with on Facebook is so extreme I think I'm about to cry!!!! I refuse to let 'society' turn me into a paranoid, untrusting and judgemental professional practitioner. A scenario: I've been friends for 25 years with someone who wants their child to attend my playschool, am I going to tell them - yeah, that's fine , but we can't socialise anymore?????? Absolutely not....where do we draw the line????? An employee's contract should include that strict confidentiality should be adhered to at all times and that if they acted in an irresponsible and disrespectful way that could compromise the good name of the setting, disciplinary action could be taken. Individuals have rights also!!
Guest Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 Hey, you know my views on this, but now I'm shaking my head in total and utter disbelief!!!!!Tony says that it's a shame society has come to this, but isn't that because we're letting it!!! Policing staff on who they can and who they can't socialise with on Facebook is so extreme I think I'm about to cry!!!! I refuse to let 'society' turn me into a paranoid, untrusting and judgemental professional practitioner. A scenario: I've been friends for 25 years with someone who wants their child to attend my playschool, am I going to tell them - yeah, that's fine , but we can't socialise anymore?????? Absolutely not....where do we draw the line????? An employee's contract should include that strict confidentiality should be adhered to at all times and that if they acted in an irresponsible and disrespectful way that could compromise the good name of the setting, disciplinary action could be taken. Individuals have rights also!! Esme I totally agree with you. You have a huge thumbs up from me!
AnonyMouse_13532 Posted April 29, 2010 Posted April 29, 2010 (edited) I have just read this whole post with much interest. Over the weekend we went on a safeguarding children update course and were asked to think about a blanket babysitting ban and a social networking ban on staff being linked to parents, whilst the said child/children are registered with the setting. This would not be a long term thing, but just for the time the child was at the setting. I actually questioned the babysitting ban and was told it was all about our duty of care to the child. Have told our staff that we are considering these new policies and they are all ok with it and have already taken off current parents from their FB friends list. Its ok to have confidentiality clauses in someones contract but unless as a manager you are reading their posts on social networking sites, how would you ever know that they are not breeching this? Luckily all my staff agree in principle to these changes, although we can't say that we all agree 100%. Like someone else said, you take your staff on because you feel you can trust them. This and the reference checks and CRB checks should really be enough. As far as taking someone to task legally because they have said something on FB that they shouldnt surely must be a legal mindfield. From my perspective it is far easier to bring in a policy which states that staff should not be linked to parents/carers on social networking sites. Whether I agree with it or not is another matter At the end of the day we can only go with current thinking and this is usually found on up-to-date courses such as Safer Recruitment and SG updates. Actually this was discussed on recent ICT training too! Edited April 29, 2010 by bugbabe
AnonyMouse_15046 Posted April 29, 2010 Posted April 29, 2010 Ok so you can tell your staff that they must not babysit or have contact with parents outside the setting. What if the practitioner and the parents knew each other before the child arrived at the setting? What do you have the right to do if the staff babysit or socialise anyway? Do you have any grounds to discipline them? If you would feel the need to keep tabs on their facebook conversations how do you keep tabs on them if they meet in Tesco, the pub, etc? Would your staff be likely to break confidentiality if you could not monitor their conversation? I would be very worried if that were the case. Some staff could find this attempt to censor their interactions outside work very insulting.
Guest jenpercy Posted April 29, 2010 Posted April 29, 2010 we had a staff member babysitting for a parent. Parent usd to come in on days their child didn't attend and monopolise staff member for 20 mins when we were busy. then staff memb er got cancer. we were advised that whilst she was undergoing treatment, she should not be in sole charge of children in case she fitted. She continued to babysit, despite my querying whether this was wise. Eventually, i felt I had to inform parent of the situation, even though it was breaking confidentiality of staff member. Luckily, it all turned out well, but it could have been very messy
AnonyMouse_30147 Posted April 30, 2010 Posted April 30, 2010 Just two little things here I couldn't resist adding my position - I work in a preschool in a village where everyone knows everyone in their village and the surrounding ones, the place is too small not to, so parents and staff are often friends before they start work or their children are born. It is hard sometimes to be professional and not join in gossip - but it's part of the job to think before you speak . What goes on at work stays at work and when out and about you just have to smile and withdraw yourself from the conversation for a bit so that you don't give an opinion you shouldn't (no matter how honest it might be!) and the second thing is far worse. My friend's nursery now has a no facebook policy after a member of staff got together with a child's father (they initally met up by chatting on facebook) and the father later left his wife. Surprisingly the member of staff now works elsewhere!
Guest Posted May 2, 2010 Posted May 2, 2010 here's what I have.... Historically it has not been uncommon for nursery staff to offer babysitting services to nursery clients, outside of nursery working hours. This policy has been implemented to provide clarification of some points regarding private arrangements between staff and parents/carers. The Nursery will not be responsible for any private arrangements or agreements that are made. Out of hours work arrangements must not interfere with a staff members employment at the Nursery. Confidentiality of employment must be adhered to and respected. Nursery staff who are found to have breached the Confidentiality Policy will be investigated and disciplinary action may be taken. Parents should be aware that other adults accompanying the babysitter may not have the relevant Criminal Records Bureau clearance, and it may not be appropriate for them to care for children. The Nursery accepts no responsibility in this matter. The Nursery will not be held responsible for any health and safety or other issues that may arise from these private arrangements. The Nursery has a duty to safeguard all children whilst on our premises and in the care of our staff, but this duty does not extend to private arrangements between staff and parents/carers outside of nursery hours.
Guest Posted May 2, 2010 Posted May 2, 2010 and here's the guidance on facebook that we issue to staff... As we become aware of the growing use of social networking sites (such as Facebook), we have decided to issue guidance for staff on use. In general, the published guidance for safe use of social networking sites relates to young people and, whilst most of this also holds true for adults, there are some additional points that should be considered by adults working with young people. You are entitled to a social life just like anyone else but it should be noted that, within your work community, you will always be linked to the nursery. Staff should always remember that information published to their site may be read by the management, other staff, parents or children. To prevent any misunderstanding the following guidance is offered: Separate personal from professional Decide from the start how you will use your account and the sort of information it will contain, if appropriate you could create two different accounts. Protect your information Make sure you understand the privacy settings and can restrict access to information you consider personal. Think about your profile picture Facebook will display your profile picture even when your information is set to private. It will also show some of your friends profile pictures. Think about what you are publishing Although you may have set strict privacy controls, the information could still be shared by one of your 'friends'. It is sensible to think that, once published, the information is no longer private. Be professional Do not discuss the nursery, colleagues, parents or children. Watch who comments Although you might be careful with what you are posting, it is possible that you may receive inappropriate comments, pictures or videos from your contacts Protect your image Many sites now encourage you to name (tag) people that appear in uploaded photographs. These tags can be indexed and the original photographs displayed in search results. Even though you don't post pictures you may find that your friends do. Talk to your friends and contacts If it is a personal site, they should understand the need to keep your information private and not post inappropriate or potentially embarrassing comments, pictures or video on an open site. If it is a professional site, they need to understand why you may not add them as friends or, if added, the types of posts or comments that are acceptable. Pupils are not online friends It would be considered inappropriate to add any nursery children/siblings as friends on a personal site, the same could apply to parents. If you are looking to engage with the nursery community online then consider setting up a nursery account that can be open and managed by several members of staff If in doubt, ask.
Guest Posted May 17, 2010 Posted May 17, 2010 What exactly does it mean by not having contact outside of the setting? We have a policy on this subject matter. Our staff are allowed to babysit but the policy states under no circumstances should anything be discussed about the nursery, and that the company takes no responsibility for what happens in the home. It also includes "other jobs", and these are allowed but this company comes first and therefore the "other jobs" should not affect the work you do for the company. If it does then it states you will be asked to resign from your "other jobs". From a parents point of view you want someone to babysit who knows your children and you can trust with them, so who is better than your child's carer at nursery?
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