Teacher Magazine (acer)

Teachers are thought of by many as an important role model in the community. And when it comes to drawing a line between a teacher’s professional and personal life, this can be challenging, particularly when it comes to their private use of social media. This idea has been explored by two researchers from the School of Law at Western Sydney University – Dr Sandy Noakes and Dr Sarah Hook. Their paper, which looks at the status of regulation of teacher behaviour on social media in Australia, found a huge variance in the social media policies that are in place for educators at schools across the country, and that there is room for teachers to be more aware of their rights in this area. The impetus for this research was a decision made by the High Court in Australia in 2019 on the Comcare and Banerji case, which you’ll hear Sarah and Sandy refer to throughout this episode. This case involved an employee of the Australian Human Rights Commission who used a private, anonymous Twitter account to criticise their emp