ICT Teachers, Social Network Sites and Online Privacy

Abstract The article looks at primary and secondary ICT teachers’ attitude to social network sites and privacy protection on the Internet. Attention is devoted to student-teacher friendships within online network sites. The study includes a description of specific habits as well as a discussion of how teachers make decisions and what influences them. The research has used in-depth semi-structured interviews, focusing on ICT teachers with differing views on the issue in question. Our investigations have been supported by triangulation, which involved accessing information about given teachers on social network sites. Data gained from interviews and triangulation has been processed using open coding. The results of our investigation show that teachers appreciate SNS because of the possibility to communicate and keep in touch with people they know, including former pupils. Teachers are concerned about the risks associated with using SNS, particularly security and privacy risks, and they feel even more under threat due to their occupation. Some teachers decided not to reject their pupils’ friend requests for educational reasons, claiming SNS serve as a channel of communication to support teaching and learning.