Acceptable ICT-Usage Policy for Staff

As an employee of Beaulieu College you will be required to use, as part of your daily work function, the IT facilities provided by the school. The facilities are provided for work-related activities and personal usage (such as banking or recreational usage) is done on your own time and at your own risk. You will be held responsible for any and all activity that occurs on a computer while you are logged in to it. It is therefore important that you never leave your computer station unlocked when you are not in front of it, or give your password to anyone else, including the IT support staff, other staff and pupils.

Criminal Activity
You need to be aware that Beaulieu College will be held responsible for all activities that originate from its computers. As such, engaging in any illegal activities, including file sharing, the distribution of copied music (you might own the music, but Beaulieu College does not and so having your music on our computer equipment is illegal), child pornography, hacking (whether internally or externally) or any other criminal activity as defined in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (No. 25 of 2002) or the Film and Publications Act (No. 65 of 1999) is not acceptable.

It is also an offence to attempt to circumvent any systems on the network which might enforce certain restrictions. This includes using software to hack or crack systems, and also logging on to machines and devices using other people’s login credentials.

Electronic Communication and Privacy
You are provided with your own personal e-mail account for use in communicating with colleagues, parents and pupils. Please note that you have no expectation of privacy for either incoming or outgoing e-mail. Your e-mail is automatically duplicated and stored in an archival system for backup purposes. While you are welcome to use your e-mail account for personal reasons, remember that this e-mail activity is being recorded. Beaulieu College reserves the right to monitor any incoming or outgoing e-mail and to use this duplicated e-mail against you in a disciplinary hearing, should the need arise.

Your Internet browsing activity is also monitored and logged as part of the IT Department’s efforts to better serve your educational requirements. This includes the times, dates and addresses of all web pages you visit. In addition, some pages are automatically blocked by content-filtering software based on certain categorisation. Based on monitored usage, these categorisations may be changed from time to time. You are able to make use of our facilities for your own personal uses, but there is no expectation of privacy. Beaulieu College reserves the right to use this information in a disciplinary hearing against you, should the need arise.

You may not, under any circumstances, use the equipment provided by Beaulieu College for your own personal financial gain outside of your responsibilities towards Beaulieu College.

You are cautioned that, as an educator, you have access to certain data which must remain confidential and which is not for public consumption. Disseminating this information, whether by e-mail or other means is regarded as a breach of the confidentiality required of you as an employee of Beaulieu College.

Confidentiality
Your login account is given access to resources on the network that are needed to complete your work functions. A portion of your teaching job requires discretion and privacy. Because your login account has access to resources on the IT infrastructure which could potentially violate this confidentiality and privacy, it is of the utmost importance that you do not divulge your password or login details to anyone, either staff or pupil.

You will be held accountable for any action that occurs while you are logged into a computer.

You may not divulge sensitive information to parties unconnected with the school.

General Usage
You are permitted to use any and all software that is installed on your computer. You may not install any other software yourself. This is because Beaulieu College is not licensed to run this software and by loading it onto a Beaulieu College computer, you are committing software piracy.

You are permitted to use the Internet and E-mail systems for school use at any time.

Social Media, Online Profiles and Activities
Staff are asked to be conscious of the fact that they are ambassadors of Beaulieu College and should strive to behave online with the same levels of professionalism that are expected in the classroom. Any online profiles or personas (either web-based, e-mail-based or using any other form of electronic communication as defined in the ECT Act (No. 25 of 2002)) that are created should avoid direct association with Beaulieu College where possible (it is acknowledged that some services require association with a school, and that some educational mailing lists or other online services might be signed up for with a Beaulieu College e-mail address).

Staff will be held accountable for their actions and content of their postings and should guard against bringing the name of Beaulieu College into disrepute either directly or by association. Staff must acknowledge that their reputation as professional educators is an important foundation upon which their employment at Beaulieu College is based. Harming this reputation will harm the employer-employee relationship. The Code of Professional Ethics, as published by the South African Council of Educators and the Code of Conduct for Staff of Beaulieu College will govern the requirements of professional behaviour, being applied, where relevant, to online activities.

School Related Profiles or Accounts
No member of staff is authorised to create a profile on behalf of the College (e.g. a Beaulieu College Twitter account, Beaulieu College Facebook page, Beaulieu College blog etc.) which might issue statements and messages on behalf of the College without the prior permission of the Executive Committee.

Staff may create online resources, including (but not limited to) picture galleries, websites, portfolios of work, blogs and so on which may reference Beaulieu College either directly or indirectly. These online resources, however, must have its purpose clearly explained so that visitors are aware of its function and do not confuse this online resource with official marketing and public relations efforts by the school. All such works that are created under the school's name or to further school activities or functions, whether created on instruction or on initiative of the staff member, remain the sole and exclusive property of Beaulieu College. Upon request, staff must disclose passwords and access to the management of Beaulieu College.

Where such profiles and accounts develop online communities (such as "followers", "friends" or "fans"), the relationships so formed shall remain the property of Beaulieu College.

Establishing parody accounts, whether in good humour or jest, which reference the school in any way are forbidden since, if taken out of context, could damage the reputation of the school or the individuals concerned.

Association with Pupils and Parents
Staff are also advised strongly to avoid personal online associations (e.g. becoming Facebook friends) with either current pupils of the College or family members of current pupils of the College. They are also advised to set the privacy settings as strongly as possible to prevent anonymous access to their online posting. Furthermore, staff should regard such services as publically accessible and must avoid posting any materials or messages online which might bring themselves or, either directly or indirectly, the name of Beaulieu College into disrepute.

Examples and Illustrations

 * A teacher should not become Facebook friends with his or her pupils in the order to maintain a professional distance between the two classes.
 * If a teacher creates a separate teacher persona on Facebook and uses this for the purposes of becoming Facebook friends with his or her pupils, this is permissable. This account, however, falls under the provisions of a school-related account and thus the account and its followers must be relinquished to Beaulieu College on request.
 * A teacher creates a Facebook page to keep class members updated with homework and other class-related activities. This Facebook page and its followers is the property of Beaulieu College.
 * A teacher with a personal Twitter account may mention Beaulieu College and his or her association with the school. Because Twitter is inherently a public medium, any "tweets" - whether mentioning the school's name or not - affects the teacher's professional reputation and may cause irreparable damage to the employer-employee relationship. The profile name should not mention "Beaulieu College" or any of its abbreviations (e.g. "JoeSoap_BC" is not an acceptable personal Twitter account and is seen to be a direct link to the College).
 * A teacher creates a "tour blog" to keep parents and interested parties updated on the tour progress and to perhaps post pictures and videos of the tour. The blog, because of its direct relationship with Beaulieu College, is the property of the school and the teacher must disclose the necessary access details to management on request. In this case, the teacher concerned must also ensure that any pictures and content loaded onto the site do not damage the reputations of either the pupils or staff of the College or the College itself.
 * A teacher creates the parody Twitter account which publishes some of the amusing errors made by pupils in examinations. This type of account is forbidden since it may harm the reputation of the school and the individuals that the account quotes or references.