Schoolfeeds: A study of principals’ governance of school social media pages and students’ data, privacy and treatment

Abstract

It is common for contemporary schools to have a presence on social media for the purpose of connecting with the school community and often the wider public. Drawing on the perspectives of five Australian non-government principals, the study explored why schools engaged with social media and the approaches used to manage the school's social media activities. We found that the main perceived value was in marketing the school to prospective families, which required active curation of posts and comments to ensure a positive image was presented and maintained. We further found that principals consider social media platforms to be neutral mechanisms for communication, not dissimilar to previous forms of communication long used by schools to engage with their communities. When viewed through a data justice lens, we argue that these views result in unintended consequences by presenting an image of the school that does not represent the diversity of its students and activities and by perpetuating the exploitative practices of commercial platforms that commodify students’ data. There are also missed opportunities for schools to better promote their educational goals and activate students as agents in representing themselves online and developing their data literacy. We propose that by adopting the term ‘schoolfeeds’ we can promote a more critical engagement with school social media that can lead to better policy and practice.