Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales
Scroll through your social media feeds, and if you’ve ever taken an interest in piano education it’s likely you will encounter videos of children at their piano lessons, students performing in events, and celebratory photos of them with certificates or trophies.
The desire to share such media online is understandable from a number of angles. Firstly, and most obviously, it seems entirely appropriate for parents to celebrate their children’s musical achievements on their private page in this way, and potentially for teachers and schools to do the same.
As the NSPCC put it,
“It’s important that children and young people feel happy about their achievements and have images of their special moments for themselves and their families to look back on. This might include photos and videos taken by teachers during school performances and special events, or by staff and volunteers delivering events and activities outside of school.”
Secondly, there are good reasons for teachers to share videos on forums when seeking advice from colleagues: what better way to explain a technical challenge or developmental issue when seeking an expert second opinion?
Thirdly, some teachers use pupil videos to promote their teaching. Personally, it concerns me that doing this could easily skew a teacher’s attitude towards learners who don’t enjoy performing, or result in them enforcing their own interpretation of a piece rather than nurturing the player’s own response. Nevertheless, as a colleague explained to me recently, she sees videos of pupils as her “professional portfolio”.
So why not share student images and videos online? When considering this question, we need to firstly understand that there’s a big difference between:
- public publishing: for example, on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or a teacher’s public website, and
- private sharing: such as in a secure, password-protected web space, or a private WhatsApp group.
This article pertains particularly to publishing or sharing media on public platforms, explores the reasons that so many professionals are opposed to this practice, and highlights the legal, ethical, and professional concerns that parents and teachers should all understand and mitigate if sharing student videos or images online publicly.
These are thorny and sometimes complex issues that I have had to grapple with over recent years, and investigate from a number of angles: as a teacher, business and website owner, and online forum moderator. In this article I will outline what I’ve found…
Continue reading Why not share student images and videos?
