AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

participant’s Facebook account which had not been rectified by new staff. However, it
is difficult to make general judgements based on isolated incidents observed during
the research process as Slater (2013) warns researchers must be wary of making
“snap judgements about an organisation” (p. 126).
Many of the participants could only access the internet and online social media
through collaboration. Field notes from observations and discussions with staff within
the researched residential educational settings showed much of the onus to collaborate
on the use social media use falls on the personal assistants. As seen within the data,
there was no universal approach to how social media collaboration was implemented
across the research sites. Each setting had differing policy guidance and sometimes
policies had evolved in reaction to unforeseen incidents. The main priority was
ensuring the safeguarding of young people who use AAC and management teams
described working collaboratively with staff to develop policies that protected their
privacy and safety but also recognised the positive aspects of social media to support
social relationships. Personal assistants were asked about their Information
Technology (IT) skills at interview, and training could be provided, but it was not a
compulsory skill. Challenges identified for personal staff when working
collaboratively to input and share content on social media sites were: professional
boundaries between home and educational environments, entering into potentially
private relationships with families and friends and knowing how to handle, report and
negotiate disclosure of potentially negative content. Collaborative social media use
may be a newly evolving role for the personal care workforce. The National Survey of
Care Workers (Hall & Wreford, 2007) revealed the following demographic profile
from data collected from 502 care workers between September 2006 and July 2007,
“71% of care workers were female, 24% were under 35, 51% aged between
35 and 54, and 25% aged 55 or over. 94% were of a white background and
60% were in the lower social grades of C2DE … the average hourly wage was
£6.87”
There may be challenges for the personal digital technology skills of this work force
based upon this demographic profile. Morris, Goodman and Brading (2007) found
computer use was less popular among the older generation and Clayton and
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