Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Social networking tool Yammer reactivated for school staff despite concerns over pupil information

Education Secretary John Swinney.
Education Secretary John Swinney.

A maligned social networking tool has been reintroduced to Scottish schools despite ongoing concerns over access to pupil information.

Educators were given the green light to log back in to Yammer when they returned from the Summer break last week and are still able to view the profiles of pupils outside their school and local authority, despite warnings from child safety experts.

Access was pulled for all Scottish school users after an investigation by The Courier revealed how ineffective safeguarding on Yammer led to instances of pornographic imagery and inappropriate content being placed on it.

A group of educators who claimed they had previously been threatened with disciplinary action for raising security fears said they were “dismayed” to hear Yammer had been reactivated for staff with many of the same issues.

One teacher said: “I logged back in and was able to access a group which contains pupil information. These kids are not in my local authority, never mind school.

“Our authority hadn’t actually publicised the fact that Yammer was available again. None of our department, including our principal teacher, were aware. There was some dismay when I told them.”

The system, which is hosted on the national digital learning platform Glow, allows staff and pupils, including primary-aged children, to communicate and share private messages with anyone who has access to the network.

Pupil profiles are currently restricted to username only following a service-wide reset of log-in credentials in June but previously included information such as school, year, email address and interest groups.

Users signing in to the system for the first time since the lockdown are now presented with a “use policy” for Yammer, which includes instructions not to share credentials or “content that is inappropriate or likely to cause harm or offence”.

They are also warned that other users on the closed network “may not be who they seem” and that individuals should not meet in person “unless accompanied by a parent, carer or other known and trusted adult”.

Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Ian Gray called on Education Secretary John Swinney and Education Scotland to explain why Yammer had been reactivated “despite it retaining obvious flaws”.

He said: “Education Scotland ignored initial warnings about the app before going ahead with it, and it has also emerged Mr Swinney failed to pull the plug on it when he knew children were likely being confronted with illicit material.

“Now we learn the app is going back online even although we know that the search for a ‘safeguarding product’ has only just begun. That is unacceptable.”

Mr Swinney has pledged the service will not be reactivated for school pupils until he is satisfied that it is safe.

An Education Scotland spokesperson said: “We had a number of approaches from teachers requesting that their access be restored as it is used as an effective peer collaboration tool.

“If teachers have any concerns with Glow, it is important that they raise these with either their local authority or us here, at Education Scotland, so that any issues can be addressed.”