I am a qualified teacher in the UK who left teaching in mainstream education four years ago. I have finally come out in the last two years and to my parents and Granny in January this year. I joined up to a lesbian dating site and was browsing members when I came across an 18 year old member who I taught when she was in Year 9. For some reason it quite disturbed me, even though I don't teach her or anyone in schools anymore. It still somehow felt unprofessional and worrying that she might come across my profile if I came across hers. It occured to me that this might be much more of a problem/risk for a teacher still working in mainstream education. However, I am very aware that dating sites are often the best chance of finding a relationship for gay and lesbian people. It got me wondering: Do you think that gay teachers (and/or straight teachers) can risk joining dating sites?
My mom is a teacher and was on a dating site and most of her work colleges knew and supported her on it. She found her partner 3 years ago and they are still very happy together, in which he also knew of a teacher on a similar website. Everyone looks for love, what's the difference between seeing your teacher on a dating site and seeing her in town, they both may seem unprofessional, but why do teachers have to be the most professional of people anyway? I could go on a huge rant about teachers expectations etc, but I'm not going to, and I'm just going to say: teachers have as much right to be on the dating sites as any other people do.
I see no problem with it, as long as you aren't doing something that you wouldn't recommend to your students.
