On TikTok live early Tuesday morning, a classroom became an unlikely stage. In front of a phone camera, a teacher sat chewing gum with unmistakable gusto, issuing instructions to students as they filed into the room, while her online audience watched, listened and awaited their share of the morning’s performance.

Between the “good mornings”, instructions to take out homework, tired yawns and stretches, thanks for viewers’ gifts, and even occasionally breaking into song, the teacher was wholly engaged in the production. Busy reading comments on the live, she guided her students through early lessons, while simultaneously basking in the “Good Morning, beautiful” comments coming from viewers.

Another content curating educator has been doing daily extended lives, switching between ‘taps and roses’ and class lessons, while loudly rebuking those who question the appropriateness of live-streaming during class.

They are among the recurring ‘teacherpreneurs’ who have bombarded TikTok in recent times, from every corner of Jamaica, bringing their cameras into the classroom and using their children as props for their content. Some show their children’s names and faces, some say they only go live during lunch or other breaks, while others appear to be online throughout the entire school day, using the classroom as a content studio and the students as props.

The concerns raised in their comment sections, tagging the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), and re-shared in video commentaries, are now too numerous to dismiss. Should social media be allowed in the classroom? How do teachers find the time to bask in the limelight while teaching lessons and attending to students’ various needs?

Sure, social media is woven into the fabric of our lives, and teachers, like everyone else, have online personalities. But where do we draw the line?

The issue is not unique to Jamaica. Recently, outrage erupted in the US after a Louisiana kindergarten teacher filmed herself dancing provocatively in the classroom with her students and posted it to social media. The circumstances may differ, but the questions are similar.

School boards have responsibility for the governance and disciplinary oversight of teachers, while the Ministry of Education has responsibility for ensuring that teachers operate within the broader framework of professional standards. The JTA’s Code of Ethics lists among its objectives the promotion of high professional, ethical, and moral standards among teachers, recognising teachers’ responsibility to earn and maintain the respect and confidence of all educational stakeholders.

That responsibility cannot be switched off when TikTok is switched on. Parents should not have to police classrooms, and students should not have to compete with an online audience for their teachers’ attention.

This is not an argument against teachers having social media accounts. It is an argument for boundaries. A teacher can have a following without making the classroom part of the show, and a teacher can use TikTok without doing it while children are sitting in front of her waiting to be taught.

It is time for school administrations to intervene before blatant breaches of professional boundaries are allowed to become just another part of the school day.

If teachers are spending instructional time cultivating TikTok audiences, accepting virtual gifts, and engaging viewers while students are in their care, that is a legitimate matter for scrutiny.