Social media terms of use

Our followers can expect to receive regular updates including:

  • News and information about the New Zealand education system
  • Information about our services and activities
  • Invitations to provide feedback on specific issues
  • Emergency information, such as school closures during bad weather
  • Information about recruitment

Social media channels

These terms of use apply to all of our social media accounts. We invite you to connect with us on:

At different times we may operate other social media channels for a specific purpose or audience.

Acceptable use

We reserve the right to remove content posted to our social media accounts that:

  • is deemed offensive, abusive or obscene
  • is not relevant
  • is potentially libellous
  • constitutes unlawful use of imagery that violates copyright or breach of a licence agreement
  • links to sites that may be obscene, abusive, offensive or indecent
  • has political bias
  • constitutes spam
  • refers to any commercial activity, including advertising.

We may report, block, or ban anyone who posts the above content or comments, or who breaches the terms of use of the relevant social media platform:

Engagement

We welcome feedback and ideas from our followers and try to join these conversations where possible. However, we do not guarantee individual replies to every comment, post, or direct message.

If you cannot reach us through social media, you can alternatively contact enquiries.national@education.govt.nz or get in touch with one of our local offices or service teams directly.

Monitoring

Our social media accounts are monitored between 8am–5pm on business days, and periodically in the evenings and on weekends and public holidays. Monitoring is done by our Social Media Team.

Use of social media by Ministry employees

Employees of the Ministry of Education are free to engage in social media in their personal lives. Any opinions or views expressed in these posts or discussions belong to the individual staff member.

Our political neutrality

The Ministry is politically neutral. We do not advocate for a particular political party, and our social media channels will not be used to promote any party’s political messages or other content.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that may compromise our obligation to maintain political neutrality.

Our approach to connections on social media

The Ministry may choose to 'follow', 'like' or otherwise establish connections with other organisations and individuals using social media.

We do this to maintain contact with what social media users are saying and, where appropriate, share their content. Sometimes, we also need to establish a connection to engage with users, e.g. via direct messages or posting.

Once ‘liked’ or ‘followed’, we will not remove a profile from its network unless there is reason to do so, e.g. because it poses a significant and material risk to our reputation and credibility, or there is a significant and material breach of our obligations to maintain political neutrality. Each case will be considered on its own merits.

Endorsement

The Ministry does not implicitly or explicitly endorse any individual or organisation merely by creating a social media connection, regardless of the terms used by social media providers such as 'follow' or 'like'.

We will maintain social media connections with individuals and organisations that are critical and/or have opposing views. We do not hold any responsibility for the content of such profiles.

Privacy

Read our privacy page

Copyright

Crown copyright

Unless otherwise indicated, the material we make available on our social media accounts is protected by Crown copyright. In essence, you are free to reproduce this Crown copyright material free of charge without further permission, as long as you:

  • reproduce the material accurately
  • do not use the material in a derogatory manner or a misleading context
  • acknowledge the source and copyright status of the material.

If you wish to reproduce images, contact copyright.permissions@education.govt.nz.

Note that this licence does not apply to any logos, emblems, trademarks or design elements. These specific items may not be re-used without express permission.

Read our copyright page

Copyright of third parties

Our social media accounts may provide links to other websites or embed material which may contain information that is the copyright of third parties and subject to restrictions on use or reproduction.

You must get permission from the copyright owner to use:

  • copyrighted materials from other websites, or
  • material on our social media pages that is protected by the copyright of a third party.

The Ministry of Education cannot give you this permission. 

Licence

By submitting, posting or displaying your content on any of our social media accounts, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use that content.

Contact

Please email Social.Media@education.govt.nz if you have any questions or comments about any of our social media channels or these terms of use.

Disclaimer

The contents of our social media accounts are intended for informational purposes only. The Ministry of Education shall in no event accept any liability for loss or damage suffered by any person or body due to information provided on these sites or linked sites.

Social media sites may occasionally become unavailable. The Ministry of Education cannot accept responsibility for lack of service due to downtime.

The information on our social media sites and all government web sites is provided on the basis that persons accessing the website undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content.

Updates to terms of use

These terms of use will be reviewed every 12 months to ensure they are fit for purpose and may be updated at any time without notice.