Dutch teachers who film pupils for TikTok face scrutiny as phone ban planned

The Dutch government has told schools that mobile phones should be "at home or in the locker" from 2027, and the advice has opened a question that reaches beyond the pupils it is aimed at: does the rule apply to teachers too? The concern matters to families because a growing number of Dutch teachers now make social media videos in which their own pupils appear.

The practice of so-called teacher influencers is now under scrutiny from researchers and child media specialists.

One teacher, 131,000 followers

Martijn Holsappel teaches groups 7 and 8 at primary school and posts several videos each week showing life at school. "On TikTok we, my class and I, have 131,000 followers," he said. The account, known as Meneer Martijn, features sketches and prepared dances in which his pupils appear in almost every video.

Holsappel began making videos during the coronavirus pandemic, when he was looking for a way to stay in contact with pupils stuck at home and to show what was happening in the empty school building. "And that caught on," he said. His pupils are given a role and a script, and since this year they have also used small microphones. "So we have become a step more professional."

He said the sketches give the impression that he films during lessons, but that is not the case. He records only outside teaching hours. "Sometimes it is as many as sixteen pupils who stay behind after school for such a video. Sometimes only four." He said he has permission from the parents.

Holsappel sees no harm in the activity. He views the videos as a way to make children more media literate. "Step by step, the children learn in this way how to present themselves on the internet." He also hopes the videos improve the image of teaching. "I think more people will choose education if you show what it involves."

Researchers raise concerns

Researchers take a different view. Saro Lozano Parra, a university lecturer in Citizenship and Education at Utrecht University, has studied how teachers combine social media with their profession. In his view, the two roles are becoming more and more entangled.

"Our research shows that these teachers are more occupied with making funny content that attracts as many views as possible than with teaching itself," he said. He is worried about the example teachers set. "If we forbid pupils to use mobile telephones, then we may need to extend that to teachers as well." He finds it contradictory that, just as the state wants to limit pupils' phone use, teachers involve their pupils in making social media content.

The argument that pupils develop digital skills through the videos does not convince him. Pupils can learn to handle social media without making videos with their teacher, he said, and a critical view of social media is harder to maintain when the teacher is part of it.

Freek Zwanenberg, director of Bureau Jeugd & Media (the Youth and Media Bureau), shares these concerns but draws a distinction between teachers who film after school, like Holsappel, and those who do it in class. "If there is a camera in the classroom and someone has a different interest, such as attention and likes, then the safety and wellbeing of the pupils are not sufficiently safeguarded," he said. In his view, permission from parents and child does not remove every objection. "It may be that a child later comes across videos of itself online and has difficulty with it at that moment."

Zwanenberg does not call for an outright ban. He wants schools to make clear agreements about what may and may not be filmed. "And then it would not surprise me if the teacher influencer slowly disappears, because it no longer fits within the new agreements."

Holsappel said he would abide by a ban if one were introduced. Until then he will carry on. "As long as the children enjoy it, as long as I enjoy it, I will keep going for a while, if I am allowed to."

Background: claims against the platforms

The Dutch debate sits within a wider international picture of social media court cases over harm to children. In the United States, a social media lawsuit brought by a Kentucky county school district against Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube settled before trial, which had been set for June 2026. The terms were not disclosed in court; agreements later released under a public-records request were reported to total about US$27 million. Further school district test trials, for Tucson Unified and Charleston County, are due to start in 2027.

Separately, a Los Angeles jury found on 25 March 2026 that Meta, through Instagram, and Google, through YouTube, were liable in the case of a young woman known as K.G.M. A trial of two further personal injury plaintiffs against Meta, YouTube and Snap is set to begin in Los Angeles on 28 October 2026, and a second trial due in July did not go ahead after TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube settled with the plaintiff. These cases form part of wider social media claims and class action litigation over teen social media addiction in the US courts.