Education sector guidance will help frontline workers

Privacy, especially when it relates to children and young people, can be a complex area, but it is vital it’s done well, especially when it comes to managing personal information. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has developed best practice privacy advice to help make sure children and young people’s privacy rights are protected and respected.

This guidance focuses on the unique needs of those working within and on the frontline of the education sector and uses a range of real-world situations to help them make good privacy decisions with confidence.

What the guidance covers

Topics include the rights of children and young people, education technology, and health and learning support information. Other areas covered are managing information requests, keeping learner information safe, unique identifiers, and managing privacy incidents.

The use of digital technologies is one key area explored, including the use of online learning platforms, virtual classrooms and parent communication tools. There is also a checklist providing a list of questions to ask when undertaking due diligence on these digital tools.

Special topic chapters focus on the relevant areas of the Privacy Act and the applicable privacy principles. That includes how these can be applied across the lifecycle of information, from collection through to deletion.

Raising awareness

One of our aims is to raise awareness of the various privacy risks children face. It’s also an important area with the public, with our most recent privacy survey recording the highest level of concern (67 percent) for children’s privacy, so there’s a lot of interest in the topic, especially among parents and whānau.

Whether you’re a teacher, a principal, an administrator, a member of a school board, a speech language therapist, a guidance counsellor, operate an early learning service, or are a service provider providing services to learners, this guidance has been created for you.

See the guidance

This package of information follows on from earlier guidance. This included information sharing, photography and filming of children and young people. It also covered how to apply best practice privacy when responding to requests for a child or young person’s personal information, and how to help children, young people and their parents protect their privacy while exploring the online world.

OPC has also done work to support an information sharing framework for children and young people, when there are concerns about their wellbeing or safety.

The guidance will help clarify privacy responsibilities and is a resource I encourage the sector to share. We want as many people as possible to do the right thing when it comes to managing the personal information of children and young people.

All guidance can be found in the A to Z guidance topics on the OPC website.

Resources and learning – Office of the Privacy Commissioner