Shocked to have been secretly recorded at work.

[Whataninvasionofprivacy]

I work as a TA in school, and last week at the end of a lesson, the teacher called me over and indicated (behind the kid’s backs) to the class cupboard. She then whispered “Will you turn off the iPad?” I wasn’t sure what she was on about, but she then whispered that she’d just recorded the entire lesson, but didn’t want the kids to know. She had been told to do this by a senior staff member.

Am I being ridiculous to feel annoyed by this? I’m sure I should have been told beforehand. Also what about parents who don’t normally consent, they had no choice in this case.

If they didn’t tell you, could it be that they are monitoring your performance? If not, was the lesson particularly special and would warrant recording? Did you not ask why it was recorded? I’m assuming every child in that class has had their parents give consent at the beginning of the year for their child to be photographed/ on video? I’m a secondary school teacher and if it was my class I’d be going to that senior staff member to ask those questions

I feel so so uncomfortable about that. I have a big thing with just recording people without consent; the latest modern age boundary violation.

I would just gently enquire. I'd want more information, specific information. You can enquire without being challenging or difficult.

I think it's fair to say you didn't realise that sort of thing happened and do they usually do that? You could ask if TA like yourselves are allowed to be informed in advance? There's a gentle way of doing this so you aren't being ' difficult '.

Would it be ok to do this in a working environment with adults only elsewhere? If there's a massive behaviour problem then the teachers just say to the kids ' we're going to be recording you btw going forward '. That in itself might solve behaviour issues if that's what this is about.

Don't like this at all personally. You could have an itchy arse or be pulling your undies out your arse thinking no one could see. 🤷‍♀️🤣. Seriously though, I don't like it.

I used to need to record lessons for internal discussion. No-one outside the school saw the videos, so parent permission wasn't needed. They were for me or my year group team to see the lesson from an outsider's view, and for be to reflect on it for my own professional development. Or ccasionally for a member of the SLT to use for a lesson observation, so that their presence didn't affect the children (I taught children with complex learning difficulties, for whom change in the routine and staff presence could be problematic).

My TAs did always know when a recording was happening though, as they should.

(Edited to remove a paragraph as I now see that a senior manager asked for it)

I think it's absolutely ridiculous you can secretly record children without the parents knowledge, school or not.

I'd flip my lid if I was the parent.

This doesn't sound right at all but I'm not sure how I would deal with it tbh. And yes, you should have been told about it beforehand, as should the children and their parents. I would think it's against GDPR regardless of who it's intended to be seen by.

Why? Anyone within the school watching it for professional development, also has the ability to go into the classroom to see your child. In action.

If you want your children's teachers to extend their expertise and experience, they need to watch other teachers and classes in action.

@saraclara can you imagine this was the scenario in your workplace. Would you be ok being filmed like that, not knowing? I don't see it as any different with young people on the receiving end. It's not ok to me.

Where are these recordings stored @saraclara - it's an absolutely massive potential for data breach. If teachers want to observe for personal development they need to do just that - observe, not record.

I am pretty sure they aren't allowed to film people unless they have signs up saying they are filming. Or tell you they are filming.
Those were certainly the rules we had in place for recording at work.

Our school used this

https://www.irisconnect.com/uk/products-and-services/video-technology-for-teachers/

I'm pretty certain that every parent signs something to say that their children can be photographed for learning records and intra-school use. Primary school assessment requires evidence of achievement which more and more involves photographic evidence.

So parental horror on this thread is a bit odd. But the TA should have been told about the recording before the lesson started.

This too. Ask to see their DPIA (data protection impact assessment) . This should include the justification for recording and the safety measures put in place for storing it

Yes and what about those who don't agree?

And it's not just parental horror - I cover gdpr in my work role, this is far from best practice.

From the link above:

We take safeguarding and security seriously. All classroom videos are encrypted and automatically uploaded to the teacher’s private and secure account in our fully GDPR compliant platform, ready to reflect on or share at a later date.
By default, only the teacher who uploaded a recording has access to it unless they decide to share a video at their own discretion. Ensuring full control and privacy for every user.

I'm certain not all parents sign the disclosure - by surprised by the flippant attitude tbh.

It's not flippant.

The fact that thousands of schools use just one company's technology for this, demonstrates that it's the norm, and professionally done. Schools go to great lengths to ensure GDPR compliance. They can't afford not to.

Most parental slips signed on admission have at least two boxes about photography. I've got internal use, one for external. We never had anyone refuse internal. A handful refused photos etc on the website or any public media.

The issue in the OP is whether TAs should be told about recordings for internal use, and it's my opinion that they should

That's interesting to note ref parental forms. I'm going to look at this more closer going forward because covert recording is not something I'd willingly sign up to if I realised.

You said you were "pretty certain" all parents sign something- I'd want to be 100% certain before recording children - that's what I felt was a bit flippant.

Here's a typical policy that I picked at random from Google results. The form that school uses will have a variety of check boxes.

https://www.fouracresacademy.org.uk/photo-and-video-consent/

Videos may be taken of lessons to support staff development; these may be seen by other teachers in school for staff training.

It's bizarre that anyone things that this is done without due attention to governance etc

Not really bizarre when the TA was unaware?

I wouldn't be happy with this at my child's school. If the children are filmed they should be aware. The same for adults.

I’m currently an ECT - we are required as part of our training to record ourselves teaching and watch it back with our mentors. This is always on a school ipad and is only seen by myself and my mentor, who is another teacher in the school. I do always tell my TA if I am recording though.

"By default, only the teacher who uploaded a recording has access to it unless they decide to share a video at their own discretion."

"Unless"

Which means that it can be shared to anyone, at any time, without the subjects knowledge or permission.

It would be interesting to see video of Donald Trump 70 years ago.

"Record ourselves"

Which does not include anyone else.

I would just strongly hope that teachers are diligently checking that children who's parents have not consented are not included in these recordings. But YY to parents being more aware of what they are signing - it's clearly not just permission for promotional photos to be taken at school events etc.