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.

They disagree with staff being secretly recorded but call it ‘pearl clutching’ for children to have the same rights

Extraordinarily telling. Wanting basic rights for yourself that you won’t give to children is such a bizarre position to take.

Double standards are definitely a thing. They certainly don't like kids recording and evidencing what goes on inside schools on their phones, that's for sure, so it's not like theyre unaware of the negative side of recordings getting into the wrong hands. They flatten the grass on that alright.

Blimey, if you use that much aggression when you address the issue at work I guess you’ll lose the job anyway!

‘Are you struggling to read’
I hope that’s not the kind of language you use in the classroom!

OP: Am I being ridiculous to feel annoyed by this?

PP: yes!

OP No I’m not!

As a teacher, I'd welcome lessons being filmed because then parents can see how their children actually behave or not.

Are you sure? It will be your fault for failing to appropriately control the classroom. Any slip or loss of temper will be collected as evidence of your general terrible-ness. Parents of other children will also be up in arms that you are allowing disruptive children to reduce their children’s educational experience. Your off-day or covering a class will be presented as typical lessons. You may well be turned into a derogatory meme…

You’re a teacher. Engage your comprehension and critical thinking skills. Even the posters who think it’s fine to breach privacy laws have managed to fall short of implying the OP is ridiculous for being annoyed at being filmed without consent

‘Engage your comprehension and critical thinking skills’ I.e. ‘you don’t agree with me so you must be wrong’ 😉

Hi I'm afraid I don't have time to read full thread, but if it's not been mentioned already, please be aware of data breaches. Two schools I know have been targeted by hackers, in different ways, recently. One was foiled, but the other had to let parents know that lots of their families' information was now on the dark web.

Mental health providers have also been targeted by hackers in the UK and Europe, sometimes with devastating consequences when vulnerable people have discovered their extremely private information is now online.

I do understand the need for recordings for some training and monitoring purposes but the procedure around consent and destruction of data needs to be watertight.

On a personal level, it can be a real shock if you discover you've been recorded without permission. A friend described it as feeling violated, like someone has taken something without permission. I think it's an area that society is sleepwalking into as we all have recording devices on our phones. I'm extremely uncomfortable with letting children grow up believing being recorded without consent is normal or inevitable. It is grooming them to ignore a boundary.

A very well timed post @SchoolForFools.

Sadly sleepwalkers aplenty on this thread.

aren’t you embarrassed for yourself?

Not in the least. You?

@OakleyAnnie
I’m not the one who has totally misinterpreted an entire thread, whilst proudly announcing “as a teacher”…. 💀

Why don’t you have another read of it and see if you can dredge up some examples to support your assertion that multiple posters think the OP is being ridiculous.

They’re stored on the iPad. When I looked back at the video I could see the previous two classes videos on there too.

They’d have been so many replies I honestly haven’t read them all yet. I’m not sure why people think I’m being ridiculous. I bet if someone hid a camera in your workplace and then said st the end of the day “Can you turn off the camera please? We’ve been recording you” You would be far from happy.

I won’t be losing my job! What I take great annoyance at is the suggestion that I should work harder and that actually I should just put up with behaviour that no one would accept in any other type of role.

oh gosh just spotted hell whole instead of hole. Maybe I’ll get sacked for that!

OP cut through all the arguments and get in touch with your Union rep - hopefully you have one.
(People don't think you're being ridiculous but I'm sure rep would tell you if you were).

And if class teacher is being told to do this by "senior management" she may want to get in touch with her rep too.

I think the whole point of my post has been missed.
What about my rights?

It hasn't been missed, but threads evolve.

I've defended the use of videoing lessons for professional development, but some parents on here are infuriated by the idea, so there's another line of discussion going parallel to yours.

I discovered that a relative has a security camera on all day in her house. I was furious to discover that my casual conversations etc were being recorded. But when I mentioned it on Mumsnet, I was told I was unreasonable (by all those who have security cameras in their houses running 24/7). So I do get your point, and as I said, my team of TAs (special school so I had three or four) were always told off anything was being recorded. I would expect them to raise it with SLT if I didn't.

I did initially ask was I being ridiculous yes! I now know, after reading all the replies, that no I’m not. What they did was illegal without my consent. There are also children in my class who we are not allowed to film photograph, yet they were filmed too.

I'd be on the phone to my Union (or speaking directly to the rep if there is one in the school) to complain. And I'd be checking the class iPad at the start of each lesson until the school management own up to this and promise not to get teachers to do this again.

Is it a video recording or just a video recording?