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.

You were probably thinking of my post where I was meaning the school wouldn’t be required to have consent if there was a different lawful basis for processing, and that the school may be relying on public task or legitimate interest. On the assumption public task may not be available then I can see someone (whether right or wrong) creating a legitimate interest argument if it was linked to evaluating the teachers performance.

regardless, if nothing else, I would be seeing to raise discretely with the school / trusts data protection officer. There’s all sorts of potential issues that go beyond just being small data processing one that really need to be highlighted.

It's really interesting the people on here that think schools will be careful to comply with GDPR. I know quite a lot about data protection because I deal with it at work and can think of at least ten ways that my kids school does not comply off the top of my head. I've flagged up issues where I think it poses a serious threat to the privacy of kids in the school, but there are so many compliance issues I've not mentioned them all because you really do have to pick your battles!

OP - you shouldn't be recorded at work without your knowledge. You may find that this is covered by the employee privacy policy and that there is an expectation you've read and understood that, but I think that's unlikely given what you've told us about how the data was captured and stored. You could try contacting the Data Protection Officer for your school, but you may find it's better for your working relationships to have a quiet word with the teacher and ask her to let you know when she is recording in future.

There are also children in my class who we are not allowed to film photograph, yet they were filmed too.

@Whataninvasionofprivacy This is extremely serious. OP knowing there are videos and photos of these children on an unsecure iPad, you absolutely must report this straight away.

Im absolutely shocked teachers are being so stupid as to put vulnerable children at risk like this.

You're not unreasonable at all.
School should have made you aware of the situation and asked for your consent, simple as.

If it helps you feel more confident about where you stand, I know many parents who refuse internal and external consent for video and photography in any environment their child uses and no-one tries to push this boundary.

It's not about who or what it's for, which is nothing but soft attempt to justify the intrusion. The fact of recording is the issue and it was done without your knowledge.

I'd be mindful moving forward. If someone recorded me without consent I wouldn't consider my workplace a "good fit" that's for sure.

Was the purpose of this to monitor your performance?If you are paid as a TA were you really delivering a whole lesson? If so why?
Similar happened to me pre ipad days when others were given pad and pens told to make notes about my performance!

Why would you flip your lid?

They are allowed to record the class without parents permission for training purposes. This isn’t for broadcast news r publication where you’d have a point about not wanting your kid filmed.

what possible harm could come to your child by being filmed to be viewed by other professionals assessing teaching standards?

Difference is, we're aware there's CCTV. It's frequently advertised quite loudly, too.

Seems more than a few parents here were unaware their kids are being recorded as & when.

Forgot pedo's have never happened to be teachers. Defo not frequently, or anything.

There's many reasons people, including children (who actually are people, contrary to how some on the thread seem to think of them as a different entity, probably because of their unfortunate lack of rights and agency..) don't want to be filmed without prior knowledge. It's not just about occasions of people in positions of power abusing that power, by a long shot, although lets be honest it's happen on far too many occasions.

I wouldn't want to be filmed without my knowledge at work - not because I'm doing anything wrong, although that shouldn't need defending. But because I'd rather know to save potential embarrassment. What if I choose a quiet corner, that I've not been made aware there are cameras covering, to quickly pull a wedgie out of my bum, that saves a 5 minute walk to the toilets, and a 5 minute walk back? Or to blow my nose, and check the tissue because I've not been well? Or quickly scratch an itch, at a well chosen moment, out of sight of others, or any manner of other utterly harmless, but socially embarrassing things we all do, but don't want to be recorded and seen by others? I would certainly be mindful of these things, if I'd been made aware I was being recorded.

CCTV is not the same, it's a different scenario entirely. Generally I don't care about people I'll never see/interact with, potentially never seeing the footage unless there was reason to view it, and even if they did see it, I wouldn't know them. Entirely different ball game to employers, or indeed teachers, whom I have to see again and interact with, seeing it.

That is incorrect! It’s a massive data breach everyone everywhere has to be made aware of being recorded by law! Regardless who sees the end product it’s your data and therefore consent is required!

Yes it is illegal as anywhere you go that has cameras also displays a cctv in operation message 🙄

That's very weird to ask you to turn it off and a little threatening I'd say. But what scares me the most is why they are recording children. I'm in UK. I sign no photos yo be taken, so this is worrying. Never seen a video section I'll have to look into this. I do not want my child been recorded, god knows who's hands that could fall into.

As a parent I am fairly sure the form we were asked to sign referred to photographs, school magazines and sometimes the local newspaper... not full videos of them in a classroom..

I would check the policy on recording without knowledge as the children's parents have to sign for voice and picture recordings and where its going to go.

No you are not allowed to film without permission.

I honestly cannot comprehend how this level of ignorance exists in the teaching profession.

However - even if covert recording was in a policy or a form someone signed, that would be a total red herring.

You can't use a policy or a signed form to exempt you from complying with legislation. It just doesn't work like that.

I feel like a basic course in law needs to be on the national curriculum!

The point you are missing is that CCTV is allowed provided it it is visible and signed - hence all the signs telling people there is CCTV in operation!

Yes this exactly. Loads of schools use this. I had to use it while doing my PGCE to record my lessons. The kids weren’t in the frame though to be fair, the focus was on me.

Well by that logic, paedos in the classroom is the issue, not recording lessons. If paedophile teachers are doing anything of a sexual nature in the classroom or simply recording lessons for heir own entertainment I’m not sure that a letter of consent from the parent would be instrumental.

In our school we have a list of pupils who are never to be photographed because their parents will not allow it. The list is quite short, in a school of over 1000 pupils.

Is there a head hitting the desk emoticon yet as I would be using the hell out of it right around now.

I don’t get why people are so trusting of this software and the security or otherwise of the device on which it is held. It’s not just the recording at issue. It’s the safety and security of recording. How long are they kept for, when and how will they be erased. I think people have the right to erasure OP so you could ask for all recordings of you to be deleted. If they are on this iris software I’d want confirmation from them that they had also been deleted from their platform.

Same

This

😁

You should have been told

Parents will have been informed about schools IT policy which will likely cover this

Policy still doesn’t trump law.