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.

GDPR is absolutely relevant and anyone saying this needs to get themselves on a training course!

GDPR applies to any type of processing of data. Including obtaining data (recording) storing data (on your device) and reviewing /watching the data and deleting the data.

Seriously! You all need to pay attention next time you go on a data protection course

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

this is a hilariously misguided statement. I’m a senior privacy lawyer working in tech and data processing (even - perhaps especially - in sophisticated companies with huge privacy budgets) occurs without good governance every day of the week.

If a person is being recorded in a regular classroom setting they have to provide their consent. Parents would need to consent on behalf of their child. It doesn’t matter how or where these images are shared, or even if they are not shared, the act of recording and storage are relevant processing activities under the law.

CCTV is not analogous for myriad reasons. CCTV is almost always kept for a short period (often days), on a closed system with very limited access. It is not routinely reviewed and if viewing is required, additional processes to limit and protect the data are usually implemented. The safety benefit associated with CCTV increases latitude, because of the risk/benefit ratio is improved.

Genuinely shocked people are being told this is ok.

You should've been informed. Totally not acceptable.
When I take posts for my pubs social media, I always without fail ask those who may appear if they're OK with featuring. I also have signs up saying we take photos and video for our social media feeds and anyone who wishes not to appear please let us know. I've never had anyone say no but I always prefer to ask.

You're an adult and an employee your colleague had a duty of care. I would want to know why it was filmed, who has access and will it be stored. Surely it comes under GDPR rules?

With CCTV you have to have signs up telling people they are being recorded unless you have jumped through a whole series of hoops to justify covert surveillance (and to justify covert recording you have to meet a very high threshold -- suspecting a fairly serious crime essentially)

@Shoppedatwoolworths

Sorry @Shoppedatwoolworths I meant to quote the op! @Whataninvasionofprivacy

The CCTV cameras are (or jolly well should be) visible. Covert recording is not allowed

But you can't record yourself teaching without including others - we don't just stand at the front of the room away from the children!

A school classroom is a private not a public place and there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, so the whole first part of your post is irrelevant.

Under GDPR, recording students’ voices or images is considered processing personal data, so obtaining consent or having a valid lawful basis for recording is essential. If students or staff members were identifiable in the recording, consent from the students (or their parents, if they’re under 16) and the teaching assistant should have been obtained.
Even if the recording is intended for the teacher’s private use, best practice—this requires explicit notification and consent.
Schools have a duty to ensure the safety and privacy of students, which includes protecting them from potential risks associated with unauthorised recordings.
The fines for covert actions like this are enormous.
You MUST report this OP, it is your legal duty.

It was late and I didn't put my post clearly. GDPR is relevant in that it's considered thoroughly when setting up a process to video lessons and writing the policy and pro formas. And if course Iris, as a company, had to go through all the legalities with a fine toothed comb, before offering their services to thousands of schools, which simply can't risk breaching the law.

It was uninformed claims of it breaching GDPR that I was trying to address, and failing, due to it being way past my bedtime.

And the whole of the second part of @PCOSisaid post is irrelevant because in fact the law applies from the moment of collection of the data.

No school I have worked in have taken video recordings of lessons. We’re all great teachers and don’t subscribe to the ‘watch the video’ school of professional development.

No it isn’t.

No it isn’t.

No-one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.

The poor teachers just can’t win can they!

Tbf at this stage no one on this thread can know whether this is a GDPR breach or not. Op needs to check their privacy policy/notice.

These rules apply to everyone, not just the "poor teachers".

Why didn’t the teacher torn iPad off? Less effort than summoning you into a cupboard to ask?

Of course it's a GDPR breach, they should have been informed as a TA in the recording, that the recording was happening.

If I was in a park, as a member of the public, I could take as many videos as I wanted, including those with people, including children, in them - as you can’t reasonably expect privacy in that setting. UNLESS my intent was to harass and intimidate the people in the images.

I couldn’t as a member of the public walk into a school and take videos, because there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in that setting from random members of public.

The law applies before the collection of data - the purpose of the collection needs to be clear BEFORE the data is collected.

It's a miracle we survived in the days where everything was done on paper (or with chalk, or whiteboard markers!), parents only passed notes to teachers in planners/reading diaries and teachers printed slips and letters for trips.

When a class needed observing someone (another teacher everyone already knew so they acted just the same) would sit in on it and made notes. And we all lived to tell the tale.

Here you are @Whataninvasionofprivacy

https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-your-business/monitoring-staff-at-work

Covert recording /recording employees without consent is only allowed if your employer suspects a crime

This is covert recording.
GDPR is relevant legislation but far from the only legislation that applies to covert recording . Particularly covert recording of staff