DfE keeping files on education critics’ social media activity

[IwantToRetire]

About a month ago:

Ruth Swailes and Aaron Bradbury, co-authors of a bestselling book on early childhood, were told by the organisers of a government-sponsored event for childminders and nursery workers, which they were due to speak at in March, that the DfE planned to cancel the conference just days before it opened because they were deemed to be “unsuitable” headline speakers.

The event was eventually allowed to go ahead after Swailes and Bradbury threatened the department with legal action, although a senior government official was present to “monitor” what they said.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/sep/30/revealed-uk-government-keeping-files-on-education-critics-social-media-activity

And now:

Two weeks ago, this newspaper revealed how the Department for Education is monitoring the social media activity of some of the country’s leading education experts. Now evidence has emerged that the monitoring is much more widespread, covering even the lowest paid members of staff.

Ordinary teaching and support staff said this weekend that they were “gobsmacked” and angry after discovering that the department had files on them. Many outraged educators have rushed to submit subject access requests [SARs] compelling the DfE to release any information it holds under their name, after discovering there were files up to 60 pages long about their tweets and comments challenging government policy or the schools inspectorate, Ofsted.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/21/uk-government-keeping-files-on-teaching-assistants-and-librarians-internet-activity

I wonder if the monitor any known GC commentators?

Holly shit this is huge they are going to be fucked by the information commissioner.

So is this literally illegal, I wonder? I assume not. Disgraceful anyway, of course.

Under GDPR they are only allowed to keep relevant information, such as name, dob, paye info (if relevant) etc basically only things that they need to know. A spreadsheet of who someone interacts with online, or posts people make is not relevant information for the dfe to hold

It's no secret that they'd been cancelling speakers for wrongthink or having opinions.

I'm taken aback that they've been monitoring people all the way through to TAs. Who knows what SARs may reveal.

Mr Justice Julian Knowles, expressed this thought in the Miller case: “In this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi. We have never lived in an Orwellian society.”

It seems the government has interpreted this as as a deficiency to be rectified.

Crispin Sartwell wrote this in 2018 and it seems uncannily prescient although it was about a comedian whose set was cut short.

Like you, what I want is a world of hope where we all listen to each other all day in the hope of catching each other saying something wrong, so we can destroy each other. Only thus can we all be free.

The wrongthink in question is sometimes that phonics should not be used to teach reading (there is no other way to teach reading in a language that uses an alphabet) and that skills should be taught rather than having a knowledge-rich curriculum (needed so that a child can understand what it reads etc.). Not that I agree such thoughts should be silenced, for they should not. Out of debate come new ideas. Fwiw, the Civil Service keeps files on all civil servants, and it would highly surprise me (ex-teacher) if teachers did not also have such files. Not right to keep tweets, obviously. One could try to justify such surveillance such as making sure MAP (paedophiles) are not teaching - but I doubt it would actually pick that up, they're on the Dark Web. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Feels like we need an enquiry into what exactly is going on.

One could try to justify such surveillance such as making sure MAP (paedophiles) are not teaching - but I doubt it would actually pick that up, they're on the Dark Web. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Yes indeed. It just never occured to me that civil servants would think or be told it is part of their work. Admittedly in the past such comments would only have been heard in the staff room or local pub.

And government should of course be aware that people have opinions opposite to them. But to monitor that and use it to try and get speakers banned is a step too far.

And here are the tories trying to say they are on the side of free speech. But clearly only government approved "free" speech.