Does the school need to send a letter to parents/carers?
Even though schools are unlikely to be using consent for their lawful basis, a letter home, newsletter, update to the school's website is often advisable when classroom recording is introduced for the first time, to explain the purpose and reassure parents about security and privacy.
For GDPR compliance the school needs to ensure their privacy notice covers the use of video for professional development and if they are updating their privacy notice they need to take reasonable steps to ensure that those affected are made aware of the updates to the notice. See this article on updating your privacy notice
The DPO at the school should be able to advise further or they can contact us if they have questions.
What should the communication cover?
Why the school is using IRIS Connect
How videos are stored securely
How the videos will be used - only used for staff development, not public viewing
- How long the data will be kept and who it will be shared with (this could link to the privacy notice)
- That parents can contact the school with any concerns or questions
Example communication
Dear [name],
Re. IRIS Connect – Improving teaching excellence through collaboration
As a school we are deeply committed to providing the highest quality of education to pupils.
In order to do this, we must also provide the best learning experiences for our teachers.
We are delighted to announce that we will be using ‘IRIS Connect’, an innovation in teacher professional development to ensure that our teachers have the opportunity to develop to their full potential.
As part of the [school's/ITT/ECF] [training/CPD] programme, our [teachers/trainees] have access to the IRIS Connect platform which enables them to record their teaching, reflect upon how they can improve, and to share with their [colleagues/mentor] to get feedback and advice. This approach is proven improve the quality of mentoring support we can provide and help [new teachers settle into their new role more effectively/our teachers improve their teaching through coaching and mentor support].
The system being used is completely secure, GDPR compliant and encrypted. The videos themselves may only be shared with education professionals approved by the school and are visible to no one else. The videos recorded will only be used to improve teaching and will remain on the IRIS Connect secure servers. Further security information can be found here.
As the process has the potential to record personal information, we have updated our
privacy notice which may be reviewed [here].
If you need any further information or if you have any questions regarding this, please get in touch.
Best regards,
____________________________