News

Questions raised over data security

Governance and management
Many schools are putting pupils' security at risk by taking an "inconsistent" approach to data protection.

That’s the verdict of new research conducted by academics at Plymouth University and the University of East Anglia.

They surveyed more than 1,000 schools across England and found that nearly half had policies on children’s personal data security that fell below recommended levels. 

These schools either had no agreed policy on how personal data should be handled (for instance, they hadn’t taken legal advice about the storage of data like fingerprints or home addresses) or they had a policy “in development”.

The survey also found that trainee teachers about to enter the teaching profession seem to have an even more relaxed attitude towards online security and are no more aware of data protection risks than current staff. 

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