A recent article from the Daily Mail online highlights that over 1,000 schools within the UK are using technology in schools to ‘snoop’ on their pupils and their use of the internet whilst in school. Figures provided by Big Brother Watch.

What this article has neglected to mention is that it is quite common practise these days for schools to be using this type of technology, and the majority will be following the DfE (Department for Education) guidelines which suggests the monitoring of pupil’s internet access.

The key issue that has been highlighted is more to do with schools not having a policy which covers the use of such software and that families are, perhaps, not aware. A question may be, would a family rather have their child’s access to the internet monitored at school, and have their access to the internet regulated rather than providing open access to internet sites that promote radicalisation, pornography and sexual grooming?

Perhaps parents would be more interested in knowing what the school is doing to safeguard their child and the policy that covers it… yes there may a fine line between what is considered snooping and what is a safeguarding duty, but the key message is transparency about what is happening in school. Whilst data may be collected, it is rarely acted on unless it meets safeguarding specific criteria.

Read the full article here.