Real-time attendance tracking of students
Defend Digital Me undertook both a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office and a judicial review of the UK Department for Education, aiming to stop its attendance tracker trial programme.
In 2022, the Department for Education began a trial to extract the attendance data of nearly nine million school children in the UK in real time, moving away from the previous practice of collecting data once every school term.
Defend Digital Me believe that the processing of student data in this way is unnecessary and disproportionate. There is also a disproportionate impact on children from migrant backgrounds, given that nationality and country-of-birth data may be shared with the Home Office.
In December 2023, unfortunately the courts denied permission to pursue a judicial review. Defend Digital Me decided to discontinue further legal action.
Real-time attendance tracking of students
Organisation Name
defenddigitalme
Country/Jurisdiction
United Kingdom
Amount Granted
EUR 30,192
Current Status
Case lost
Image credit: note thanun on Unsplash
Grant type
Litigation Track Support
Description
Two instances: Data Protection Authority and High Court
Defend Digital Me undertook both a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office and a judicial review of the UK Department for Education, aiming to stop its attendance tracker trial programme.
In 2022, the Department for Education began a trial to extract the attendance data of nearly nine million school children in the UK in real time, moving away from the previous practice of collecting data once every school term.
Defend Digital Me believe that the processing of student data in this way is unnecessary and disproportionate. There is also a disproportionate impact on children from migrant backgrounds, given that nationality and country-of-birth data may be shared with the Home Office.
In December 2023, unfortunately the courts denied permission to pursue a judicial review. Defend Digital Me decided to discontinue further legal action.
"the Department for Education began a trial to extract the attendance data of nearly nine million school children in the UK in real time"
Strategic Goal
All pupil data in England and Wales already collected and to be collected is protected, including tests of necessity and proportionality, retention, and fair processing for new data introductions and expansions.