Bury National News: Schools Spy on Pupils

Schools Spy on Pupils

A study has claimed that schools that fail to alert students to cameras that record their every move are probably breaking the law.

The level of monitoring on pupils in high schools has been compared to the monitoring of inmates in prisons and customers at airports. Cameras in high schools are often installed to check for vandalism, intruders and behaviour, as well as to improve teaching. Most have around 20 cameras.

Emmeline Taylor, a researcher, checked surveillance practices in North West high schools and analysed the law that governs the use of CCTV in schools as part of her PhD. She discovered that under the Data Protection Act schools are required to inform pupils when a camera has been installed and why the camera has been installed. Emmeline found that high schools often did not know about this requirement and did not clearly state to pupils where cameras were.

She also found out that it is not a legal requirement for schools to ask pupils for their consent to capture images but they must notify the Information Commissioner's Office that they are going to use surveillance in and around the school.

A full report of Taylor's research will be published later this year, titled - I Spy With My Little Eye: Exploring the Use of Surveillance and CCTV in Schools.

Posted Monday March 15^th 2010
By The Onlines