Who owns files created by staff?

[The_IT_Guy]

Who owns files that staff create when working at your school? The school (employer) or the teacher?

Is there a link to any policy etc that confirms this either way?

 

Also, if a member of staff who has left recently requests a copy of their documents do we have to comply? I am thinking that their documents will contain personal information of students and it will be a nightmare going through to remove this before a copy is sent.

Again any info/links to policies to back it up either way

 

Thanks

[elsiegee40]

Technically, all things created in employer’s time and/or using employer’s resources are the property of the employer. My guess is that few schools have any policies to back this up. Out in the real world, many employers do... son works for a Design Agency and it is in his contract of employment.

 

Schools tend to have a mutual support and sharing setup. There is no risk to their business by the copyright for year 7 history planning being shared among schools. The risk to them is a data protection one, eg inadvertently sharing student data when sharing resources, and that should already be fully covered by existing policies, contract and training.

 

And as for a member of staff wanting copies of their lesson plans or whatever... well, tough is my attitude. It is going to take far too long to make sure it is all redacted for GDPR reasons.

Edited April 16, 2019 by elsiegee40

[GrumbleDook]

Schools can take a dim view of selling other people's stuff though ... TES resources is plagued with resources poached from others being sold. I have known schools take staff to task for selling materials created by their colleagues. In fact one school had to deal with a science teacher selling everything from Maths to PE resources!

[elsiegee40]

Schools can take a dim view of selling other people's stuff though ... TES resources is plagued with resources poached from others being sold. I have known schools take staff to task for selling materials created by their colleagues. In fact one school had to deal with a science teacher selling everything from Maths to PE resources!

 

Yes, TES introducing the ability for you to get paid for resources posted was a retrograde step in my opinion

[mikeprice]

In my opinion any teacher who has half a brain will take a copy of their TEACHING resources with them before they leave. That clearly does not include anything with kids names, marks etc etc on them

 

If they are ringing up asking for them then they must be a bit dumb - unless it is something that another teacher uses and they have discovered it would be useful in their new school.

 

Anyway - I would be very careful in sending them anything - ever files would need to be checked by the HOD (i.e. not the IT Tech)

[3s-gtech]

Another perspective is for a leaving teacher to literally take the resources with them, removing them from the school (cut and paste rather than copy, or physically removing the only paper version) claiming that they own the copyright on the resources as they made them. Not if they were made in work time, and good luck proving that they weren't.

[mikeprice]

Yes - as far as I know anything created in the school and on school time is the property of the school

 

I suppose it might get a bit different if it is created during the holidays (which is when a lot of stuff is created) and on a personal computer - but as they are still being employed by the school and the stuff is created as part of their job then it could get a bit difficult

 

however, I have never heard of a school refusing to forward pure teaching resources - in fact many school share stuff willingly anyway.

[enjay]

I suppose it might get a bit different if it is created during the holidays (which is when a lot of stuff is created) and on a personal computer - but as they are still being employed by the school and the stuff is created as part of their job then it could get a bit difficult

 

I think if they are created to be used in that particular school, they belong to the school regardless of where they were created.

 

That said, I am yet to see a school object to "their" resources being shared and/or taken to other schools. I don't think intellectual property law was written with teaching resources in mind, more for the programmer who leaves Apple and goes to Google.

[GrumbleDook]

As trusts start to look at encouraging schools to join them, the bank of resources and support are part of this.

If they start turning up elsewhere (a neighbouring trust) then this could get problematic.

 

It only takes one school to kick off and it sets the tone for everyone as a result.

 

This was one reason why the National Digital Resource Bank was being put together ... and why HWB exists too.

 

Good, free to share resources are needed. Independents who create resources to freely share and another bank to earn money is one thing, but a class teacher getting extra money for something they have already been paid for is another matter.

The ones that do it well set time aside outside of school and run it as a second business.

A good example is some of the phonics work done by Mr Thorne.

Edited April 17, 2019 by elsiegee40