Can new starters access school data before their start date?

[chrisgreenwood]

That's exactly what we did - automate it and let someone else take the decision.

I think that's how it should work really, IT is there to provide the systems and if someone from SMT or HR want to override it then that's their prerogative. The less TOIL the better when it all happens automatically.

 

It's funny when they put in the start date wrong so then staff are in but no account generated and of course its IT's fault

[Jonah]

Generally we stick to the start date, but can make exceptions as particularly for trainee teachers the Trust want at least their emails set up so they can access online portals for various courses etc. We have a UDF in Arbor called Early Provision that if set to Yes will have our provisioning script generate the accounts early for them to use the email addresses as needed.

 

As above, by having the UDF in Arbor it takes the decision out of our hands and puts it in HRs, we just provide the system to make it happen.

[FN-GM]

As a final thought, the teacher has responsibility for the well-being of the students from the beginning of the first day. Isn't the bigger risk to student welfare/reputation of the school from the teacher not knowing about needs of pupils in their care before they start?

 

This is no different from any other profession. People should not be thrown in the deep end from day one.

 

I work in a high security, critical infrastructure setting that also can be dangerous if I don’t follow WHS rules. My first weeks of employment involved training, inductions etc. Whilst I did find it frustrating, it is absolutely necessary.

 

Teachers should have the equivalent and be paid for that time, meaning it should be after their contract commenced.

[jmak]

This is no different from any other profession. People should not be thrown in the deep end from day one.

 

I work in a high security, critical infrastructure setting that also can be dangerous if I don’t follow WHS rules. My first weeks of employment involved training, inductions etc. Whilst I did find it frustrating, it is absolutely necessary.

 

Teachers should have the equivalent and be paid for that time, meaning it should be after their contract commenced.

I agree, but....

 

They are and however strong the case made by the IT department it's very unlikely to change.

 

And...

 

I suspect it may be a historic contractual matter and relate to continuity of service and pension contributions for teachers moving schools. Most teachers' contracts start in September and their pay is annualised. By the time they leave in July, they haven't been paid for the work they've done - it's made up by what they're paid in July and August. Yes, most of them do some work over the holidays, but that's what creates this issue. If they don't move, they're paid by the school they're at. If they move the school they're moving from loses out, but that's the way it goes and budgets probably even out over the years. That also could be fixed but is very unlikely to be. At the end of the day, they're employed and being funded by central government, but distribution of the money is delegated to individual schools.

 

My personal view (not a definitive statement of the correct answer) is that it's a risk, but one that can be mitigated and the benefits outweigh the risk if done properly. (Training, AUP, confidentiality agreement etc).

Edited July 8, 2023 by jmak

[elsiegee40]

This is no different from any other profession. People should not be thrown in the deep end from day one.

 

I work in a high security, critical infrastructure setting that also can be dangerous if I don’t follow WHS rules. My first weeks of employment involved training, inductions etc. Whilst I did find it frustrating, it is absolutely necessary.

 

Teachers should have the equivalent and be paid for that time, meaning it should be after their contract commenced.

 

Teacher’s contracts are unique with set dates they can resign and be reemployed. In days of yore, long before anyone even thought of data protection and IT, this gave them service continuity for pension purposes and made things easier for schools. Also, teachers used to be paid by the county council, so which school they were at was irrelevant if they moved within the county.

 

This means that teachers have always worked for one school but been paid by another for a few weeks over the summer when preparation is being done for the new school year. It kind of didn’t matter who paid them because it all worked out in the end.

 

The system continues even though data protection law has been invented and employment has devolved to individual schools/MATs.

 

You cannot compare teaching contracts with any other business.

 

Risk assessment by the SLT, mitigation by means of training and policy signing and a pragmatic approach is required to ensure that teachers can hit the ground running when they move schools. Otherwise the education of children would suffer three times a year as teachers move schools.

[FN-GM]

Teacher’s contracts are unique with set dates they can resign and be reemployed. In days of yore, long before anyone even thought of data protection and IT, this gave them service continuity for pension purposes and made things easier for schools. Also, teachers used to be paid by the county council, so which school they were at was irrelevant if they moved within the county.

 

This means that teachers have always worked for one school but been paid by another for a few weeks over the summer when preparation is being done for the new school year. It kind of didn’t matter who paid them because it all worked out in the end.

 

The system continues even though data protection law has been invented and employment has devolved to individual schools/MATs.

 

You cannot compare teaching contracts with any other business.

 

Risk assessment by the SLT, mitigation by means of training and policy signing and a pragmatic approach is required to ensure that teachers can hit the ground running when they move schools. Otherwise the education of children would suffer three times a year as teachers move schools.

 

This post isn’t exclusively about teachers. The original post doesn’t use the word teacher. So would be have different processes for different positions?

Edited July 8, 2023 by FN-GM

[elsiegee40]

This post isn’t exclusively about teachers. The original post doesn’t use the word teacher. So would be have different processes for different positions?

 

Most likely yes. Yes because they will be on standard employment contract with notice given to a previous employer and a contract starting the date they actually start work not one of the three dates set out in teacher contracts. There isn’t the contract continuity that teachers have for any other role in a school.

 

So if a TA starts working during the holidays, they will be under contract and be paid for it. The chances of them working unpaid before they start their contract are very slim indeed.

[hardtailstar]

In the last school I worked in, accounts and laptops were given on the first day of employment.

 

The company I work in, accounts are created two weeks before start date for managers to add them to meetings etc. The day they start they get the accounts and laptop during induction but nothing else. Once they have done all the training in the first week then all of the access they need is granted.

 

Depending on the job role in the company then when they leave they sign NDA's and an agreement that they wont work for a competitor for the next 5 years.

 

Not sure if any of the above is often chased but since I started a year a go, I know of one leaver to break those agreements and be taken to court! Mind you they signed it and then went to the biggest competitor telling all the secrets!

[Zourous]

We have an inset day recently. I got caught in a situation where staff starting in September were in (unbeknown) to me, and I had two SLT staff bearing down on me asking for access. The accounts were already automatically created but they needed assistance. At this point I pointed out GDPR policies and I just got an angry “they new access!!” fired back at me. Anyway I gave them the advice needed and they went off to sign them in.

 

To cover myself I’m thinking of leaving a note of the above with the GDPR officer to only act upon if the brown stuff hits the fan.

[smurfomatic]

When working at a school, there was a policy in place that credentials would only be issued once the new starter has signed the AUP and this was countersigned by one of SLT.

 

In my (non-education) role, accounts are created in advance of people starting, and credentials passed to their line manager - generally a week or so before the start date. Normally there is no need for these to access company information before they officially start, but it has been done in the past if they are in senior roles. That would be approved by Head of IT and/or a director.

Edited July 9, 2023 by smurfomatic

[enjay]

This post isn’t exclusively about teachers. The original post doesn’t use the word teacher. So would be have different processes for different positions?

 

Yes, we give teachers access early but not support staff as there is no expectation of them working or needing access beforehand.

 

To pick up the earlier comment (yours, I think) about an induction week, that's fine in a corporate environment or non-"customer"-facing, but in education it isn't practical to shadow someone for a week before being given the class. Who would you shadow? The outgoing person has already left and your line manager is teaching at the same time. And who would take your class while you're off shadowing someone else? Support staff come in and there's an accepted period of time before they're fully operational, but teachers don't have that luxury, especially if you start in January or April, when it is possible the very first thing you'll do on day 1 is teach a class.

[mdrabble]

Staff (Head of department) were constantly asking for details - only for me to repeatedly say no - to the point I went to SLT and said they needed to do a risk assessment on early access and included our GDPR person.

 

It was agreed, as long as they signed the AUP which covers things such as GDPR and data access etc, they can have early access.

 

Now - we only give teaching staff early access once they have done their induction day, where I spend an hour with then going over the paperwork, showing them the system and making sure they have set up MFA correctly.

 

The only groups they are initially added to are the departmental ones for email/sharepoint access

 

The only thing they do not get access to is the MIS system until September when they are also but into the teaching staff email group.