Parents rights to access a childs education record

[Ditto]

I recently looked at parent rights to access GCSE results of their child. I ended up looking in to this further with and in particular general rights of parents access to the wider education record. A nuance in the case I am looking at, is that the child recently turned 18. I assumed GDPR was going to be a big factor, and probably the rights of the child before age 18 may lead to restrictions to access. However, I was led to this https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/access-to-information/.

 

What I found interesting is that there seems to be rights under The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 for a parent to access this information. What I did find surprising is the statement about those rights applying to a state maintained school, but not necessarily an academy or free school - I find that quite surprising as ultimately the academies are state maintained, it's just the LA that is taken out of the equation.

 

I'm interested in people's views, and perhaps more importantly experiences, in dealing with parents requesting education records for their child/children. Did you require the child's permission to release the data? I would add that I'm looking at this from the perspective of a parent requesting this information via a direct request, not via a SAR at this point. The article above suggest via the governing body, but that seem odd to me.

[Bedders]

Our grades were published in the local paper, and can still be found online. If that's common practice nowadays, doesn't that make it public information?

[synaesthesia]

If it isn't public information, then 100% it requires the consent of the now adult for them to have it, regardless of parental status.

[Ditto]

Our grades were published in the local paper, and can still be found online. If that's common practice nowadays, doesn't that make it public information?

I did read about that scenario and in the past I think it was more common.

 

I do recall a our local paper published the grades of the top achievers of local schools. In my school, that was attributed to the head boy. A good friend of mine was actually the one to hold the title of best grades, so his mum wrote to the paper and got a correction and apology! I don't think the school was best chuffed as the head boy ticked the 'well behaved, towing the line' sort. Whilst my friend was extremely smart but definitely one for his own opinions and thoughts about the schooling and only too happy to share them - sort of smart maverick if you like. I guess that's why I connected with him

 

Anyway, I digress. If published, I suppose it is public, but post GDPR/DPA does it add an extra dimension where either a pupil does not give permission to share or exercises the right to be forgotten. Partly what I am trying to establish, if a request for the child's educational record is requested by a parent, will it be provided willingly?

[Ditto]

If it isn't public information, then 100% it requires the consent of the now adult for them to have it, regardless of parental status.

So looks like the big question is whether the data is public or not. For a full education record, definitely not as it goes way beyond just results data. If it's just grades, who can answer?

 

More generally, it's odd that the same info can be shared earlier in time (child is below ?? age), but not later. Interestingly, indirectly related to the case I am looking at, the parents child support arrangements are dependent on the adult child's attendance to full time education. If that information is withheld, how can the parent know the level of support legally required.

 

*** Update - here is a ICO viewpoint https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/schools/exam-results/ ***

Edited July 10, 2024 by Ditto

[PotNoodleTech]

How could your exam grades ever be considered public? If the school has made them public e.g. posted them in the newspaper that doesn't make them "public data" that just means you've breeched GDPR...

[Ditto]

How could your exam grades ever be considered public? If the school has made them public e.g. posted them in the newspaper that doesn't make them "public data" that just means you've breeched GDPR...

That would be my default position so the ICO guidance seems to be out of step with this. However, back to my original point, what about the rights of a parent to see a child's school data, what about that. I do find legislation and guidance around parenting and GDPR really challenging. Parent have many legal responsibilities, but it is unclear to me how conflicts of child wishes and parent responsibilities are dealt with.

[synaesthesia]

Even after 12 years old the student (data subject) has more rights than you may think, but at 18 it's a straight cut-off. Noone else has the right to access that data without the consent of that person.

[Ditto]

Even after 12 years old the student (data subject) has more rights than you may think, but at 18 it's a straight cut-off. Noone else has the right to access that data without the consent of that person.

Law aside, if my son decides he doesn't want me to know his school attendance, do you believe I should have no rights in spite of my legal responsibility under:

Section 444(1) Education Act 1996 – If the child is absent without authorisation then the parent is guilty of an offence. This is a strict liability offence i.e. all that needs to be shown is a lack of regular attendance. Sanctions can include a fine of up to £1,000

 

Even beyond age 18, I can have legal responsibilities to fund further education for the over 18 dependant. So, as a parent, and I mean specifically as a parent, not another third party, do you accept I should have rights related to some information relating to them.

[psydii]

If its recorded in your MIS then it would be hard to argue it isn't covered by The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005. We release request for these records without referring to the child for permission. If the request goes beyond the scope of an Education Records Request, then it (generally) requires the pupil's consent (if over 12).

 

Looking back over our logs, if there is a records request for an (ex)pupil who is now over the age of 18 we treat that as a data subject access request and require the ex-pupils consent. If we got push-back, we'd throw it over the fence to our outsourced DPO who has a team of people with letters after their names to provide their professional advice on a case by case basis. My opinion is that he Regulations specifically include ex-pupils, and parents are (generally) still parents even after the pupil has left and is over 18, so probably are forevermore entitled to that data; but there's no harm in getting the ex-pupil's consent, and if this 'scares off' the request then they probably didn't have best interest at heart.

[pete]

What I found interesting is that there seems to be rights under The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 for a parent to access this information. What I did find surprising is the statement about those rights applying to a state maintained school, but not necessarily an academy or free school - I find that quite surprising as ultimately the academies are state maintained, it's just the LA that is taken out of the equation.

 

I'm interested in people's views, and perhaps more importantly experiences, in dealing with parents requesting education records for their child/children. Did you require the child's permission to release the data? I would add that I'm looking at this from the perspective of a parent requesting this information via a direct request, not via a SAR at this point. The article above suggest via the governing body, but that seem odd to me.

 

We treat requests made under the Education Regulations 2005 as SARs (all our schools are academies). Voluntarily complying with legislation we're not bound to follow creates an unwise precedent that we'd supply data within 15 days for what can be a lot of information (depending on how well behaved the student is). Not to mention our legal counsel would (politely) call us idiots.

 

Typically we reply to say we're happy to treat it as a Subject Access Request, but (if the student is 12yrs or older) we need their explicit consent for the parent to act on their behalf.

 

Specifically regarding attendance

 

If your child is missing school it should not be a surprise to anyone with parental responsibility (assuming the child lives with you). We will tell you repeatedly and at length that they're not attending.

[pete]

Even beyond age 18, I can have legal responsibilities to fund further education for the over 18 dependant. So, as a parent, and I mean specifically as a parent, not another third party, do you accept I should have rights related to some information relating to them.

 

Not unless they're in some way judged legally incapable, no.

 

Once a child is 18 and left school, it's very hard for a third party looking in from the outside to determine what the child <> parent relationship is like* and it's on the child to explicitly define that relationship and decide who is allowed to know things about them.

 

That's why emergency contacts exist for work/Uni/wherever - you list a trusted person (or persons) who can act rationally and in your best interests if you're unable to.

 

*good? bad? abusive? worse? Was it one, but now it's the other?

Edited July 10, 2024 by pete

[synaesthesia]

Law aside, if my son decides he doesn't want me to know his school attendance, do you believe I should have no rights in spite of my legal responsibility under:

Section 444(1) Education Act 1996 – If the child is absent without authorisation then the parent is guilty of an offence. This is a strict liability offence i.e. all that needs to be shown is a lack of regular attendance. Sanctions can include a fine of up to £1,000

 

Even beyond age 18, I can have legal responsibilities to fund further education for the over 18 dependant. So, as a parent, and I mean specifically as a parent, not another third party, do you accept I should have rights related to some information relating to them.

 

Yes, I believe that. Generally speaking, the only time this would ever become a problem is if the parent is the problem. There's a lot of scenarios that could affect this - the parent could be estranged, abusive or worse, and being a parent does not automatically give you control over another person unless as has been mentioned there is paperwork to support this relating to culpability, power of attorney etc. Worst case scenarios of course, but no less relevant.

[enjay]

We have just had a similar request here, citing the education regulations which don't apply to us as an Academy, for an ex-student who is over 12 but under 18. My thinking is to provide anything the parent could access if the child were still here (i.e. that which is visible through the MIS parent portal). We don't believe the parent is trying to make trouble. Am I on the right lines, or have a missed an aspect of this?

[pete]

We have just had a similar request here, citing the education regulations which don't apply to us as an Academy, for an ex-student who is over 12 but under 18. My thinking is to provide anything the parent could access if the child were still here (i.e. that which is visible through the MIS parent portal). We don't believe the parent is trying to make trouble. Am I on the right lines, or have a missed an aspect of this?

 

I'd email to explain that the Education Regulations don't apply, but that you're happy to treat it as a SAR for their educational record (SIMS PDO or equivalent) providing you have evidence of the child's consent.

 

It may also be worth querying if there's a specific theme or time frame.

 

One of our schools (for example) has a yearly request for data on a particular student's progress, well-being and attainment that's used as evidence in a legal case between the parents and a third party.

[Ditto]

Thanks you all for your comments. It's been useful to hear about the schools that respond to requests under Edu regulations - although I find it bizarre academies aren't help to the same regs.

 

Whilst I fully subscribe to individual rights over data, for me there is a difference to companies processing data for commercial reasons, over a parent seeking information to help them ensure the child's wellbeing (including education).

 

I do feel there are challenges where a child is in the lower age range (approx. 12 to 14) and this can make life complicated for a parent, by the child claiming GDPR rights to block parents being fully informed. In fact I'm not persuaded they entirely have that right. It would appear the Edu legislation largely overcomes this.

 

Where a child is over 18, but in FE, and a non-resident parent is working under child maintenance arrangements (CMA), and responsible for contributions to the child's education, they should be provided with some information. For example, I think it reasonable the non-resident parent is kept aware if the supported child is still registered in full time education. It directly impacts their legal financial commitment.

 

For clarity, none of this scenario relates directly to me, some is wider family related, some hypothetical. Throughout, my singular focus is the best interests of the child(ren), but as another thread discusses, in the case of divorcing parents, endless lies by one party can leave the other party in extremely difficult circumstances when all they are trying to do is the best for their offspring.

 

One finally link that I found helpful - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility

[synaesthesia]

Well one thing I've learned from this, was that CMA doesn't necessarily stop at 18. It stops at 16 if the child is not in non-advanced (further) education and that includes going up to 18 years old; it's therefore possible that it continues up until 20 years old. So it's easy to see a tangled web regarding education, parental responsibility, child maintenance etc. It's also very easy to see why you see so many parents fighting hard (see father's for justice as an example).

I did deal with a case a few years ago under my DPO responsibilities where the student (year7-11) was estranged from one of the parents and wanted no contact, yet legally that parent still had rights and the student did not consent for information to be provided. I can't recall the exact circumstances, but the resolution came with a compromise on the understanding that going the legal route would be painful for all involved. Some educational information was therefore provided but some specifics were removed, leaving both parents and the student satisfied. My involvement was minimal as I could provide information courtesy of the ICO recommendations but as they can only make recommendations, I echoed those and left it in the hands of people more politically apt.