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M. Àngels Barbarà
- A training course was launched for teachers of all educational stages that aimed to deepen the knowledge necessary in the field of data protection in order to help students with their digital life.
- The day also served to launch a document of frequently asked questions (FAQS) that addresses in a very didactic way the main problems or doubts that educational centres face everyday concerning data protection.
"Guaranteeing the rights of minors on the Internet and helping them with their digital lives has gone from being a priority to an essential and urgent issue," said the director of the APDCAT, Maria Àngels Barbarà, during the launch event for the online course of data protection for teachers, promoted and funded by the APDCAT with the collaboration of the Directorate General of Innovation, Research and Digital Culture of the Department of Education.
This training course, which will begin next February 2021, is precisely the result of the concern and awareness that from the moment we start participating in online life, we lose control over information which has been disseminated, and which also identifies us as individuals, Barbarà pointed out.
All this information that children and young people share on the Internet shapes their digital identity, is stored and can be used by third parties to make decisions that affect them in the future.
The aim of the APDCAT course is to offer minors, through teachers, the right tools so that, while enjoying the great benefits of new technologies, they can also defend their rights and interests. In this sense, one of the digital skills that students must develop throughout their education is precisely to act critically and responsibly in the use of ICT, including aspects of digital security and identity and, consequently, this is also one of the digital skills that teachers need to integrate.
Barbarà urged us to make every effort to ensure new generations understand that the right to data protection gives us control over our own information so that each of us can control his or her life and freedom. And it is at this point where the work of teachers takes on special relevance.
"Technology is embedded in our lives. It is no longer a mere tool, but a part of ordinary life," said Barbarà. Thus, in order to pass it on to their students, teachers must be clear that in the digital environment "prevention is basic, but also knowing how to react to situations that bother or hurt us is just as important."
For her part, the Director General of Innovation, Research and Digital Culture, Mar Camacho, reminded us that within the framework of digital teaching skills defined by the Department of Education, a specific dimension of digital ethics and citizenship has been proposed within which actions are contemplated which are aimed at knowing how to ensure protection of one's own data and that of one's students, while encouraging classroom activities in this regard.
Teacher training
Data protection in the school environment is one of the main goals of the APDCAT. And that is why this course has been created, which is aimed at teachers of all educational levels. The training is part of the Strategic Plan of the Catalan Data Protection Authority 2020–2022 and is intended to provide teachers with the knowledge necessary for data protection, and provide them with the tools to incorporate this knowledge into any class subjects, as well as to help them provide their students with appropriate training in data protection.
The Director of the Catalan Data Protection Authority has underlined the specific objectives of this training: to disseminate the regulations applicable to data protection in the educational field; to effectively use the learning achieved in different scenarios and situations in teaching practice; and transfer the knowledge acquired to students and the rest of the educational community.
Camacho added that since the 2019–2020 academic year, a prior module on security and data protection has been included in all training courses in the area of Digital Culture to ensure that all teachers know about the main concepts and that the necessary awareness around this issue is created.
The Director General of Innovation, Research and Digital Culture also stressed that this new course should allow teachers to expand their knowledge of the actions that need to be taken into account to ensure data protection and its transfer to classrooms, and emphasizes the importance of the joint work of the DGIRCD and the APDCAT so that each institution has been able to contribute its specific knowledge and expertise.
Barbarà closed her speech by showing her conviction that "the involvement of teachers and the educational community is essential to be able to transfer in a real and effective way the values inherent in privacy to children and young people, so that they can enjoy technology in a safe way."
Next, Olga Campmany spoke, presenting the contents of the online course for teachers in a more specific way.
FAQS on data protection for schools
For her part, the Delegate for Data Protection and head of Strategic Projects at APDCAT, Joana Marí, launched a document of frequently asked questions in her speech that addresses in a very didactic way the main problems or doubts which educational centres encounter everyday with regards to data protection.
This is a document that collects together, in an entertaining way, answers to questions related to school services (canteen, school transport, cleaning services, etc.), to the usual activities of the school, to academic information, to the pre-registration and enrollment of students, to extracurricular activities and participatory activities with families or to the communication of data to public administrations, among others.
Recommendations to educational centres on the publication of images and other personal data of students on the Internet
Finally, the day was closed by the Head of the Technical and Inspection Area of the APDCAT, Blanca Peraferrer, who gave a series of recommendations to educational centres on the publication of images and other personal data of students on the Internet, fruit of an exhaustive audit carried out by the Catalan Data Protection Authority.