National Pupil Data

If you are aged 44 or under, in England and Wales, or have attended state education including evening classes and further education, the National Pupil Database and other national Learner Records are about *your* state school records and personal details. Or perhaps they may be your children or grandchildren's data.

Our vision for a rights' respecting digital environment

We drafted proposals, during the 2019 General Election and including the views of young people from The Warren Youth Group, in Hull in North East England, calling on political parties to include digital rights in education in their plans. [download 2.2MB pdf]

The #MyVote2019UK campaign began during the General Election 2019, but we have been campaigning for your data rights in education since 2015. Do you know where the government has given away your own or your child's personal information? Thousands of commercial companies, think tanks and more get hold of identifying confidential school data, since the government started giving it away in 2012.

We asked candidates for support during the campaign. Now you can ask your MPs to take action.

Tell your MP to take 5-steps for action

We are calling for MPs to take action to respect children's personal data rights in education in England, and level up protections across the UK. Ask your MP, to:

  1. Support a call for new national legislation to create a rights' respecting environment in education in England, and level up protections across the UK.
  2. Advocate for accessibility and new safeguards in procurement and edTech introductions, and a new approach to how data are collected, processed and passed around the education sector and beyond.
  3. Call for a radical overhaul of how national data collections happen, including the introduction of consultations on national school census expansions that affect millions of children. No more secondary legislation that rushes in changes by the back door.
  4. Ensure a national opt out of data re-use for non-direct educational purposes, that must be accepted by schools without detriment, and to create a safe and trustworthy environment fit for children's future.
  5. Build data protection and privacy training into part of basic teacher training and professional development, to build in change from basics.

Young people care about their digital rights and data privacy, but none of the political parties are stepping up to meet their concerns adequately, because being online for young people is about far more than child protection. It’s about privacy and participation and empowerment to be able to develop to their full potential and make the most of the digital environment.