FAQ
Question 1
Who is responsible for the student registers at your school?
Answer: It is the political body responsible for educational matters, i.e. the local education authority, the local school board, or equivalent.
Within municipal education, the political authority responsible for civic registration,
(here the student registers) is the local school board or the local education authority. An administrative authority or a single official cannot be responsible for civic registration matters. For independent or private school institutions, this responsibility lies with the company, the foundation or the juridical person in charge.
NB This rule applies to paper files and computer records alike.
Question 2
Does the school need permission to keep student registers and written information on the students?
Answer: No
The Compulsory School Ordinance is equivalent to a law. The law stipulates that the school is to hold personal development talks, talks which require some sort of documentation to show how they are implemented in regard to the students and the homes. According to the Personal Data Act no consent is required under this law.
The Swedish Data Inspection Board no longer issues licences, which were formerly required in order to keep personal data. Today, the municipal authority applies for one licence valid for all registers kept. Since 24 October, 1998, the Swedish Data Inspection Board has only decided on alterations of existing records. According to the Personal Data Act which came into force on 1 October, 2001, all institutions and authorities keeping personal data registers are required to do so in accordance with the Personal Data Act.
NB This rule applies to paper files and computer records alike.
Question 3
Should students and parents/guardians be informed about the registers kept by the school?
Answer: Yes
Students and parents/guardians should receive information on the personal data registers kept by the school. They are also entitled to get excerpts from these registers, enabling the school and the parents/guardians to maintain a viable dialogue regarding the development of the student.
NB According to the Personal Data Act, parents/guardians should receive the following information at the school start:
1 The type of personal data registers kept by the school.
2 The purpose of these registers.
3 The right to a complete register extract at any given period of time
4 The right to suggest adaptations or alterations.
NB This rule applies to paper files and computer records alike.
Question 4
Does the principle of access to official documents apply to written assessments or other written information on the students?
Answer: Yes
However, the Personal Data Act applies only to the actual collection and keeping of information, so the provision of extracts of information from the personal data registers of an authority (here a school) falls outside the remit of the Personal Data Act. In this case, the principle of access to official documents and the Secrecy Act apply.
However, written notes or drafts by a teacher are to be regarded as “work material” and not official documents.
The principle of access to official documents covers the following documents: written assessments, action programmes, and grade certificates.
NB Action programmes containing pupil welfare issues, such as social problems in the home of the student, fall outside the remit of the principle.
The Secrecy Act: At a request to obtain information from a private individual, the authority in question must first consider whether the information contained in the documents is to be regarded as secret or not, before submitting the documents. Documents containing information that can be assumed to cause considerable harm to the student or their home should not be submitted according to the Secrecy Act. It is the responsibility of the head of school to apply these principles and in doing so, consider who the applicant is and for what purpose the request is being made.
NB This rule applies to paper files and computer records alike.
NB 2 The principle of access to official documents does not apply to independent schools. Hence, written information kept by an independent school is not regarded as official documentation.
Question 5
Is an individual development plan (IUP) an official document?
Answer: Yes
This is a document which indeed is a contradiction in terms: individual as well as official. However, an individual development plan is an official document according to current regulations and should be handled in the same way as other written information on the student by the school. The new government has announced, though, that it will look into the secrecy provisions of educational institutions.
NB This rule applies to paper files and computer records alike.
NB 2 The principle of access to official documents does not apply to independent schools. Hence, written information kept by an independent school is not regarded as official documentation.
Question 6
Is a teacher allowed to write in an assessment that a student is “lazy”?
Answer: No.
The Swedish Data Inspection Board provides information on how schools should work in accordance with the provisions of the Personal Data Act. It states that “Written assessments and other assessing type of information registered on the students should be based on facts and be worded in a respectful way in relation to the students’ integrity.”
In addition, the teacher’s task is not to assess the students’ personalities, but their achievement and abilities.
NB This rule applies to paper files and computer records alike.
Question 7
For how long should student data registers be kept?
Answer: According to the Personal Data Act, information should be taken away when the student leaves a municipal school or an independent school. The Act on Archives and Registries regulates how long the written information on each student should be saved by the school. Every municipality should have policies stating how to handle information in documents and archives and for how long (usually for a period of 3, 5 or 10 years).
For more information on these proceedings, contact the municipal authorities.
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