Data Protection and the processing of Data for new purposes for Leaving Cert grading

Treppen

Just thinking out loud. I'm not going to be taking a legal case or anything because my Leaving Cert was done decades ago.

Would a school/Department of Education be in breach of data protection by using past grades to calculate a Leaving Cert grade.

I think it would because the nature of the processing has changed from it's original intention.

Here is what the Department of Education has to say about Data Protection

4.2 Personal data can only be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate
purposes
.
The Department will collect and process personal data only for the purposes for which it is collected and purposes which are compatible with those purposes. The Department staff must be alert to requests for processing of personal data for purposes for which it was not collected, no matter how related the processing may appear. Processing should only continue after an assessment of the impact of the new processing. This assessment may be done as a data protection impact assessment, please see section 6.6 below.

https://www.education.ie/en/The-Department/Data-Protection/data-protection-policy.pdf

6.6 Data protection impact assessments
The Department will implement procedures and documentation whereby all new types of processing, in particular using new technologies, that result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of its data subjects shall carry out a data protection impact assessment. As part of this process, a copy of the impact assessment shall be shared with the Department’s’ Data Protection Officer.
Where the Department is unable to identify measures that mitigate the high
risks identified then the Department will consult with the Data Protection
Commissioner prior to the commencement of processing.

Can you find out if the Department has consulted with the Data Protection Commissioner?

Peregrinus

Well, hold on. If, by "past grades", you mean past grades in school exams or in mocks, the Dept of Education doesn't have that data. If you're a Leaving Cert student, the only grade data the Dept of Education has for you is your performance in the Junior Cert (assuming you did the Junior Cert).

Which means that, if they are now doing to compile some kind of notional LC grades or notional points for you based on past grades, they are first of all going to have to collect your past grades data (most likely, from your schoool)). Which means they will then be using it for the purpose for which they have collected it.

The school may have a problem disclosing this data to the Dept of Education, but they can get around that by seeking your consent to them supplying the data to the Dept of Ed for the purpose of having the Dept assign notional LC grades or points to you. Which you will likely agree to because, in general, you are better off having those notional grades or points assigned to you than not.

Cookie_Monster

would it not just be anonymised data though? in a class of x pupils in school y in 19XX or 20XX there were, A x A1, B x A2, C x B1, D x B2 etc etc. no identifying links.

Also do various govt depts not have an exemption from it anyway?

Treppen

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

would it not just be anonymised data though? in a class of x pupils in school y in 19XX or 20XX there were, A x A1, B x A2, C x B1, D x B2 etc etc. no identifying links.

Also do various govt depts not have an exemption from it anyway?

It's s bit of both. The dept will use the meta data from schools (past results etc) but also rely on grades you as a teacher will provide to arrive at an estimate of a grade.

So I as a teacher will use a student's mocks to base my decision as to what they would get in the actual exam.
This I would think is a change of use, originally a student / parent have consent on the ground the grade would be used by the student to inform their learning (formative grading).

Vetch

Treppen wrote: »

It's s bit of both. The dept will use the meta data from schools (past results etc) but also rely on grades you as a teacher will provide to arrive at an estimate of a grade.

So I as a teacher will use a student's mocks to base my decision as to what they would get in the actual exam.
This I would think is a change of use, originally a student / parent have consent on the ground the grade would be used by the student to inform their learning (formative grading).

Schools are unlikely to use consent as the legal basis for processing student grades. They have the choice of six legal bases under GDPR and are surely more likely to use something like: 'processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller'.

It depends on the detail but there is not always an issue with change of purpose. This is a compatible purpose (data is still being used to assess pupils); and the system that is being set up is presumably under the authority of the Minister for Education.

Treppen

Vetch wrote: »

Schools are unlikely to use consent as the legal basis for processing student grades. They have the choice of six legal bases under GDPR and are surely more likely to use something like: 'processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller'.

It depends on the detail but there is not always an issue with change of purpose. This is a compatible purpose (data is still being used to assess pupils); and the system that is being set up is presumably under the authority of the Minister for Education.

At the end of the day the student will probably have to opt-in to this predictive grading process in some way. So the department I'm sure will cover themselves.

I still think there is a big difference between giving a school test to help along the student's learning ... and then subsequently using that same school test to form the basis of for state certification.