Funding teachers’ notepads/devices, “child protection” & “data protectio

gaiscioch

There’s three issues here. First, who pays for the device/laptop you use for school work. Second, why are teachers not trusted by school management to directly download programs/apps to that device (rather than have to go through an outside company with each request). Third, is it actually in breach of data protection for a teacher to bring students’ work for correction home with them?

My school used to give us a contribution of €250 if we were buying a laptop for work use. However, in the past year they ended that, bought us each a cheap iPad costing around €350 each, and that was that.

So, they replaced a subsidy for a real, working laptop essentially with a (very annoying) Apple device for presentations despite most people being more familiar with the Windows OS. No choice. Moreover, we’d still have to use our private Windows’ laptops to create and correct school work. More about the “dangers” of teachers using their privately owned laptop for school work anon.

Making matters so much worse, they decided to employ a private company to monitor everything on it - more specifically, if you want to download a simple program you, a grown adult, have to apply to this private company to put it on your iPad. Every single time - I’m still waiting since 30 August for my last request to be answered. How could this inefficient, patronising policy towards teaching staff ever have been a good idea?

Apparently all this is because of - you guessed it - “child protection”. Could they not trust us to download programs directly ourselves, and monitor our downloads, rather than slow us down by insisting that, like little children, teachers must apply for every single program they want to download? And wait, and wait while Big Brother mulls over whether that dictionary app download, for instance, could... undermine... child protection?

Given that we are all Garda vetted and allowed to actually be in the same room as... real, live students, should that not be sufficient in terms of trusting teachers to *not* download... child pornography? To say this inefficient, paranoid, illogical micromanaging and distrust of teaching staff is offensive understates things. The control freakery is extraordinary. Is this happening in other schools, and is there actual Department justification in a circular for not trusting us to download a program to a device?

I’m definitely ditching the ipad - a product I’ve successfully avoided until now - and going to have to splash out my own after-tax money for a computer to make, and correct, student work. But apparently even this is dodgy if not illegal, especially if I bring work home with me that has an identifying student name on it. It seems that by virtue of “child protection” and “data protection” legislation, the only solution is to, well, do absolutely no corrections at all off the school premises, and try to use the incredibly annoying school-owned Apple iPad presentation device to correct this work on the school premises. Well, there goes absolutely no corrections and no work outside school hours from now on. I don’t think a single student in need of feedback on their work will thank us for these idiotic, self-defeating policies.

Treppen

How about a student uploads their work to the cloud and you correct it from home! Are you still bringing work home?

it's all a mess.

iPads have their uses but as an adult work device, you'd be laughed out the door of any other business if a proper laptop wasn't at hand.
I'll bet your school won't shell out the extra €20 for a cheapass keyboard.

Honestly I can see the days of app downloading are numbered as schools are either pushed into Apple,Microsoft or Google. About 4 years ago it was all about showing innovative apps to colleagues and exploring them at inservices, but now it's dreary old One note and maybe a kahoot at the end if the class behaves themselves.
YouTube is really pushing the adds these days, which can be embarrassing when the kids tell you they're based on your internet searches :pac:

Were lucky we got admin rights to our iPads but there's only a handful bothered with new exciting apps. Unless it's subject specific.

GDPR ... You'll be quoted it when it suits, when it doesn't suit then you'll be told ignore it because of Covid armageddon.

mirrorwall14

We all had our own but last year we were given a choice. Some of us who applied for it got MacBooks me being one. I had to state exactly why I needed it over a laptop. Everyone else got a choice between an iPad and a laptop. There was a good split between them. However to be honest most of us are still using two devices (me included) both a tablet and laptop.

In relation to GDPR everything from students work is in the cloud in my case

shesty

To be fair - as someone working in private/semi-private companies - you would never just be allowed to download programs or apps to the work system.Ever.Even requests for programmes you might need as part of your job such MS Visio or MS Projects, would have to be approved by a manager and sent to IT/ security in many places.That aspect is not abnormal, the difficulty is that schools do not have a dedicated IT team, and have to outsource, causing delays.

If it was done properly (as with all these things), the Dept would have a contract in place with someone to supply IT hardware to all schools (all the same) and possibly a centralised system to allow a certain suite of programmes and apps to made available, anything else to be requested through a centralised system or an IT crew sourced by the Dept.

Wishful, wishful thinking.This whole pandemic has highlighted how badly we need to drag our education system into this century.It is no longer sufficient to go on as we have - the Church no longer have the funds or the manpower to carry out their previous functions in the education system, leaving a void that the Dept should be stepping into to directly manage schools more.

Wonder will that penny drop at any point in my lifetime.

solerina

We have never been given a school device despite asking frequently, this week in a panic to get prepared for closure we have been given the option to get a device if we pay 50% of the cost price...this is 485 and the school will pay the other 50%.
I need a new device but don’t like the device they’re have chosen, but it’s that or nothing.
I feel that as it’s a work device which I have no need of for personal reasons that school should provide it and pay 100% of its cost. I will not be taking up their ‘offer’.

gaiscioch

gaiscioch wrote: »

There’s three issues here. First, who pays for the device/laptop you use for school work. Second, why are teachers not trusted by school management to directly download programs/apps to that device (rather than have to go through an outside company with each request). Third, is it actually in breach of data protection for a teacher to bring students’ work for correction home with them?

My school used to give us a contribution of €250 if we were buying a laptop for work use. However, in the past year they ended that, bought us each a cheap iPad costing around €350 each, and that was that.

So, they replaced a subsidy for a real, working laptop essentially with a (very annoying) Apple device for presentations despite most people being more familiar with the Windows OS. No choice. Moreover, we’d still have to use our private Windows’ laptops to create and correct school work. More about the “dangers” of teachers using their privately owned laptop for school work anon.

Making matters so much worse, they decided to employ a private company to monitor everything on it - more specifically, if you want to download a simple program you, a grown adult, have to apply to this private company to put it on your iPad. Every single time - I’m still waiting since 30 August for my last request to be answered. How could this inefficient, patronising policy towards teaching staff ever have been a good idea?

Apparently all this is because of - you guessed it - “child protection”. Could they not trust us to download programs directly ourselves, and monitor our downloads, rather than slow us down by insisting that, like little children, teachers must apply for every single program they want to download? And wait, and wait while Big Brother mulls over whether that dictionary app download, for instance, could... undermine... child protection?

Given that we are all Garda vetted and allowed to actually be in the same room as... real, live students, should that not be sufficient in terms of trusting teachers to *not* download... child pornography? To say this inefficient, paranoid, illogical micromanaging and distrust of teaching staff is offensive understates things. The control freakery is extraordinary. Is this happening in other schools, and is there actual Department justification in a circular for not trusting us to download a program to a device?

I’m definitely ditching the ipad - a product I’ve successfully avoided until now - and going to have to splash out my own after-tax money for a computer to make, and correct, student work. But apparently even this is dodgy if not illegal, especially if I bring work home with me that has an identifying student name on it. It seems that by virtue of “child protection” and “data protection” legislation, the only solution is to, well, do absolutely no corrections at all off the school premises, and try to use the incredibly annoying school-owned Apple iPad presentation device to correct this work on the school premises. Well, there goes absolutely no corrections and no work outside school hours from now on. I don’t think a single student in need of feedback on their work will thank us for these idiotic, self-defeating policies.

It's not about trusting you to download apps. It's about securing the schools data/student data as much as possible. Ultimately the school is answerable if you cause a data breach (unintentionally of course).

Treppen

solerina wrote: »

We have never been given a school device despite asking frequently, this week in a panic to get prepared for closure we have been given the option to get a device if we pay 50% of the cost price...this is 485 and the school will pay the other 50%.
I need a new device but don’t like the device they’re have chosen, but it’s that or nothing.
I feel that as it’s a work device which I have no need of for personal reasons that school should provide it and pay 100% of its cost. I will not be taking up their ‘offer’.

Fair play.

Ask your principal how much they got from the thousands in grants in the last 3 years and where it went. Maybe it was genuinely spent on upgrading old infrastructure to get the broadband in ASAP though, or to provide devices for students even if it's a trolly of iPads.

Treppen

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not about trusting you to download apps. It's about securing the schools data/student data as much as possible. Ultimately the school is answerable if you cause a data breach (unintentionally of course).

Not necessairily, if you go against the policy of the school then you might carry the can too.

It's very easy for the school to say in the policy 'no downloading of unapproved applications' and then give everyone admin rights.

solerina

Treppen wrote: »

Fair play.

Ask your principal how much they got from the thousands in grants in the last 3 years and where it went. Maybe it was genuinely spent on upgrading old infrastructure to get the broadband in ASAP though, or to provide devices for students even if it's a trolly of iPads.

Some iPads were bought (12 I think) for student use but other than that I havnt a clue where it went, not on broadband as that was already working very well. No point asking where the rest of the funding went, we won’t be given that information. We are never consulted, there are so many teachers who need devices but instead of buying us all a device costing 450 or less they want us to pay 485 each....it makes no sense, unless they are hoping a lot of staff won’t take them up on their ‘offer’

Alex86Eire

We've never had school devices. I'd be delighted to be given either a free laptop/iPad or even a money off voucher for a device!!

My school has done serious work on the IT infrastructure in the school over the last few years so I can see where the money went.

Leftwaffe

All our teachers have decent iPads, most getting an upgrade in March when the school closed. They even supplied the stylus for them. I can't believe some schools don't give teachers devices. How are you supposed to manage without it.