The benefits of recording lessons are plain to see. But are there any legal complications?

The arrival of the Lessonbox system through which teachers can record, both in pictures and sound, all that happens in a lesson has meant that many more lessons can be recorded than ever before.

Indeed the recording of these lessons so that teachers may observe best practice and study in depth their own teaching process is clearly a very, very helpful process. To all intents and purposes it offers the biggest breakthrough ever in continuing professional development.

Many schools are now moving over to this unique system, which is described in full on our website, and the benefits to CPD are, of course, overwhelming.

However, it is a legitimate question to ask where the school stands in relation to this sort of recording – which is done entirely to help develop the quality of teaching and learning – in terms of laws relating to the recording of the activities of young people.

To understand the situation more fully Lessonbox has met and taken guidance from the ICO on the data protection issues raised with the use of Lessonbox systems.

In summary the ICO recognises the positive applications of Lessonbox under the teacher’s control for the purpose of training, reflective practice, etc.  It accepts that there is a place for teachers to use Lessonbox to support their continuing professional development, and they acknowledge that teachers will find it useful to look back at lessons as part of their reflective practice.

Restrictions on use only relate to situations in which Lessonbox is set up to be an equivalent of a CCTV surveillance device – when obviously separate rules apply.

Lessonbox can be used as part of the school’s approach to addressing problem behaviour and low level disruption, as long as the use is proportionate.  Details of all the ICO’s findings and views on using Lessonbox both to record lessons and for disciplinary and other purposes can be found on our website.

Lessonbox uses wireless technology to record multiple lessons, and once recording is complete you have the choice of saving and reviewing the footage in school or, if subscribed, using the Lessonbox Cloud video platform to share, add comments, and attach related documents.

What’s more, because the recording equipment is portable it can be used by any teacher in any room or building, and there’s nothing to stop it being used to record a number of lessons by different teachers each day.

If you would like to download the ICO and Policy white papers or to discuss how Lessonbox can work in your school, please visit our website or call 0845 519 3660. If you have any specific questions, please do email info@lessonbox.co.uk

Andrew Jenkins