Data Protection Privacy Statement
Data Protection
Who are the National Council for Special Education?
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) was set up to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities with particular emphasis on children. The NCSE was first established as an independent statutory body by order of the Minister for Education and Science in December 2003.
Data Protection
What Does This Privacy Statement Mean?
The NCSE must comply with the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018 and any related or subsequent data protection and privacy legislation and amendments, as well as European Union Law including Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (known as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”)) and any subsequent implementing legislation and amendments (collectively referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Data Protection Legislation”).
The NCSE is committed to protecting your privacy. The NCSE will use your personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation.
Data Protection
Purpose of the Privacy Statement
The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to clearly communicate to you:
– what personal information the NCSE collects
– why the NCSE collects this information
– how the NCSE handles or uses this information
– how long the NCSE will retain this information
– who the NCSE will share this information with
– your rights in relation to the personal information that the NCSE holds, including your rights to request access, rectification or deletion of this information and
– how you can contact the NCSE in respect of this information.
It is the aim of this Privacy Statement to give you a better and more complete understanding of how the NCSE collects and uses your personal data.
Data Protection
Why does the NCSE collect data?
The NCSE is mandated by statute to plan and co-ordinate the provision of education and support services to children with special educational needs (Section 20 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004). The NCSE are obliged to collect certain information to fulfil its legal obligations under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. This is pursuant to Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR which enables the NCSE as a controller to lawfully process personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the NCSE is subject.
Data Protection
What Data Do We Collect?
The NCSE collects data directly from schools and from the completed Notice forms provided to Parent(s)/Guardian(s) and teachers in respect of students and school employees including teachers. We collect the following data:
| Data collected in respect of students | |
|---|---|
| Name | Date of Birth |
| Address | Gender |
| PPSN | Name of parent, or guardian |
| Telephone number of parent, or guardian | Email address of parent, or guardian |
| Name of School/education setting | Address of school/education setting |
| School roll number | Telephone number of school |
| Email address of school | Name of Principal |
| Date of enrolment/confirmation of attendance | Date on which the student left school |
| Class level | Access to special education teaching support |
| Access to SNA support | Details provided in respect of transport application(s) |
| Details provided in respect of assistive technology application(s) | Details provided in respect of application for home tuition grant |
| Special class enrolment, including the type of special class | Special school enrolment, including the type of special school |
| School attendance, including attendance on a reduced school day | School reports |
| Disability, if applicable | Learning/care needs |
| Mobility issues | Medical condition(s) |
| Professional reports, including clinical and educational psychology reports | Medical reports or assessments |
| Behavioral plans | Student Support Plans, or equivalent |
| Records of reviews conducted in relation to the student’s supports | |
| Data collected in respect of school employees | |
|---|---|
| Forename | Surname |
| PPSN | Teaching Council registration details |
| The teacher’s payroll number | Telephone number |
| The type of school in which the employee works | The school’s roll number |
| The role of the employee in the school | Bank account details |
Where the NCSE collects your personal information to fulfil the NCSE’s statutory obligations, failure by you to provide the above-mentioned personal information may render the NCSE unable to provide the services being the subject of such statutory obligation.
Data Protection
How do we use the data?
This data enables the NCSE to plan, co-ordinate and review the provision of additional education supports to students and teachers in line with Department of Education policy. Examples of the co-ordination of those additional education supports and services for students and teachers NCSE include:
- Assistance in relation to school placement, including special class and special school placement;
- Special Education Teaching
- Special Needs Assistant support
- Visiting Teacher Supports for deaf/hard of hearing and blind/visually impaired students;
- Teacher professional learning and in school advisor support
- Behaviour for Learning Support
- School Inclusion Model, (SIM) In-School Therapy Project (ISTP)
- Assistive Technology for Students with Special Educational Needs
- Transport for Students with Special Educational Needs
- Home Tuition Grant Applications
- Section 29 Appeals
- Applications to Education Centres for supports and advice in respect of individual students and
- Research
Data Protection
How long is the data retained?
The NCSE Record Retention and Disposal Schedule sets out the retention period for all personal data kept and the procedures in place to implement this policy.
Data Protection
How does the NCSE secure the data?
To protect student, teacher and other school employee data, the NCSE actions security measures:
– Ensuring Data is stored on encrypted servers
– Limiting access to those who can access data
– Implementing ICT security features that are installed and in place to reduce the risk of data identify theft or hacking
Data Protection
Sharing of data
The NCSE may share your data with other public bodies and authorised third parties such as the Department of Education for the provision of special education supports such as transport, assistive technology and home tuition.
In certain circumstances, we may be legally required to share certain data held by us with the Chief State Solicitors Office or the Attorney Generals Office as a result of legal proceedings where the NCSE is complying with legal obligations such as a court order.
Data Protection
Use of data for statistics
The NCSE may compile statistics for the development of research and policy advice. All such data will be anonymised and will not include any personally identifying data, or any anonymised data that can be combined with other data and used to identify you. We may from time to time share such data with authorised third parties or other Public Bodies.
Data will only be shared and used within the authority of Data Controller/ Sharing Agreements
Data Protection
Individual Rights under GDPR
As a data subject, you have the following rights under the GDPR, which this Privacy Statement and our use of personal data have been designed to uphold:
- The Right of Access: Subject to certain conditions, you are entitled to have access to your personal data which we hold;
- The Right to Rectification: You may challenge the accuracy or completeness of personal data which we process about you. If it is found that personal data is inaccurate, you are entitled to have the inaccurate data removed, corrected or completed, as appropriate
- The Right to be Erasure (right to be forgotten): Subject to certain conditions, you are entitled, on certain grounds, to have your personal data erased g. where you think that the information we are processing is inaccurate, or the processing is unlawful
- The Right to Restriction: Subject to certain conditions, you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data
- The Right to Object: Subject to certain conditions, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data
- The Right of Data Portability: Subject to certain conditions, you have the right to receive the data which you have provided to us and which is processed by us by automated means, in a commonly-used machine readable format and
- The Right of Withdrawal: You have the right to withdraw your consent to any processing for which you have previously given that consent.
If you have any cause for complaint about the use of your personal data, please contact us using the email address below. All complaints will be fully investigated. If we are unable to help, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission.
Data Protection
How can you access your data?
You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal data held by us and how it is used. Requests for records can be made by contacting the email address dataprotection@ncse.ie or by telephone at 01 603 3433.
Data Protection
Contacting the NCSE
If you have any questions about the use of data by the NCSE or this privacy statement, please contact dataprotection@ncse.ie or by post to NCSE Data Protection Officer, Mill Street, Trim, Co Meath C15 P2KC.
Data Protection
Changes to Our Privacy Statement
This statement was last updated on 01 September 2023. It may be updated from time to time.