Authoritative School Climate Enabling (ASCE) Policy Scoping Study: Privacy notice

This privacy notice sets out how we will process your information if you decide to take part in this research. In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we need to let you know how your information will be processed. In this privacy notice, we explain: 

• the legal basis for data processing;

• who will have access to your personal data;

• how your data will be used, stored, and deleted; 

• what your rights are according to GDPR, and 

• who you can contact regarding a query or a complaint.

You have certain legal rights under UK GDPR, and it is our duty to protect these rights. You can read more about your individual legal rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office website: ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/individual-rights/

Updates to the Privacy Notice

We are updating the privacy notice to reflect the extension to the initial scoping phase of the study and include a version control table to track and explain all revisions. 

Please find the version control table below demonstrating the changes to the privacy notice made from previous versions:

The purposes of processing

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) have jointly funded National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to explore whether schools’ policies and practices impact children’s outcomes like exclusions and attendance.

NatCen is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to improve people’s lives through research, and we are independent from both the EEF and YEF, who have provided funding for this study. Both the EEF and YEF are dedicated to improving children’s lives through education and other programmes. 

The study aims to:

• Assess headteachers' and classroom teachers’ perceptions of school policies and practices.
• Understand how these policies and practices influence school climate and children's attendance and exclusions.

What data will be processed?

To complete this research project, the NatCen research team will process the following data:

• headteacher and school staff information (including contact details);
• interview recordings and transcripts;
• headteacher and school staff survey responses;
• pupil school records including attendance and exclusions records;

All personal information will be kept confidential, and participants will have the opportunity to withdraw consent at any point during the study.

What is the legal basis for NatCen processing my data?

NatCen is the data controller for this study. This means we are responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing data, what personal information to collect, and how it is used. When evaluations have finished, the data may be archived for future research teams to use. The EEF will become the controller of the personal data once it is archived (see ‘who will be responsible for my archived data?’).

The legal basis for processing your data under GDPR Article 6(1) is “legitimate interest”. This means:

• We believe that there is a genuine reason for us to process this data (to answer our research questions and objectives).
• The data is needed to fulfil this purpose (we could not evaluate school policies and practices without this information).
• Processing this data will not interfere with individuals’ interests, rights, or freedoms.

If you have questions about this evaluation or data processing, please contact NatCen at asce@natcen.ac.uk.

Who will have access to my personal data?

Only members of the NatCen research team carrying out the extended scoping phase and impact evaluation will have access to the data listed above.

Subject to study progress, the NatCen research team will:

• access pupil-level National Pupil Database (NPD) data on attendance, exclusions and school/pupil characteristics.
• link pupil data to survey data collected from headteachers and school staff.

McGowan Transcriptions transcribe our interviews and will have access to audio recordings and transcripts. McGowan Transcriptions is on our approved supplier list and compliant with all our information security policies.

How will my data be used?

The data collected will only be used for research purposes, to help us to understand variation in types of behaviour policies and practices across schools and whether school behaviour policy and practice type affects pupil outcomes such as school absences and exclusion. NatCen will store and handle all data securely and confidentially in line with the GDPR. Reports and publications arising from this research will not identify any individual participant or school. 

The purpose of NatCen’s research during the scoping phase is to determine whether it is feasible to group school behaviour policies/practices into different types, including those that enable an authoritative school climate. If the study progresses to an impact evaluation, the purpose will be to understand the impact of this type of policy/practice on pupil attendance and exclusion rates. 

To this end, responses from the headteacher and school staff surveys (with personal details removed) will be linked to pupil-level NPD data on attendance, exclusions and school/pupil characteristics. The data will be used to contribute to policy making and scholarly discourse in the field of education. 

Contact information collected as part of this study will only be used to contact participants about the research (e.g. sending out surveys and interview invitations) and re-contacting participants if the study progresses to an impact evaluation.

No personal data will be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

NatCen will securely delete all personal information and any other data associated with the project within one year of its conclusion. If the project advances to an impact evaluation, data deletion is anticipated by September 2027. Otherwise, data will be deleted one year after the scoping phase concludes, with the anticipated deletion date being September 2026. These timelines may be extended if the project experiences delays.

At the end of the scoping phase, anonymised survey responses may be transferred to the EEF data archive for future research. If the study progresses to an impact evaluation, additional anonymised data collected will also be archived for research purposes.

Who will be responsible for my archived data?

Once the data collected as a part of this study is transferred to the EEF data archive, the EEF becomes the data controller. The archived data will be managed by FFT Education on behalf of the EEF, making them the data processor. At the end of the study, NatCen will prepare data files and analysis syntax for archiving in the ONS SRS. The SRS team will then transfer files from the project space to the FFT Education space within the SRS.

The archived data will not contain direct identifiers like teacher names and their contact details; however, we will provide school URN numbers that can help link this dataset to other relevant datasets. The archive data collected from pupils will also not contain direct identifiers like student name and date of birth but does hold a Pupil Matching Reference (PMR) to enable further linking to the NPD and other administrative data sources for future research. Once the archiving process is completed, the archive will be open to accredited researchers for analysis within the SRS. The archived data will potentially be shared with other parties or linked to other datasets. For further information, see the EEF’s archive privacy notice.

Can I change my mind during the evaluation?

Yes, you have the right to withdraw your consent for data processing at any time, without the need to provide a reason. If you prefer not to be contacted again by NatCen, you can also request that we delete your contact information.

To withdraw your permission, please contact the study team at asce@natcen.ac.uk.

What are your rights under GDPR?

You have the right to:

• Be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. We must provide this privacy notice to explain the purpose for processing your personal data, retention periods for your personal data, and who it will be shared with.
• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling. We will not use your data for automated decision making or profiling in any way.

In certain circumstances, you also have the right to:

• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation that makes you want to object to processing on this ground.
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to exercise any of these rights during the evaluation, including if you change your mind about taking part, please contact the study team at asce@natcen.ac.uk.

If you want to exercise any of these rights after the study has finished (i.e. after the point when information has been shared with the ONS), please contact the EEF at info@eefoundation.org.uk. 

Who can I contact with a query or a complaint? 

You can always contact the research team at NatCen if you have any questions about how your personal information is processed. You can do so by emailing asce@natcen.ac.uk.

If you have any concerns about how your data is used, you can also contact NatCen’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@natcen.ac.uk.

For any queries about data protection after the study has concluded, you can contact the EEF at: info@eefoundation.org.uk or call them at 0204 536 3999Under UK GDPR, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1113, at https://ico.org.uk/concerns, or by writing to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.