Privacy Notice: Evaluation of ASCENTS 1-2-1 Support for Science - retrial

In line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we need to let you know about how your information will be processed. In this privacy notice, we explain:

  • the purpose of the study we’re conducting;
  • the legal basis for data processing;
  • what data will be collected;
  • who will have access to your personal data;
  • how your data will be used, stored and deleted; and
  • who you can contact with a query or a complaint.

What’s the purpose of this study?

The purpose of NatCen’s research is to understand the impact and implementation of the ASCENTS programme on its participants. The data will be used to contribute to policy making and scholarly discourses in the field of education.

Who’s who?

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have funded the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to carry out the independent evaluation of ASCENTS.

You can find out more about these organisations by following the links below:

Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)

NatCen Social Research

ASCENTS will be coordinated and delivered by the University of Roehampton (Lead) in collaboration with the following universities: Anglia Ruskin, Hull, Lincoln, Liverpool, Northumbria, and Plymouth Marjon.

ASCENTS is part of a wider DfE funded programme called the ‘Accelerator Fund’. The fund aims to increase access to evidence-informed programmes. 

What is the legal basis for processing data?

In order for the use of personal data to be lawful, we need to meet one (or more) conditions in the data protection legislation, as set out in Article 6(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For the purpose of this project, the relevant condition that we are meeting is ‘legitimate interests’. This means that we believe that there is a genuine reason for us to process this data (to evaluate the impact of ASCENTS), that this data is needed to fulfil this purpose (we could not evaluate ASCENTS without this information), and that using this data will not interfere with individuals’ interests, rights or freedoms.

NatCen is the data controller for this project.

Special category data 

Special category data is personal data that needs more protection because it is sensitive. In order to lawfully process special category data, we must identify both a lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR and a separate condition for processing under Article 9. The special category data we will be processing in the course of this study is the ethnic background of the mentors involved. Our lawful basis for processing is consent as this information is freely given by the people completing the surveys. Mentors are able to skip this question if they do not wish to answer it.

Who will have access to my personal data?

NatCen are carrying out this evaluation and will have access to:

  • mentor, school, pupil and teacher information;
  • interview and focus groups recordings, transcripts and notes;
  • observations notes;
  • survey responses;
  • attendance records;
  • data on costs related to ASCENTS;
  • pre- and post-intervention attainment data obtained from the National Pupil Database (NPD), managed by the Department for Education;
  • data on mentors’ progression into teaching from the Initial Teacher Training Performance Profiles (ITTPP) and the School Workforce Census (SWC)

The University of Roehampton and its partners (University of Lincoln, University of Liverpool, University of Hull, Northumbria University, Anglia Ruskin University and Plymouth Marjon University) are delivering ASCENTS. They will have access to mentor, school, pupil and teacher information required for the programme delivery.

McGowan Transcriptions is the transcription service we use to transcribe our interview and focus group data. They will have had access to recordings and transcriptions from all interviews and focus groups. McGowan Transcriptions is on our approved supplier list and compliant with all of our information security policies.

The data will be shared with the Department for Education, in order that it can be linked to the NPD. The data will also be shared with the commissioner of the evaluation (EEF) and an organisation known as FFT which processes data on behalf of EEF to be archived on the Secure Research Service (SRS) at the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It will also be stored in the EEF archive (also managed by FFT) where other research teams can access it. After archiving the data on the SRS at the ONS, the data will be potentially shared with other parties, relinked to the NPD, and linked to other datasets. Please see EEF’s privacy notice for more information on how EEF processes and uses your data.  

How will the data be used?

The data collected will only be used for research purposes. NatCen, University of Roehampton and collaborating universities will store and handle data securely and confidentially in line with the GDPR. Reports and publications arising from this research will not identify any individual participant or school.

We will use exam results from the NPD to assess the impact of mentoring on pupil attainment. Within three months from report publication, NatCen will share the final quantitative data from the impact evaluation with the EEF and FFT Education for archiving. This will include:

  • pre- and post-intervention attainment data obtained from the NPD; and
  • data on compliance (attendance at the intervention)

Archived data will be used for research purposes and to look at longer-term impact. The archive does not contain direct identifiers like pupil names, contact details and date of birth, but does hold a Pupil Matching Reference (PMR). The PMR is used for further matching to the NPD and other administrative datasets that may be required as part of subsequent research. NatCen, University of Roehampton and collaborating universities will delete all personal information, and any other data held on the project, within six months from report publication. For the main ASCENTS evaluation this will be 2027.

Mentor follow-up study

Mentor data linked with the Initial Teacher Training Performance Profiles (ITTPP) and the School Workforce Census (SWC) will be used to assess the long-term influence of participation in ASCENTS on mentor progression into teaching.

The ITTPP includes information on age, gender, subject, degree class, and route onto Initial Teaching Training (ITT).

The SWC identifies all teachers working in state-funded schools in England. It provides information about the individual’s work status, type of school employed in, full or part-time status, contract, roles, and responsibilities, subject taught, salary, sickness absence and qualifications. It also provides data on teachers who have left the profession.

The ITTPP and the SWC will be linked using Teacher Reference Numbers (TRN), a unique identifier used throughout a teacher’s career. Data collected from the ITTPP and the SWC will be linked with mentors’ survey data (mentor follow-up survey, pre-intervention survey and post-intervention survey) using first name, surname, and date of birth, along with length of course and course year at time of ASCENTS for all ASCENTS mentors.

Data on mentors’ experiences of the programme will be held until six months after the publication of follow-up mentor survey findings in 2029. The data will be shared with EEF and FFT (EEF’s data processors for the EEF data archive) to archive the data on the Secure Research Service (SRS) at the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Furthermore, after archiving the data on the SRS at the ONS, the data will be potentially shared with other parties, relinked to the NPD, and linked to other datasets. Data will not be transferred outside of European Economic Area (EEA).

What are your rights under GDPR?

Under certain circumstances, by law 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.
  • 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.
  • Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling. We will not use your data for automated decision making or profiling in any way.

If you want to review, verify, correct, or request erasure of your personal information; object to the processing of your personal data; or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact the study team at ASCENTSresearch@natcen.ac.uk.

Do you have the right to withdraw permission?

You have the right to withdraw your permission for processing at any time and you don’t have to justify or explain why you are doing so if you don’t want to state your reasons. To withdraw your permission, please contact the study team at ASCENTSresearch@natcen.ac.uk

When any data you provide has been aggregated with other responses in analyses, we will be unable to remove your data from those analyses. However, the original data will be erased, and it will not be possible to identify you in these aggregated results.

Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your permission, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

Who can I contact with a query or a complaint?

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact NatCen’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@natcen.ac.uk

Under GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow                                             
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone - 0303 123 1113

Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/