Recently we had a class with guest speaker Joseph Jeffery who spoke to us about FIPPA and the importance of understanding it in our role as teachers. FIPPA stands for the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a BC law that was updated in Nov 2022 and is one of the strictest privacy laws in the world. It controls the collection, use and disclosure of personal information held by schools and as teachers, we must uphold the regulations set in place by it. The other acronym commonly seen is FOIPOP, the generalized term for any kind of freedom of information and protection of privacy act.

  • FOIPOP – Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy
  • FIPPA – Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (BC law)

Business Information vs Personal Information

Business:

  • your name
  • school name
  • school address
  • school district address
  • school billing info
  • grade you teach

Business information is already easily accessible to the public. As a teacher, you don’t need to worry too much about giving this info away.

Personal info:

  • Name, age, sex
  • personal address
  • Personal phone number
  • Birthday
  • SIN
  • Parent/guardian name and address, etc.
  • Race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation
  • And more listed on the government website

This information is covered by FIPPA and as a government institution, we must follow FIPPA very strictly! Failing to follow FIPPA can lead to multi-million dollar fines. In this case, there are breach reporting protocols that we follow if there is an issue. This is handled by the school district safety officer. To mitigate this, we must adhere to FIPPA and ensure that we are educated about privacy. Accidents DO happen and there will be an investigation to ensure that it will not happen again. Software breaches are a BIG DEAL because it is the leaking of student info due to negligence and the scope of this kind of breach is huge. Prevention is the best way and being knowledgeable and aware of information and FIPPA is the first step to protecting our students and ourselves.

What is Indentifiable Information?

  • name – yes
  • school – can be
  • grade – no
  • age – no
  • address – yes
  • email – yes
  • phone number – yes

Once info is combined the identifiability increases significantly. Identifiable information is taken as a whole, not just the pieces that are given. We must pay attention to the picture it paints. This can be pretty nuanced, however, there is a list of tools we can use.

For me, it is a little different. I am a TC who will be completing my practicum and then hopefully one day practicing outside of SD57. This means that I will need to work with my school district when it comes to things like consent forms and appropriate channels for ensuring that FIPPA is being adhered to.

Duty to Report:

As a professional working with children or youth, you have a duty to report when you have “reason to believe” that the child or youth is at risk (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse). If you are unsure you can talk to the student’s VP or counsellor (secondary) or the principal (elementary). This does not pass the responsibility of reporting to another person. You need first-hand information to report so you still need to make the report if you are the one who was confided in or who made the observation. If the student requests that you not tell anyone, you must be honest with them and tell them that you can NOT keep things like that private. Always default to reporting even if there is some doubt about the honesty of the student. Some things are tricky: neglect, abandonment, domestic violence in the home, being orphaned without provision, and running away with endangerment. You must be aware of these but take time to assess when it is necessary to report.

Copyright

Educational copy license allows us to copy 10% or one chapter of a book, whichever is less. This is usable for each text once in a course, you can NOT do 10% + 10% + 10% each day. There is a great Fair Deal Decision Tool for determining what you can and cannot do in the classroom when it comes to copyright. Remember to give proper credit! What are you doing and how are you getting it? Make sure to reference original creators and take care when using or copying things.

FIPPA is closely related to several of the teaching standards that we must adhere to as teachers. We are always striving to create a safe environment for our students and following these guidelines are part of it.

Standard 1: Educators value and care for all students and act in their best interests.

Adhering to the standards set out by FIPPA is in the best interest of our students because it protects their security and privacy. We must safeguard their personal information to value and care for them fully.

Standard 2: Educators are role models who act ethically and honestly.

We can model ethical behaviour by protecting our students and creating a safe learning environment through adherence to FIPPA.

Standard 3: Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.

Confidentiality is essential for supporting students’ social, emotional, and educational development. When we protect the privacy of our students, we provide a safe space for learning, growth and development.

Standard 6: Educators contribute to the profession and the broader community.

When we adhere to FIPPA regulations, we contribute to the profession by maintaining the standards set before us. In keeping with proper security and privacy regulations, we protect our students, their families and the community as a whole.

Standard 8: Educators engage in career-long learning.

These things require learning and maintenance of our understanding throughout our careers! This one lesson will not maintain our knowledge of FIPPA regulations and it is our responsibility to keep up with privacy laws and requirements so that we can implement them in our practice and keep our students safe.