The law is clear and the vast majority of teachers respect it, but there is a part of them, small but very visible, that inappropriately uses social networks, especially short TikTok videos, to gain likes and followers with images. in which their students appear, which is a violation of their rights. On this popular platform, with one billion users, content creators are known as tiktokers; instead, the teachers (teacher, in English), are called teachtokers. A dance, a contest, a game. Things like this come to TikTok from the hand of teachers.
The article of the organic law on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights, approved in December 2018, establishes that "educational centers and any others that carry out activities in which minors participate will guarantee the protection of the best interests of the minor and their fundamental rights, especially the right to the protection of personal data, in the publication or dissemination of their personal data through information society services.
So teachers who engage in malpractice cannot claim that they are unaware of the legal framework to which their workplaces abide: schools. Article 92 specifies that "when said publication or dissemination were to take place through social networking services or equivalent services, they must have the consent of the minor or her legal representatives."
In the case of minors under 14 years of age, consent must be given by parents or legal guardians. Minors between 14 and 18 years of age may grant consent for the use of their data by themselves.
María Lázaro, author of the book Redes sociales y menores (Anaya Multimedia), clarifies that "there are a good number of teachers who are using social networks very well, in a truly educational way, without exposing their students, sharing their knowledge with teachers and students and generating very large communities”.
But he also points out that, "in rare cases", there are "teachers who are putting out content on the networks in which students are exposed." "It's not just personal data," he explains. They are helping to create a digital footprint of those students.” And without there being "a teaching objective included in the curriculum".
Among these contents there are sensual dances, improper for minors, but also things that happen inside the classroom. Lázaro points out that “if you want to demonstrate your teaching abilities, it is not necessary for your students' data to come out, such as an exam correction or an annotation”.
Rafael Alarcón is a school principal who believes that “so much exposure has gotten out of hand for many people. It is a minority, the one that he usually highlights, the one that appears in the media ”.
“What is the purpose of a teacher recording himself and his students?” Alarcón wonders. "They look for notoriety and for some media to echo, even if it is for the worse, because they know that it is criticizable," he says. This head of the center considers that the teacher who uploads videos of this type "is not doing his job". "Normally - he observes - it is usually accompanied by songs that should not be played in a school, because most of them are reggaeton, and we already know which lyrics have many".
When might it be appropriate to make a video with the students to be viewed in the school or its internal channels? Rafael Alarcón gives an example: images of students can be registered "as long as there is an educational purpose". “For example, working on the oral presentation, I record it because then in a later session I show the students the images. There I see a clear educational function ”, he indicates.
Problems can also come when the parents themselves are involved. This center director explains that in an activity with students who traveled abroad, the parents wanted to have images. Disseminated on an internal school channel, some parents spread them via WhatsApp and a family member posted them on Facebook. In this case, they had to be asked to withdraw them.
The authorities maintain a constant training policy among teachers. The Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD), the National Institute of Cybersecurity (Incibe) and the National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (Intef) convened the first edition of the Educate course on privacy and digital security a few months ago. The calls will continue to be periodic. The AEPD also has a priority channel for complaints about the protection of minors.
In Catalonia, an audit commissioned by the Catalan Authority for the Protection of Dades (Apdcat), with a sample of 224 educational centers and published in 2020, discovered that "more than half of the centers regularly and openly publish a large volume of photographs and videos with clearly identifiable students, both on the center's website and on social networks. This means that control of the images is lost and they can be available on the internet to anyone, and indefinitely”.
The director of the Apdcat, Meritxell Borràs, observes that, “if you publish a photo of a child whose face is visible, you can use the photo and the location, and you end up locating which school they go to. This information is not only unnecessary, but also inadequate. We have to protect the children. And everything that is on social networks means losing control ”.
The Catalan agency has an agreement with the Department of Education to carry out regular teacher training actions and has disseminated didactic material.
Schools know the legislation, unequivocal, and authorities disclose how to protect minors online. Although some do as if not.
