Pearson Tutoring & Privacy
Pearson Education Limited (Pearson) provides the [Pearson Tutoring service] to Schools as a data processor, which means that we handle the personal information of learners and tutors on the programme on behalf of the Department for Education. Tribal, as the Quality Assurance Agent of Tuition Partners within the National Tutoring Programme, is also a data processor on behalf of the Department for Education in handling the personal information of tutors.
However, in the event that we become aware of a safeguarding issue, we will handle personal information in accordance with our Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy.
Although we encourage learners to speak to their schools if they have any concerns about the way in which their personal information is handled we would also like to provide the following reassurances:
- Pearson is provided the bare minimum amount of learner information by schools that is needed to deliver the service (typically limited to name, year group, student SEND/ pupil premium status, and school email address of learners);
- We only use the information we are entrusted with and which is developed in the course of someone accessing our tutoring services for the purpose of delivering the tutoring service to schools and pupils, for improving that service and for safeguarding purposes;
- We do not share your information with anyone unless it is necessary to provide the tutoring service or for safeguarding reasons and permitted by law (and will never sell it to anyone for any reason); We do not use any of the learner personal information collected in connection with the tutoring programme for marketing purposes;
- We do not use the personal information we hold in connection with the tutoring service to profile pupils or tutors or permit anyone else to do so;
- All of the learner personal information given to us or generated in the course of someone using the tutoring service is stored in the UK or in the EU and is not transferred to other jurisdictions;
- All online tutoring sessions are recorded for safeguarding purpose for at least 6 months or until the end of the programme (whichever is longer) and after that time has passed schools have the ability to delete those recordings and other information held in connection with their pupils; and
- We do not rely on machine learning or artificial intelligence to make significant decisions about pupils or their interaction with the tutoring service, but we do use it to provide you with a service which you can get the most out of by transcribing and indexing your tutoring sessions so that you can easily search them afterwards for specific sections or information.
Please note that we may use anonymised data which cannot be linked to you for research purposes and to improve our services, but we will not be able to link that information to anyone who participates in the tutoring service. If any user of the service (or their parents) have questions about the way in which the tutoring service uses personal information they should contact the school which retained the service in the first instance. However, Pearson will comply fully with any requests from schools to assist with such queries.
Contact Details
Should you have any queries or questions regarding use of your data please contact:
Department for Education (DfE)
Data Controller
Name of contact: James Stewart
Tel: 0300 373 0891
Email: james.stewart@education.gov.uk
Tribal Education Limited
Data Processor
Name of contact: Matt Davis
Tel: 0330 016 4000
Email: matt.davis@tribalgroup.com