Guidance

Initial teacher education (ITE) partnerships: Ofsted privacy notice

Updated 1 November 2024

Applies to England

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, a non-ministerial government department. We inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and inspect services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

Ofsted is the data controller for the personal data described in this notice.

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Why we process this personal data

Ofsted inspects and reports on all providers of programmes leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) for maintained schools. These programmes include initial teacher training and any in-service training of teachers. Ofsted inspects these providers under section 18B of the Education Act 1994.^{[footnote 1]}

Ofsted inspects and reports on programmes of further education (FE) teacher training validated by higher education institutions. This is provided for under sections 123(1) (h) and 126 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and regulation 3 of the Education and Inspections (Prescribed Education and Training etc.) Regulations 2007.

Ofsted also inspects and reports on all providers of programmes leading to early years teacher status (EYTS). These inspections are carried out under an arrangement made with the Department for Education under paragraph 9 (1) of Schedule 13 (Interaction with Other Authorities), of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

To help us carry out this work, we hold and process some information about trainees and their performance. It is necessary for us to use this information, the views of trainees, trainers, mentors, leaders, managers and employers and our inspectors’ observations to help us make judgements and report on the quality of initial teacher education (ITE) partnerships.

How we will use information about you

This section sets out how we will use data for different types of people.

I am a trainee in an initial teacher education partnership

We may collect information about you from your ITE partnership to help us prepare for and carry out inspections. We will also use this to help produce our official statistics, surveys and publications, analysis, research and insight.

During an inspection, inspectors will collect information about trainees’ qualifications, recruitment, how the partnership identifies their training needs and their current levels of achievement. Inspectors will do this by talking to trainees, trainers, mentors, leaders and managers, looking at recruitment, training and standards evidence and by recording observations of trainees’ training experiences.

Some of the information we get may make it possible to identify a particular individual. We will not publish any information that could do this in our report.

I work for an ITE partnership as a trainer or as part of its leadership and management team

Before inspection, we collect information annually about the partnership including the contact details of an individual or multiple individuals nominated by the partnership. While we encourage the use of generic email addresses, this can include direct email addresses and phone numbers. This data is used to contact the partnership and share information with them.

During inspection, inspectors will record evidence about a trainees’ teaching, the training that they observe and also what teachers, trainers and the provider’s leadership team tell them. We do not normally keep records of the names of teaching and/or training staff.

Any report we publish does not include the names of ITE partnership colleagues. Each report will comment directly on the effectiveness of leadership and management, the quality of training and the impact this has on trainees’ outcomes.

I am a mentor or leader in a setting, school or college involved in the ITE partnership or I am an employer of trainees from an ITE partnership

During inspection, inspectors will receive information about settings, schools, colleges and leaders and mentors, for example their name and contact details. They will use this information to talk to setting/school/college-based leaders and mentors about their experiences with the ITE partnership and trainees. Inspectors may record the views of setting/school/college-based colleagues, including mentors, to help them with the inspection.

Types of personal data that we might hold

We process a range of personal data because we inspect initial teacher education partnerships in England. In most cases, we do not record names. However, it may be possible for some people to be identified from the information we have recorded, either alone or in combination with other information.

The information we hold about trainees may include:

• trainee recruitment records
• academic qualifications
• trainees’ training needs, including transition documentation provided at the end of the initial teacher education
• reports on trainees’ performance in relation to the relevant professional standards
• past employment
• age
• date of birth
• start/completion dates
• ethnicity
• declared disability
• gender
• employment status

The information we hold about trainees may also include:

• observations made by inspectors during the inspection
• information provided to us from people giving us their views about the training, including information about safeguarding

The information we hold about leaders and mentors may include:

• names and contact details
• records of joint observations of teaching and feedback to trainees

Who we might share personal data with

In certain circumstances, the law lets us share personal data with the Department for Education, if it is connected with our work.

How long we keep personal data and how we decide this

We will initially keep inspection evidence for 6 months after completing an inspection for the purposes of quality assurance. This may be longer should there have been a complaint made about the inspection or if there is legal action about it. We will normally keep inspection evidence for a total of 6 years (including the initial 6 months) for the purpose of carrying out research and evaluation.

Where the personal data comes from

As well as information recorded by our inspectors, we will receive information from ITE partnerships about their trainees and about the partnership, including contact details.

We may also receive complaints about an ITE partnership through our telephone contact centre, emails, written correspondence, social media, online forms, referrals from other internal teams or from inspection.

The legal requirement to give us this information

Individuals and organisations do have legal requirements to provide information to Ofsted.

For inspections of qualified teacher status programmes, Ofsted has the right to inspect and take copies of any records kept by the training provider, and any other documents containing information relating to the training provider that are relevant to the inspection (section 18B (5) Education Act 1994).

For inspections of further education teacher training programmes, Ofsted has the power to require any person holding or accountable for any documents to produce them (section 132 Education and Inspections Act 2006). A person who, without a reasonable reason, fails to comply with a request may be guilty of an offence under section 132 (7) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

Your rights and contacting Ofsted

For more about your rights and how to get in touch with us about the information we hold, view the Ofsted personal information charter.

1. Paragraph 13 in Schedule 14 (Amendments Relating to the Training of The School Workforce) to the Education Act 2005 substitutes Section 18A of the Education Act 1994 with Sections 18B and 18C. ↩