Under consideration PE2181: Remove teachers’ ability to backdate and alter school records

Background information

Scottish schools use the SEEMiS application for school records. It’s essential and in the public interest that school records are accurate like other public systems of records such as the NHS or Police Scotland.

Teachers, unlike the police or NHS staff, are able to use functionality to alter a record after it was created. One of our members took a council to court to prove this, after the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman wrongly relied on school records our member knew had not been recorded contemporaneously. Following a court order he discovered that over 10 school records had been created and made to look like they had been recorded before alleged safeguarding failures caused significant harm to his child. We have since discovered that this has been going on for years.

A recent response from the Information Commissioner’s Office to a complaint we raised on this matter recognised that, in the above case, the council’s practice did not comply with data protection legislation. The practice is also open to abuse, a risk to children, and it must be stopped.