Parental social media policy

Recent legal advice in the UK suggests that WhatsApp is not GDPR-compliant for school-related parent WhatsApp groups. Use of WhatsApp groups can therefore put schools in a difficult position.

More info can be seen here.

Schools may wish to refer to their policy on parental use of school-related WhatsApp groups in their parental contract or social media policy.

Draft wording:

"Parents are not permitted to set up or act as group administrators for school-related social network groups (for example class or year WhatsApp groups) without specific authorisation from the school. Parents leading such groups are likely to qualify as data controllers under UK GDPR and will have legal responsibility for complying with UK data protection regulations. Platforms such as WhatsApp may not offer group administrators the tools needed for this, and often restrict users to “personal use” in their terms and conditions. Parents acting as group administrators may therefore be unable to comply with the law in the event of a data breach or other legal infringement. The school and parents at the school cannot be associated with social media groups which do not comply with basic data protection requirements and may put parent or pupil data at risk."