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Session 4. Data Protection, Child Safety and Talking with Parents
Objective. Map the data each AI tool would hold, apply data minimisation and retention rules, set a blame-free incident routine with a named lead, protect children from harmful content and misuse, and write a short parent letter in plain words with a real alternative.
Data protection and child safety are not obstacles to using AI. They are what allows parents to say yes. A school that can show what it collects, why, for how long and whom to call when something goes wrong earns a trust that no demonstration can buy. This lesson goes beyond the key ideas. It shows how to read a tool's terms for the few points that matter, how to teach pupils simple safe habits, and how to talk with parents so that a 'no' is respected.
Key ideas
Map the data before you approve a tool
- For each tool ask five things: what data goes in, who can see it, where it is stored, how long it is kept, and how it is deleted. Put the answers on one sheet, the data map.
- Data includes less obvious things: voice recordings of reading, photos of notebooks, writing samples, device identifiers and anything pupils type into a chat.
- UNESCO's guidance asks for protection of users' personal data and for schools to test tools for ethical and pedagogical suitability. Follow the national personal-data rules and ministry regulations that apply to you; ask your department if unsure.
Minimise, limit, delete
- Data minimisation: collect only what the task needs. A reading app needs a first name and class, not a phone number. If a vendor insists on more, ask why.
- Retention: a stated, short period after which data is deleted. Access: only named people, with their own accounts, never a shared password on a note.
- Young pupils: terms of many tools set minimum ages, and UNESCO guidance mentions age limits. Read each tool's terms for its age rule and plan teacher-led use with younger pupils.
Child safety beyond data
- Think of four risks: harmful or false content, contact with strangers, over-reliance or emotional dependence on a chatbot, and fake images or abuse of pupils' and teachers' pictures. UNICEF's guidance on AI and children and the UN General Comment No. 25 on the digital environment centre children's rights, safety and best interests.
- Name a safeguarding lead, put their name where pupils and teachers can see it, and make sure younger pupils use AI only with an adult present.
- Teach pupils two habits: tell an adult when something feels wrong, and never share a photo, address or phone number with a chatbot.
An incident routine and honest talk with parents
- Incidents will happen. A five-step routine: stop and secure, tell the named lead the same day, record facts without blame, inform affected families as school rules require, fix and learn. Blame teaches people to hide mistakes.
- Tell parents before use: what the tool does, why, what data, how long, who to ask, and what the alternative is if they say no. Write in Uzbek and Russian, in short sentences, with no technical terms.
- A choice is only real if saying no carries no penalty and the child still learns the same thing another way. TeachAI's toolkit includes communication resources for parents that you can adapt.
Four levels of care for what goes into AI tools
Reading the terms for five things
You do not need to read forty pages. Look for five points: what data is collected, including recordings, images and typed text; whether inputs are used to train models and whether that can be switched off; where data is stored and who can access it; how long it is kept and how it is deleted; and the minimum age. If the terms are unclear, treat the question as unanswered, ask in writing and file the reply.
Keep a one-page data map for every tool and update it when the vendor changes its terms. National personal-data rules and ministry regulations set binding requirements, so check yours with your department. This lesson is a planning guide, not legal advice, and a school should never rely on a vendor's promise alone.
Habits for pupils and a routine for staff
Teach pupils four habits: never share a name, address, phone number or photo with a chatbot; tell an adult if a reply frightens or confuses you; check important facts in the textbook; do not make pictures of real people without their permission. Younger pupils use AI only with an adult present and through teacher-led tasks.
For staff, keep one named lead, a one-page incident routine and a blame-free log. Repeat a short reminder each term with a real but anonymous example. UNICEF's guidance centres children's best interests and safety. A useful test for every use is: would I be comfortable if my own child used it this way, unsupervised?
Examples from the classroom
The unanswered question
Scene. Jasur, a methodist in Andijan, reads the terms of a reading app for Grades 3 to 5. They say pupils' voice recordings may be used to improve the product, and they do not say how long recordings are kept. He writes to the vendor and files the question. The reply comes after three weeks and is vague. The school does not use the app and uses printed passages with paired reading instead.
Insight. An unanswered data question is a 'not yet', and a paper alternative keeps learning going.
Stop, close, tell
Scene. After a fake picture of a teacher circulates in a Nukus school, Malika teaches her Grade 6 class a three-word habit: stop, close, tell. They practise with an invented example on paper, deciding what to do and whom to tell. The next month a pupil closes an upsetting message and shows it to the safeguarding lead the same day. Nobody is blamed for opening it.
Insight. Simple, practised habits protect children better than long warnings.
A no without a penalty
Scene. At a parents' meeting in Tashkent, Dilnoza explains in Uzbek and Russian that Grade 7 will use a teacher-led AI reading text tool, what data it uses and whom to ask. Three parents say no. She offers the same text on paper with the same questions, and says it will not affect marks. Two weeks later two of the three parents ask to join after seeing the work.
Insight. A real, penalty-free choice builds the trust that a mandatory rule cannot.
Common pitfalls
- Accepting 'we take privacy seriously' without answers to the five questions.
- Treating a free tool as free of data cost.
- Letting younger pupils use a chatbot alone because the tool says it is safe.
- Offering parents an opt-out that quietly lowers their child's marks or status.
Data Map, Incident and Parent Letter
- Open the Activity Kit: three SAMPLE tools with facts, three incidents and the parent letter frame (5 min).
- Pairs (15 min): complete a data map for each tool (data in, who sees it, retention, risk high/medium/low) and decide: use as is, use with conditions, or do not use.
- Pairs (15 min): for each incident write the five-step response, naming the lead, what is recorded and who is told. Mark where the school has no routine yet.
- Groups of four (10 min): compare. Agree one rule on young pupils (who may use AI, with whom) and one rule on pictures of pupils and teachers.
- Part B (12 min): write the parent letter on the frame: what, why, data, how long, who to ask, the alternative. Read it aloud to a partner who plays a worried parent and ask what is unclear.
- Alone (3 min): write your leadership task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which data item surprised you most as something a tool would hold?
- What did the 'worried parent' not understand in your letter?
- What stops a teacher in your school from reporting a mistake the same day?
Reflect
- Which tool already used in your school would fail a data map today?
- Who is your safeguarding lead, and would a pupil know it?
- How do you currently tell parents about new tools, and in which languages?
Try it tomorrow
- Read one tool's terms for the five points and write the answers on a half page.
- Teach one class a three-step habit for an upsetting message and practise it once with an invented example.
- Write the first two sentences of a parent letter in plain Uzbek or Russian and ask a parent if they are clear.
Further reading and links
Map the data, collect less, keep it short, delete it, name a lead, report without blame, and let families say no without penalty.