News
Big Brother
Concern has been expressed about a trial being carried out at a Doncaster secondary school where pupils' records are embedded in their school uniforms.
The devise enables teachers to access such records as they enter the classroom. However, it cannot be used outside the classroom and therefore cannot be used as a tracking device.
Critics do not see why such a device is necessary and what can be achieved that conventional methods fail to deliver.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is keen to promote the use of electronic registration in schools because of its benefits in efficiently monitoring pupils' attendance.
But a DCSF spokesman said: "When we talk about electronic registration we mean teachers using networked computers to log attendance on a schools database this helps with safety, security and reducing truancy.
"This does not mean schools logging every detail of every pupil via covert means."
It remains to be seen whether the trial is rolled out to other schools in the future.
