Your rights and duties at school
At school you have rights and duties. The school rules say what is allowed, the pupil council gives you a say, and your personal data is protected.
Why
May a teacher take your phone? And may they then also read your messages?
You spend a large part of your week at school. There are agreements there for everyone: for pupils, but also for teachers and the head.
When you know your rights and duties, you know what you can expect and what is expected of you. And you know how you can change something about your school yourself.
See it
Follow an idea on its journey: from your class, through the class representative and the pupil council, to the head teacher and back. Click a stop to see what happens there.
Description of the picture
A path through the school with five stops: the class, the class representative, the pupil council, the head teacher and the decision that comes back to all classes. A light bulb, the idea, moves from stop to stop.
Get it
Every school has school rules. They say what is and is not allowed, what happens if you break the rules, and how the school works. The rules apply to everyone at school. Your parents usually sign them when you enrol.
You have rights: you get an education, you may feel safe, you may give your opinion and tell your side of the story. You also have duties: arriving on time, doing your homework, following the school rules and treating others with respect. Rights and duties belong together.
You may have a say about your school. Each class can elect a class representative, who brings the class's ideas to the pupil council. The pupil council discusses pupils' proposals and presents them to the head teacher. The Convention on the Rights of the Child also says that children may give their opinion and must be heard.
You have a right to privacy. Your marks, your address and your photo are personal data. The school may only ask for the data it really needs and must protect it well. That is in the GDPR, the European privacy law, which has applied since 2018. For a recognisable photo of you on its website, the school asks permission.
Your phone belongs to your private life too. If the school rules say so, a teacher may take your phone during the lesson. But taking it is not the same as looking inside it: reading your messages is not simply allowed.
Rights and duties belong together. If you want to change something, take the route of having a say: your class, your class representative, the pupil council.
Worked example
Mira thinks there should be a water fountain in the playground. How can she get that idea to the head teacher?
Mira first discusses her idea with her classmates. Do they think it is a good idea too?
The class representative takes the idea to the pupil council.
The pupil council discusses it, works out a proposal and presents it to the head teacher.
The head teacher decides. The pupil council tells all classes the decision, even if it is no, and why.
- Answer
Through the class, the class representative and the pupil council, the proposal reaches the head teacher, who decides.
Do it
Choose a level. You get a new exercise every time, checked straight away.
Pitfalls
Wrong: If a teacher takes your phone, they may also read your messages.
Your messages belong to your private life. Taking a phone is not the same as looking inside it.
Right: The school rules can say your phone is taken, but reading your messages is not simply allowed.
Wrong: You may always share a photo of a classmate if you took it yourself.
A recognisable photo is personal data of that classmate, not of you.
Right: Always ask first whether the other person agrees before you share a photo.
Wrong: Having a say means the pupils decide.
Having a say means you may give your opinion and that it counts. The head teacher takes the decision for the whole school.
Right: The pupil council makes proposals and is heard. A good school explains why it does or does not follow a proposal.
In real life
- At the start of the school year you get the school rules. They say, for example, what you must do when you are ill.
- In many classes, pupils elect a class representative in September.
- The school website sometimes has photos of a sports day. For that the school asked permission.
- A pupil council can, for example, propose putting up more bike racks, after an idea from one class.
History
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on 20 November 1989. Among other things, it says that children may give their opinion and must be heard. The GDPR, the European privacy law, has applied since 2018.
At the table
Which school rule do you think is good, and which would you change? How would you go about making that proposal?
A question to talk about together, for parents and children. There is no wrong answer.