Privacy Notice for the Evaluation of the mentor training programme

In this privacy notice, we explain the legal basis for the collection and processing of data throughout the delivery of the evaluation of the Mentoring Professional Development Programme. This includes who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored and deleted and who you can contact if you have a query or a complaint.

Who we are

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF), on behalf of the Department for Education, is commissioning a programme of work that focuses on developing high quality mentoring training to support teachers from the early career point onwards to grow and progress within the sector in order to improve the retention of new practitioners entering the sector.

The overall aims of this programme are to improve the quality of mentoring for practitioners in the Further Education (FE) sector and to increase the effectiveness of the support offered to mentees.

Evaluation aims

The ETF has commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) to carry out an evaluation of the mentor training programme.

The evaluation is seeking to:

■       Understand the perceptions of participants, their mentees and senior leaders on the impact of the training

■       Assess the effectiveness of the training in improving the knowledge, skills and practice of mentors.

How we will use your information

For the purpose of this project, IES will receive your personal data via participant surveys and interviews.

For the surveys: A short survey will be shared to collect and capture feedback on mentors participating in the range of training programme, and mentees that have been supported by the mentor training participants. The ETF, as host of the survey, and DfE as data controllers will have access to survey responses. Your data will only be used for research purposes.

For the interviews: IES will be conducting optional follow-up interviews with a sampled number of voluntary participants. If you are invited and choose to take part in an interview, the data you give will be used for research purposes only. IES is undertaking interviews with mentors who have participated in the mentoring skills training; with grant leads / senior leadership colleagues of the mentors; and interviews with staff from the training delivery organisation.

In March 2022, IES will produce a report that summarises the main findings from all research activities. Individuals will not be named, nor will any information be included that could reveal their identity.

The nature of your personal data we will be using

You will be asked to agree to take part in one or more of these research activities. You will be asked to provide information about your job and organisation, along with your views on how the delivery of the mentoring skills professional development programme has had an impact on your role.

The categories of personal data that we will be using for this project are:

-       First and last Name*

-       Email address*

-       Organisation name

-       Job title/role

-       Organisation type

-       Employment type

-       Highest teaching qualification

-       Qualitative date on years spend teaching

-       Whether a ring-fenced place was secured

At the end of the survey, participants will have the option to provide their full name and email address and agree to being contacted for an interview.

Why our use of your personal data is lawful

In order for our use of your personal data to be lawful, we need to meet one (or more) conditions in the data protection legislation.

For the purpose of this offer, the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. The legal basis for processing data can be found under Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation where “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the [data] controller.”

For the purpose of data protection legislation, the Department for Education (DfE) is the data controller. The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is working under a DfE grant agreement to deliver this offer. Any data collected by ETF will be processed on behalf of the DfE. Any third-party suppliers (‘Delivery Partners’), who ETF commission to process data on our behalf will be sub-processors.

More information about how the DfE handles personal information is published here

A copy of the ETF’s Privacy Policy can also be seen here, where ETF explain in full how they collect, manage, use and protect your personal data.

Who we will make your personal data available to

We sometimes need to make personal data available to other organisations. These might include contracted partners (who we have employed to process your personal data on our behalf) and/or other organisations (with whom we need to share your personal data for specific purposes).

Where we need to share your personal data with others, we ensure that this data sharing complies with data protection legislation. For the purpose of this offer:

All data will be processed by IES staff in the UK. No third parties outside of The Institute for Employment Studies will have access to your personal data.

How long we will keep your personal data

1: As stated within DfE’s personal information charter, the Department for Education will only keep your information for as long as necessary, after which point it will be securely destroyed. There are circumstances where DfE may need to keep your information indefinitely for research and statistical purposes. DfE have measures to safeguard this information.

2: The ETF have robust data protection policies and procedures in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data. ETF will retain your personal data until the completion of the programme to evaluate and measure the impact of the offer. At the end of this specified retention period ETF will dispose of your data securely. Please see the ETF Privacy and cookie policy for further information (Privacy and Cookie Policy - The Education and Training Foundation (et-foundation.co.uk))

3: The ETF will complete due diligence on third parties they ask to process data on our behalf. As part of their contract management processes, subcontracted partners will retain your personal data for the minimum required time to complete their contractual requirements.

   3.1 ETF will be using Customer Voice to collect participant feedback as part of the evaluation. All personal/identifiable data will be destroyed five months after the research has been completed.

  4.1 Your personal information will be securely deleted from the IES systems five months after the project is complete and the final report has been published (the project is currently estimated to end in March 2022).

Your data protection rights

More information about how the DfE handles personal information is published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/personal-information-charter

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask if DfE hold information relating to you and ask for a copy, by making a ‘subject access request’.

For further information and how to request your data, please use the ‘contact form’ in the Personal Information Charter at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/personal-information-charter
under the ‘How to find out what personal information we hold about you’ section.

Further information about your data protection rights appears on the Information Commissioner’s website at: Individual rights | ICO.

Contact Information

Who can I contact with a query about how my data will be used?

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact  Suzanne.Anderson@employment-studies.co.uk data protection adviser at IES, or email melissa.ruxton@etfoundation.co.uk with the subject “For the attention of the ETF Data Protection Lead”.

If you have any questions for DfE about how your personal information will be used, please contact DfE at https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe. For the Data Protection Officer (DPO) please contact DfE via gov.uk and mark it for the attention of the ‘DPO’.

Who can I contact if I would like to withdraw my interview data?

You have the right to withdraw the information you have provided as part of the interviews or survey research within (14) days of the date when it was collected. After this date the information will have been anonymised and analysed alongside other responses, and therefore cannot be attributed to an individual. If you have taken part in the research but would like your data withdrawn, please contact: joy.williams@employment-studies.co.uk.

Who can I contact with a complaint?

In line with the ETF’s Complaints Policy and Procedure, you can make a complaint at complaints@etfoundation.co.uk. Under UK GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at  https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Last updated

We may need to update this privacy notice periodically so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time. This version was last updated on 05/01/2022.