Technology in school/nursery's as teacher

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

sg_eg

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent
Hi my daughter is type 1 and has libre 2 and pump. She has finished college and trying to find her first job in a school or nursery. She needs her phone and pdm with her at all times and carries in a bum bag, does not use or take out infront of children but this still gets questioned due to safeguarding which we understand but its very fustrating for a young adult who wants to start a career working schools.


Does anyone have any advice or have been in this situation where work is not allowing phones?


Thank you for your help
 
Try speaking to the Diabetes UK Helpline next week? - can't be the first time this has happened, if it really is a safeguarding concern generally.
 
I’ve worked in schools over the years and there are a number of teachers here. The questions are probably due to ignorance frankly. She needs to speak up and explain these are being used as medical devices. I suppose she could get a Libre reader if that would help.

Type 1 is covered by the Disability Discrimination Act and they have to make reasonable adjustments.
 
Thank you for your response. Like you say the questions are about ignorance and probably being the first person going to work with them with type 1 but it's so heart breaking and fustrating for her. In work placement and now in an interview she has been told that they will have to check if she is allowed to have a phone with her. At her work placement she was finally allowed after a meeting with manager and explaning how it all works but she going through it all over again in interviews it's not fair.
Don't have a libre 2 reader but will have to look into that.

Thank you for your advice. All new to us been diagnosed 2 years ago and still adjusting.
 
sg_eg said:
Thank you for your response. Like you say the questions are about ignorance and probably being the first person going to work with them with type 1 but it's so heart breaking and fustrating for her. In work placement and now in an interview she has been told that they will have to check if she is allowed to have a phone with her. At her work placement she was finally allowed after a meeting with manager and explaning how it all works but she going through it all over again in interviews it's not fair.
Don't have a libre 2 reader but will have to look into that.

Thank you for your advice. All new to us been diagnosed 2 years ago and still adjusting.
Click to expand...

I've worked in places where any recorder, camera, or smart device simply wasn't allowed.
It could be a valid issue at times, as technology advances no doubt there will be a ruling on it eventually.
 
sg_eg said:
Thank you for your response. Like you say the questions are about ignorance and probably being the first person going to work with them with type 1 but it's so heart breaking and fustrating for her. In work placement and now in an interview she has been told that they will have to check if she is allowed to have a phone with her. At her work placement she was finally allowed after a meeting with manager and explaning how it all works but she going through it all over again in interviews it's not fair.
Don't have a libre 2 reader but will have to look into that.

Thank you for your advice. All new to us been diagnosed 2 years ago and still adjusting.
Click to expand...

Get a letter from her diabetes clinic to explain why she needs phone apps to help manage her diabetes, many of us have or had one explaining why we need to carry medical supplies at airports.
 
sg_eg said:
Thank you for your response. Like you say the questions are about ignorance and probably being the first person going to work with them with type 1 but it's so heart breaking and fustrating for her. In work placement and now in an interview she has been told that they will have to check if she is allowed to have a phone with her. At her work placement she was finally allowed after a meeting with manager and explaning how it all works but she going through it all over again in interviews it's not fair.
Don't have a libre 2 reader but will have to look into that.

Thank you for your advice. All new to us been diagnosed 2 years ago and still adjusting.
Click to expand...
I was teaching when diagnosed but that was before sensors were around.

I was in a secondary school but tested and injected in my class room before lunch. I wanted to pre-bolus for lunch, and the break would not be long enough to do that and wait before eating.
As I taught Maths I used to work out my bolus from my ratio with the class.

You should not need to discuss the reasonable adjustments that they will need to make during an interview for a job, but would need to have this discussion once you have a job. They are then required to make reasonable adjustments, which is likely to include letting you have your phone with you.

I know in some schools they ask staff not to have their phones with them, which is understandable but where I was later visiting schools I just explained why I needed mine with me and there was no problem.

Certainly worth a call to the help line for clarification. There are other teachers on here who have made their own arrangements about managing their T1. Come back with other questions and we will Help where we can.
 
SB2015 said:
I was teaching when diagnosed but that was before sensors were around.

I was in a secondary school but tested and injected in my class room before lunch. I wanted to pre-bolus for lunch, and the break would not be long enough to do that and wait before eating.
As I taught Maths I used to work out my bolus from my ratio with the class.

You should not need to discuss the reasonable adjustments that they will need to make during an interview for a job, but would need to have this discussion once you have a job. They are then required to make reasonable adjustments, which is likely to include letting you have your phone with you.

I know in some schools they ask staff not to have their phones with them, which is understandable but where I was later visiting schools I just explained why I needed mine with me and there was no problem.

Certainly worth a call to the help line for clarification. There are other teachers on here who have made their own arrangements about managing their T1. Come back with other questions and we will Help where we can.
Click to expand...

You should have been escorted.

Does the The Equality Act 2010 trump the General Data Protection Regulation?
Does it trump child protection and safeguarding?

Is it a "reasonable adjustment" to allow a member of staff to bring photographic and video recording devices into a nursery or school, contrary to policy all the parents have been made aware of, and have signed, or refused, permission for their own child to be officially photographed?

It will be very career limiting if just one parent makes a complaint a member of staff had their own personal phone out, possibly photographing children against their instructions.

Why not simply allow the phone to be kept and accessed in a child free area, not on the person working in the children's zone?
 
If the phone is her CGM readout then she needs it with her, not in another room.

I work in a primary school, we aren’t supposed to have phones with us but I have a daughter with many medical issues and sometimes I’m the only person who can be contacted in an emergency (her dad travels a lot with his job and we have no other family close enough to be able to step in). So I keep the phone with me in my pocket on silent and don’t answer it unless it’s a phone call from her school. Other staff are aware of this and don’t have a problem. The rules are clear that you don’t use personal phones to film or take pictures of the children, and I have no intention of doing that anyway. Nobody has ever checked my phone but I’d let them if they thought they needed to.

When my daughter was lower down the school I used to bring a video camera in to film the Nativity plays etc that she was in, nobody cared then! They did start to make announcements that you should not post any footage on social media (I don’t even do social media apart from this forum), but there was no way they could police it really. I guess the rules have changed since then
 
2016 in fact.
The nativity is in a public area by definition, as the public have access.
A bit grey as they often have conditional access.

As to your offer to let them check, you don't have a choice to refuse.
Worst case if you are subject to a police complaint by a parent, you'll be cautioned and it'll be forensically examined.
 
Bit difficult to have a complaint when I never get it out in front of the children, if it rings I ignore it and check it as soon as I can at an apprpopriate moment away from them, and in the worst case they wouldn't find anything on it anyway
 
Sally71 said:
Bit difficult to have a complaint when I never get it out in front of the children, if it rings I ignore it and check it as soon as I can at an apprpopriate moment away from them, and in the worst case they wouldn't find anything on it anyway
Click to expand...

Ah well, I guess it will never happen to anyone then, we can all ignore it.
But you agree, they are prohibited, you take yours in against the terms and conditions of employment, you never take it put without excusing yourself and taking it to a private location.

So what advantage would the op have by always carrying the phone, if it was just used to check the CGM, bearing in mind the possible consequences?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Our kid’s primary schools always asked parents, firmly but politely, not to photograph or video nativity and similar performances.

I can see how upsetting and difficult this must be for you and your daughter @sg_eg - especially as she is still so newly diagnosed, and will still be adjusting.

It sounds like the best bet would be to discuss things with her employer once a job was secured, and in the light of the Equality Act (which came after DDA) and the ‘reasonable adjustments’ that requires of employers.

It may be that an exception will be granted, but there are workarounds if that isn’t possible due to school policy, such as using the Libre reader for scans/alarms which does not have the complications of camera/video.

I agree with @trophywench that calling the Diabetes UK Helpline (9-6, Mon-Fri) would be a good idea, to chat things through. The number is at the top of every forum page 🙂
 
Thank you for all your help and ideas. We have discovered that you can disable camera so for the meantime this is what she will do and will advise them of this.



She would never take her phone out infront of children and will go to a child free area to scan her sensor. Technology is great and the advances that have been made in diabetes is amazing but we now have to educate everyone else and do things responsibly. It's just fustrating for a young adult like my daughter who is already nervous of starting work and even an interview to have to explain her medical condition. She really wants to start her career in education let's hope she is given the chance and is successful.

Thank you for all your help.
 
sg_eg said:
Thank you for all your help and ideas. We have discovered that you can disable camera so for the meantime this is what she will do and will advise them of this.



She would never take her phone out infront of children and will go to a child free area to scan her sensor. Technology is great and the advances that have been made in diabetes is amazing but we now have to educate everyone else and do things responsibly. It's just fustrating for a young adult like my daughter who is already nervous of starting work and even an interview to have to explain her medical condition. She really wants to start her career in education let's hope she is given the chance and is successful.

Thank you for all your help.
Click to expand...

Suggest putting a contrasting coloured duct tape or insulating tape over it, so it's clearly not in use.
 
Hello I’m just wondering how your daughter has gone on with the libre at her nursery? I myself work in a nursery and at the start of employment (last year) was denied my phone for safeguarding reasons. My DSN emailed my manager who never responded to her. I was then pulled in the office and told “there is Noway you can have your phone it’s just not possible” I was very embarrassed and didn’t challenge them. I just said I’d go back to finger pricking on my glucose machine, as I didn’t want to be a nuisance. It’s only recently that I was made aware that diabetes is a disability and covered under the equality act.
I do believe nursery’s and school managers need educating in diabetes.
 
Hi everyone my daughter has been working in nursery now for 3 months all going well although she does still have to disable camera and is not allowed her phone with her but is keeping in the room she works in. The only problem is she does get alot of signal loss alarms which is annoying. With the new update to the libre 2 and becoming a cgm has meant she does not have to get her phone out to scan but we noticed today that she has gaps in her graph where it she has had signal loss and has not acted on it or being in range of the phone. This is something she will have to look at.
 
sg_eg said:
Hi everyone my daughter has been working in nursery now for 3 months all going well although she does still have to disable camera and is not allowed her phone with her but is keeping in the room she works in. The only problem is she does get alot of signal loss alarms which is annoying. With the new update to the libre 2 and becoming a cgm has meant she does not have to get her phone out to scan but we noticed today that she has gaps in her graph where it she has had signal loss and has not acted on it or being in range of the phone. This is something she will have to look at.
Click to expand...
She just needs to scan to fill in the last 8hrs of gaps
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top