Schools and businesses snub electronic student database

Only a third of schools and businesses back plans to make student attainment records available online, according to Select Educationís new research.

The survey, conducted amongst schools, further education colleges and businesses, revealed that over 60% of respondents do not attribute importance to prospective employers being able to access student records online to check qualifications.

Amongst businesses, opinion was divided according to job roles. Those with a human resources responsibility were more open to the importance of the database (47%), compared with only 28% of their non-HR colleagues.

The nominal support for the database, which will feature a ëtamper proof CVí for all secondary school students, may be owing to worries surrounding the security of the information it will store. The majority of schools staff (60%) were concerned that such an electronic database could comprise the personal security of millions of school students. Interestingly, the biggest security fears came from the further education sector, with 72% of respondents highlighting concerns.

Peter Flannery, managing director at Select Education comments, ìIt is imperative for the student database to have buy-in from both schools and potential employers in order to make it a success. Without this support, as the research suggests, it will make little difference for those on the database, failing to realise its ultimate aim of providing a useful tool for the recruitment process.

ìSecurity is clearly a major concern when dealing with vast amounts of data, as is reflected in the recent Deloitte report on the ContactPoint system. Reassurances need to be made about the precautions taken to protect the data in order to gain confidence of both schools and businesses and make the scheme a success.

ìThe database also raises concerns for the future, including what information will be included and who will have access to it. Whilst based on attainment records at this point, will we see behavioural and pastoral records stored too? This could be cause for serious concern amongst the school community, with individuals not being judged on current merit but labelled on their past.î