ECB

Taking the general principles as a starting point, the following guidelines deal with concrete aspects of collaboration between schools and business. Please also see the “Specialist guidance” section for more detailed information, if you need it.

Marketing and branding

It’s important that any marketing and branding practices are in line with the normally accepted industry standards or codes for the type of collaboration activity your organisation is participating in. Nothing should undermine parents’ or guardians’ guidance, or the pedagogical objectives of the activity or collaboration. Be aware, too, of the age of participants – and take into account the fact that children often do not understand properly the purpose of commercial advertising.

Respect for property and confidential information

All necessary measures should be put in place to protect confidential information that visitors to a site or school may get access to – either as part of the activity, or by accident or deliberate action; staff and visitors should be properly informed of these measures and trained where necessary.

Data protection and privacy

The combination of increasingly comprehensive legislation, along with the requirement of organisations to have up-to-date information, can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings on the issue of data protection. It is important for anyone involved in gathering or providing personal information to be aware of the basic issues.

Accepted information principles should always apply and compliance with all applicable legislation has to be ensured. The following points should be carefully considered and documented in a way which is easily understood by anyone involved:

• Specifying the purpose of the data collection
• Information on who the data controller is, where the file is located, what rights the data subject has, where and how he/she can exercise them
• Data should be up to date and exact. Obsolete and/or inaccurate data is useless
• Data minimisation – in other words, collecting only data that is necessary
• Retention period – the length of time the data will be kept for
• Consent policy – who consents to what and how, and the consequences, if any, of not consenting
• Data transfer – will the data be moved? To where and under what conditions?
• Security measures – how will the data be safeguarded?
• Data disposal – how will data be permanently erased or destroyed?
• Data protection, confidentiality agreements and contracts

Ensuring a safe environment

Activities must take place in a safe and healthy environment. This requires thorough preparation and effective communication between the school and the industrial partner. A safety briefing (along with appropriate documentation) needs to be provided beforehand and enforced throughout the activity.

Dealing with "breaches" of the code

It's the responsibility of each side in a collaboration to make sure that all participants respect the code. If things don't go to plan, however, mechanisms to provide feedback about the activity and to report any problem should be defined and be known to everyone.