Data protection & privacy

The General Teaching Council for England (GTC) is a data controller under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

The GTC processes personal data in order to fulfill its remit and legal obligations. Personal data is also processed for the purpose of keeping you informed of the progress of any GTC networks to which you may belong or any online forums in which you may participate. The data will not be passed to any third parties except those fulfilling a service on behalf of and under the express instructions of the GTC.

A full list of the GTC’s data processing purposes is available on the Public Register of Data Controllers.

This privacy policy only covers the GTC’s website at Statutory Instrument 2001 1268.

Information held about website users
With the exception of the registration systems, data submissions, employer access facility, email alerts, newsletters and the forum discussion facility, the GTC website does not store or capture the personal information of anyone using the site.

Information you provide will be held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. You should take care to keep private any username or password you use on this website.

You may cancel your subscription to any GTC online services at any time by logging in and amending your profile.

How data is used
The GTC may process your personal data for the purpose of research or statistical analysis in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. However, the results of any such research would not be made available in a form that allowed data subjects to be identified.

In common with almost all other websites, the GTC website logs the IP address of anyone accessing information on the site. (An IP address is something that all computers attached to the Internet have while they are online.) This information is stored in log files to help the GTC understand how the website is used so that its functions and content can be improved.

The log files do not contain information about individuals. They allow high-level information to be recorded, such as the total number of users who have visited the site in the last week, and broad trends to be observed from the cumulative data of many thousands of anonymous users.

The GTC website does not employ the use of permanent cookies on the website. The website does use session cookies which temporarily store your login status while you navigate around the main sites. These cookies are deleted when you log out or close your browser. These cookies are used only to enhance the user experience and to allow certain features to work properly.

Cookies are not used to collect user information from users for any other purpose. The GTC website can still be accessed if you decide to reject cookies, but if you do, some advanced features (such as the forums) may not be fully functional.