Keeping children safe in online classes
A practical safety checklist for online academies: consent, audio-only classes, contact rules, recordings, access and how to review concerns.
· 2 min read · By Shahi Techs
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Parents trust an online academy with their children’s time and attention. That trust needs more than good teaching. Here is a practical checklist you can start using today.
1. Collect the minimum information
Keep only what you need: the child’s name, age group, time zone and the guardian’s contact details. Do not collect photos, home addresses or school names unless you truly need them. Data you never collected can never be lost.
2. Get clear consent
Before a child is recorded or classes are reviewed, explain it to the guardian and ask for agreement. Write down who agreed, when, and what you told them. If a guardian says no, the child can still learn, but should not be recorded.
3. Prefer audio-only classes
Many academies do not need a camera. Audio, a shared book page and chat are enough for most lessons, and they remove a whole category of risk.
4. Keep all contact inside the academy
Teachers and students should communicate only through the academy’s own system, not through personal phone numbers or social media. Make this a written rule in the teacher’s contract, and explain it to families.
5. Teach teachers what is not acceptable
Write a short code of conduct: no private contact outside the academy, no requests for photos or personal details, no secrets with children, no harsh or humiliating language. Ask every teacher to read and accept it.
6. Decide who can hear recordings
Recordings are sensitive. Limit access to the owner and a few admins, store them privately, delete them after a fixed time, and keep a log of who opened them. Tell teachers that classes are recorded.
7. Review, do not just trust
Nobody can listen to every minute of every class. Spot checks help, and software can help more by flagging risky parts for a person to review. The key rule is that a human makes every decision. Software can miss things and can raise false alarms.
8. Have a plan for concerns
Decide in advance what you will do if something worrying is found: who is told, how the teacher is spoken to, how the family is informed, and when the matter is escalated. Write it down so you are not deciding under pressure.
9. Be open with parents
Tell parents what you record, why, who can access it and when it is deleted. Openness builds trust, and trust is what keeps families with your academy.