Senators approved “pedagogical secrecy” by analogy with medical

Diagnoses and family secrets are forbidden for teachers

The Committee on Science, Education and Culture of the Federation Council discussed the “pedagogical secret”, an analogue of medical secrets, only at school. The senators are proposing to ban teachers from giving anyone information about the health of students, as well as family secrets, including the secret of adoption, and other confidential information. The punishment for disclosure of such information will be administrative.

The idea to introduce pedagogical secrecy into schools was proposed by the Healthy Child group under the government council. Tatyana Batysheva, the head of the council, the chief freelance specialist in medical rehabilitation for children at the Ministry of Health, connected this proposal with the development of inclusion: children with disabilities should calmly study next to children without developmental disabilities.

“Pedagogical secrecy” will allow parents to trust the teacher more, the Supreme House of Parliament is convinced. Yes, and teachers innovation will not be superfluous. “The introduction of a “pedagogical secret” that prohibits education specialists from disclosing information about a child’s diagnosis or developmental features without parental consent will teach teachers and educators to comply with moral obligations,” said Igor Morozov, deputy chairman of the committee on science, education and culture of the Federation Council. And the chairman of the committee, Lilia Gumerova, emphasizes that for fear of publicity, parents often do not provide information that is critical for the health of the child to the school. “In order for the teacher to know the information, but be responsible for its disclosure, he must use this in pedagogical practice, building the correct methods for raising a child,” adds Gumerova.

– The idea is sound, but it requires a good regulatory and legal study, – says lawyer Stanislav Popov. – Although, formally, for the disclosure of confidential information, you can still attract a teacher, for “Violation of privacy.” But there is a small penalty. Only I immediately see a contradiction. Medical confidentiality is a federal law. And even if they accept this very “pedicure” and amend the law “On Education”, the school, as a third-party organization, will still not be able to know about the child’s medical characteristics. You can only if it is a special school, or for children with hearing or vision impairments. Even our psycho-medical-pedagogical commissions, from this point of view, are not particularly legal. Therefore, they are carried out not in schools, but in specialized centers, and the diagnoses are encrypted. On the other hand, similar laws with rather strict measures, such as the revocation of a teaching certificate with a ban on the profession, are in force in some EU countries. And they work there.

“The modern personal data protection system at school allows parents not to sign consent to the processing of personal data and not to provide any information about the family and the state of health or development of the child,” says the head teacher of the school from Moscow, primary school teacher Lidia Leonidova. “Sometimes this is abused by parents with children with developmental delays. Because at the PMPK they can give an incomplete health group, in general, home-based education is recommended. And, you know, parents are also different, with different levels of culture and education. I have had cases where epilepsy or diabetes in children was not reported to the school. Putting, therefore, at risk the life of his own child.

Psychologists and parent organizations give examples of bullying and even harassment of students at the suggestion of too frank and talkative teachers.

– Yes, I had cases when information at school “came out” from a teacher, says family and child psychologist Maryana Razumovskaya. – For example, my mother shared with a phono teacher at a music school that a girl has a speech delay, an immature nervous system, and she needs a separate approach. “This child is not for a music school, why did you come?” – immediately, in front of the child, the teacher said and ran to be indignant that they had brought a “defective student” to her. It was such that a boy at the age of 13 hid that he did not have a father, invented him and told him in class. And then the class teacher loudly declared: “Everyone will celebrate Father’s Day, even those who have an incomplete family.” And she listed the names of the “incomplete ones” … There was a completely egregious case when a girl shared information of an intimate nature with a young teacher, which she was embarrassed to tell even her parents about. The teacher told her colleagues, and two days later the whole school knew the secret of the girl. She suffered so much that she almost decided to commit suicide.