Privacy policy

Thank you for using Zen Educate!

This privacy policy sets out how Zen Educate Limited, trading as Zen Educate, uses and protects any information that you give us, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If you do not accept and agree with our privacy policy then you must not access or use Zen Educate or the service.

This notice applies to users of the Zen Educate service. This notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services. It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information.

When this policy mentions “Zen Educate,” “we,” “us,” or “our,” it refers to Zen Educate Limited — the company that is responsible for your information under this Privacy Policy (the “data controller”). Zen Educate is a "data controller". This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.

Zen Educate is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy. Our Data Protection Officer is Jonathan Hey and can be reached at dpo@zeneducate.com.

Zen Educate may change this policy at any time. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

Data protection principles

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way
Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes
Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes
Accurate and kept up to date
Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about
Kept securely

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

Identity information including, for example, name and date of birth and a photo of you so you can be recognised by schools you work at and legally required safeguarding checks in order to work with children can be conducted
Contact information such as phone number and email address
Demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
Education information including degrees completed and qualifications earned
Work experience including job title, employment history and areas of expertise
Information provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service to help make safe recruitment decisions for schools
Emergency contact information such as names, relationship, phone numbers and email addresses
Financial information, for example, your bank details so that you can be paid
Information related to the coronavirus pandemic such as whether you have symptoms, have recently tested positive or are required to self-isolate and cannot attend a booking
Information about how you use our service, for example, which of the pages you visit
Device information such as browser or operating system, or if you use a Zen Educate mobile app
Usage information such as how you tap or scroll, which can help distinguish humans from bots and detect fraud
Other information as required in providing our services

Where we work with schools to provide services that require monitoring of pupil attendance and performance data we may collect:

Personal information such as name, pupil number, date of birth, gender and contact information
Attendance details, such as which sessions were attended, absences, and reasons for absence

How we collect your personal information

We collect personal information about our users through the application and recruitment process and through the website where you provide information directly yourself.

In order to teach through Zen Educate we will collect additional information from former employers including two references as standard so that we can carry out necessary background checks.

Where we hold pupil data to provide specific services to schools this will typically be entered by school representatives or uploaded by employees of Zen Educate after being provided in a secure manner by school representatives, and at times entered by staff teaching through Zen Educate, for example, when recording attendance of a session that they taught.

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and for our legitimate interests in providing you with our service, and in addition for the following reasons:

Legally required safeguarding checks in order to work with children.
Internal record keeping.
Sharing with schools who are looking for cover, as is required both for them to assess you are a good fit and to ensure all appropriate safeguarding checks are in place.
To provide educational or tutoring services.
Assessing performance.
Safeguarding pupils' welfare and providing appropriate pastoral care.
Enabling relevant authorities to monitor performance. For example, where data is collected as part of fulfilling our obligations for a government program such as the National Tutoring Programme we will be required to share specific data with the administrators of the program and approved third parties such as, for example:

pupil data such as a pupil’s name, age or date of birth and year group
Special Educational Needs status
pupil’s eligibility for Pupil Premium
tutor data: tutor’s name, highest qualification and email address
pupil’s attendance record and pupil progress and attainment
tutor to pupil ratio
type of delivery such as face-to-face or online

We may use the information to improve our products and services.
If you provide specific consent, we may periodically send promotional messages about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting.
From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you via standard means for market research purposes.
We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.
We will also send customer data to other providers with whom Zen Educate has a legal relationship, so that we can conduct our business efficiently and analyse the impact of our products and services. This is explained in more detail below.

Zen Educate will not sell any confidential customer data to third parties.

Zen Educate uses tools and services provided by other companies to assist in providing our services. Where the company we engage has or potentially will have access to or process data, which may include personal data, we call these subprocessors. These providers have limited access to your information to perform tasks on our behalf, and are contractually bound to protect and to use it only for the purposes for which it was disclosed and consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Examples of the sorts of subprocessors and tools we use are provided below.

Communication and support tools, such as Intercom or Google Workspace, so that we can resolve issues and work effectively.
Storage tools, such as Amazon S3 or Cloudinary, so that, for example, we can securely store, retrieve and share documents and information you provide.
Mapping and location tools, such as TravelTime and Google Maps, so that, for example, we can show you directions and locations relevant to you and calculate travel times. In particular, parts of the Zen Educate Platform use Google Maps/Earth services, including the Google Maps API(s). Use of Google Maps/Earth is subject to Google Maps/Earth Additional Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy.
Analytics tools, such as Heap Analytics and Trevor.io, so that, for example, we can understand the usage of our service and work to improve it.
Advertising tools, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads, so that, for example, we can monitor and understand the effectiveness of our advertising.
Automation tools, such as Zapier, so that, for example, we can configure integrations between the different services we use.
Data gathering tools, such as Hotjar, so that, for example, we can ask you in convenient and simple ways for information and your feedback.
Phone systems and call recording systems, such as Aircall, so that, for example, we can record evidence of business exchanges, ensure the business is compliant with regulatory obligations such as Safer Recruitment Practices in Education (Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance), and ensure standards are met by personnel in the course of their duties.
Experimentation tools, such as Optimizely, so that, for example, we can present different information or features to different people to determine which is better.
Verification tools, such as Onfido, so that, for example, we can conduct checks to verify your identity or access the disclosure and barring service for safeguarding purposes.
Messaging tools, such as Twilio and Mailgun, so that, for example, we can send you text messages or emails about new work, changes in work or updates about our service.
Billing and payroll tools, such as Xero, so that, for example, we can pay you and we can invoice schools.
Image processing tools, such as Cloudinary, so that, for example, we can optimise, crop or resize any photos you may provide to represent you.
Automated decision-making tools so that, for example, we can provide relevant matches of work between schools and candidates.
Technical tools such as logging services, so that, we can effectively diagnose errors or issues with our service.
Deployment and hosting tools, such as Heroku and Netlify, so that, we can provide you with our online service and ensure its reliability.

As we improve and develop our service we may find more uses of other providers that process your data in a way that benefits you — such as content delivery networks, or payment processing providers — in so far as it improves our service to you.

What do we do to keep your information secure

We have put in place appropriate physical and technical measures to safeguard your personal information. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. When we use service providers to assist us in processing your personal information, we have written contracts in place with such service providers which means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it.

However, please note that although we take appropriate steps to protect your personal Information, no website or transmission of data, computer system or wireless connection is completely secure and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of your personal Information. We have established and implemented procedures to deal with any suspected personal information breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

International transfer of your personal information

The personal information that we collect from you may be stored and processed in your region, or transferred to, stored at or otherwise processed outside the UK or the European Economic Area ("UK/EEA").

By using the the Zen Educate Platform and/or providing us with your personal information, you acknowledge that we will collect, transfer, store and process your information outside the UK/EEA. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal Information is kept secure and treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When we transfer your personal information outside the UK/EEA to third parties, we will ensure that appropriate transfer agreements and mechanisms, such as the relevant Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC), are in place to help ensure that our third party service providers provide an adequate level of protection to your personal information. We review the security measures by which data flows to and from the UK/EEA to non-UK/EEA countries (for instance, making sure your personal information can only pass in an encrypted format). We will only transfer your personal information outside the UK/EEA in accordance with applicable laws or where you have given us your consent to do so, where required by Data Protection Law. For more information about the security measures we use contact dpo@zeneducate.com.

We may transfer your personal information outside the UK/EEA:

In order to store it.
In order to enable us to provide goods or services to you and fulfil our contract with you. This includes processing of payment details or the provision of support services.
Where we are legally required to do so.

We do not need your consent to process your personal data in order to perform our contractual obligations to you. In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain data or particularly sensitive data. If we do so, we will provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent. You should be aware that it is not a condition of your contract with us that you agree to any request for consent for sensitive data from us.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file that is placed on your web browsing device’s hard drive. Most modern web browsers accept cookies by default. However, you can usually configure your web browser to accept or decline cookies from some or all websites if you prefer. Cookies are often used to improve your experience, for example, by remembering some information for your next visit so that content can be better personalised to you, or to save you from re-entering information. Consequently, declining cookies may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website and in some cases certain parts of the site may not work as expected.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs.

At times we experiment with the content on our site and may present different content or a different experience to different users. Cookies help us with this website personalisation by helping keep track of what content you should see.

We also use cookies to track campaigns from banner advertisements and opt-in emails. We may use third-party providers to help us determine which of our advertisements are most likely to be of interest to you. These providers may use behavioural information, such as how you navigate the internet, to provide relevant advertisements to you. These providers may have cookies of their own, over which we have no control, to operate their services.

In some cases, we may also use tracking pixels from these companies. Tracking pixels may be used to send data about your visit to our website, such as which pages you viewed as well as if you followed a specific advertisement to visit our site. We use this information to understand, for example, the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website and a more cost-effective service. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer.

Security recommendations

There is also a lot that you can do to help us keep your account and personal information safe, particularly if you are accessing the Zen Educate website or app using a mobile device. We recommend that you take the following actions:

Password and security details

Use a strong password when setting up your account — ideally one that is long and not easily guessable. Avoid reusing the same password for different services. Using password managers can help with this. Do not give your device security details, including any passwords or passcodes, to anyone else and don't store them on your device. Get in touch with us as soon as possible if you feel someone may know your login details or if you lose your device. We recommend resetting your password immediately as a precaution.

For added security, we recommend you should set up a passcode to access your mobile device. This option can usually be found under the Settings menu on your device.

Mobile devices

Don't leave your device unattended when logged on and watch out for people looking over your shoulder. Think carefully before jail-breaking or rooting your device. We advise against doing this as it may weaken the security of your device and expose you to additional risks.

If possible, keep your device’s operating system updated with the latest security patches and upgrades. Older software may have security vulnerabilities that could expose you to additional risks.

When we contact you

We will never contact you to ask you to disclose your security credentials. Be cautious about opening links contained in SMS messages or emails that you do not recognize and beware of phishing scams.

App store

Only download mobile apps from official app stores.

Mobile notifications

If you receive notifications on your device, please be vigilant about who might be able to view the notifications when they appear on your device lock screen.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site we do not have any control over other websites. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting these sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Your data protection rights

Zen Educate would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:

Accessing your data

You have the right to request Zen Educate for copies of your personal data. We can provide the data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information, or to exercise any of your other rights, however, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

Making changes to your data

If the data we hold about you is out of date or incorrect, in many cases you will be able to correct it directly yourself online. You also have the right to contact us to update and correct it. Please contact us and we will work to make appropriate changes.

Restricting the processing of your data

You have the right to request Zen Educate to restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

Objecting to the processing of your data

You have the right to object to Zen Educate’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

Transferring your data

You have the right to request that Zen Educate transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

Deleting your data

We generally retain your personal information for as long as is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us and to comply with our legal obligations. Details of work completed through Zen Educate will be kept for at least 6 years. If you no longer want us to use your information to provide the Zen Educate platform to you, you can request that we erase your personal information and close your Zen Educate account.

If you request the erasure of your personal information:

We may retain some of your personal information as necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud detection and prevention and enhancing safety. For example, if we suspend a Zen Educate account for fraud or safety reasons, we may retain certain information from that account to prevent that member from opening a new Zen Educate account in the future.
We may retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example, with regard to safeguarding information for schools, maintaining a record of work history and for tax, legal reporting and auditing obligations.
Information you have shared with others (e.g., Reviews, forum postings) may continue to be publicly visible on the Zen Educate Platform, even after your Zen Educate account is cancelled. However, attribution of such information to you will be removed. Additionally, some copies of your information (e.g., log records) may remain in our database.
Because we maintain the Zen Educate platform to protect from accidental or malicious loss and destruction, residual copies of your personal information may not be removed from our backup systems for a limited period of time.

We may ask you to verify your identity before taking further action on requests such as those listed above.

If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

You may send data requests for any of the above purposes to our data protection officer at dpo@zeneducate.com or by emailing customer support at support@zeneducate.com.

We will not sell, distribute or lease personal information to third parties unless we are either providing safeguarding information to schools that have booked a particular teacher, have permission to do so, or are required by law to do so.

Users visiting the Zen Educate website or contacting its owners do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use. Every effort has been made to ensure safe and secure data submission processes but we advise users that they do so at their own risk.

Valid from 25th January 2023