Early childhood services and schools must be reasonable and fair in their treatment of personal and health information. This includes child assessments such as the Transition Learning and Development Statement (TLDS).
Privacy requirements
Privacy laws provide a guide to handling information. All early childhood education and care services (including outside school hours care services) are also required under national law and regulation to have a policy that outlines how the service ensures privacy in the treatment of personal information.
Privacy policies are required to adhere to relevant Commonwealth and/or state privacy legislation to ensure service practice aligns with community expectation and legal requirements. Privacy policies outline how services can collect, use, retain, secure and dispose of personal and health information, such as child assessments, including the TLDS
When considering privacy issues, it is important for early childhood services and schools to consider the following requirements:
- Collect: obtain only the information that is needed and be clear about the purpose for which it is being collected
- Inform: tell the person why the information is needed and how it will be handled
- Disclose: disclose the information only as necessary for the primary purpose of collection
- Access: provide the person with access to their information on request, unless there are concerns that information contained in the files could cause harm to the individual or others
- Security: keep personal information secure and safe from unauthorised access.
Guide to information sharing
For guidance on collecting and sharing information, see:
- Transition to school: guide to information sharing (PDF, 207 KB)(opens in a new window)
- Transition to school: guide to information sharing (DOCX, 115 KB)(opens in a new window)
- Online TLDS: quick guide to information sharing (PDF, 128 KB)(opens in a new window)
- Online TLDS: quick guide to information sharing (DOCX, 130 KB)
Frequently asked questions
For answers to common questions regarding collecting and sharing information to support a child's transition to school, see:
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