Thanks to the European Commission’s eTwinning programme, teachers can work together on joint projects over the internet. This raises legal questions, which we are attempting to answer on behalf of the Pedagogical Exchange Service, for the KMK.
Teachers at schools from pre-school institutions to vocational training colleges can network with other classes over the eTwinning platform, to exchange ideas and learn from each other. In Germany alone, over 7,500 schools are making use of this opportunity.
Where two or more classes are registered for the same project, they have access to what is called the TwinSpace, a closed workspace similar to an online classroom. But what teaching materials does copyright law allow them to upload? How do personal rights need to be respected? What do users need to bear in mind when it comes to data protection law? For these and other legal questions, the iRights.Lab got together with the KMK Educational Exchange Service (Pädagogischen Austauschdienst) and has provided extensive answers.
Because teachers are in general not trained as lawyers, particular emphasis has been placed on making the answer texts comprehensible to the general reader. The aim is that this will make teachers feel taken by the hand so that they do not worry about doing something “wrong”.