Privacy Statement

The ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to protecting personal privacy. Our full Privacy Policy can be found here. This statement also addresses collection, use, security of, and access to information that may be obtained through the use of the ACT Teacher Quality Institute website. This notice covers the following topics:

• Privacy Act
  • TPP5 - Notification of collection of personal information
• TQI Act
  • Disclosure of personal information
• Mutual Recognition Act
• Information collected via our website
  • Purpose for collecting this information and use of information
  • Other privacy issues:
    • Cookies
    • Google Analytics
    • Security
    • Disclaimer for external links
• Contact Details

Privacy Act

The ACT Teacher Quality Institute website complies with the requirements for ACT Government websites namely the ACT Information Privacy Act 2014.

The Information Privacy Act 2014 gives rights to individuals in relation to how personal information is handled by ACT government agencies. ACT government agencies must comply with the Territory Privacy Principles (TPPs) set out in the Information Privacy Act 2014.

Information Privacy Act 2014: Territory Privacy Principle 5 - Notification of collection of personal information

ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) notice of collection of personal information

TQI will handle your information openly, transparently and in accordance with the Territory Privacy Principles set out in the Information Privacy Act 2014.

The collection, use and disclosure of personal information is authorised under the ACT Teacher Quality Institute Act 2010 (TQI Act). TQI will generally not use or disclose your personal information for another purpose without your consent.

Section 42 of the TQI Act provides that TQI must keep a register of teachers. Section 43 of the TQI Act further provides the details of the personal information that will be kept on the register. Part 6A of the TQI Act provides that TQI must keep a register of Pre-service Teachers. Section 70I of the TQI Act provides the details of the personal information that will be kept on the register.

We explain in more detail how we collect, use, disclose and store your personal information and how you can access and correct any inaccuracies in our privacy policy. Our privacy policy is available on request.

Privacy information specific to website visitors is available below.

Collection of personal information is primarily online but information may also be collected by email, mail, fax, telephone, face to face and printed documents. Your personal information will be collected and used for the following purposes:

Pre-service Teacher approval, and the register of Pre-service Teachers

• Assessment and management of your initial Pre-service Teacher approval and ongoing approval
• Administration of the pre-service teacher’s professional experience
• Maintenance of the Register of Pre-service Teachers

Teacher registration, permit to teach and certification applications

• Assessment and management of your initial teacher registration/permit to teach application and ongoing approval, including the recording of, reflection on, and verification of Professional Learning for registration purposes; progression from provisional to full registration or permit to teach to provisional registration
• Assessment and management of certification applications against the Highly Accomplished and Lead levels of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
• Maintenance of the Register of Teachers

Accreditation of education programs

• Assessment and management of professional learning recognised provider applications
• Assessment and management of program accreditation/initial teacher education applications
• Maintenance of the Register of Accredited Education Programs

Payments

• If you opt to pay a fee from the TQI Portal using the ACT Government secure online payment facility, your TQI number and name will be automatically passed from the Portal to the Access Canberra payment gateway. The Access Canberra payment gateway includes a privacy statement at the bottom of the form.

If you do not consent to supply us with the information requested in the online forms, or through other channels, we will not be able to provide the services outlined above.

TQI Act

Disclosure of personal information

Section 44 of the ACT Teacher Quality Institute Act 2010 (TQI Act) provides that TQI may provide information contained in the register of teachers with corresponding registering authorities. TQI may disclose your personal information to Access Canberra (Registrations), teacher employers, universities and teacher registration bodies in Australia or New Zealand. In some circumstances your personal information may be disclosed to overseas registration bodies. For example, if you are moving overseas, confirmation of TQI registration may be provided to the country’s teacher regulatory authority.

If you believe that your personal information has not been appropriately handled, you can contact us via the details at the bottom of this page.

Information sharing provisions under the Mutual Recognition Act 1992 (Cth) (MR Act)

View our statement regarding Information sharing provisions under the Mutual Recognition Act 1992 (Cth) on our Policies page

Information collected via our website

When you visit the TQI website to browse or download information, we automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

• The Internet Protocol address and a component of the domain name used (eg: .com, .net, .gov, .au, etc.). The Internet Protocol address is a numerical identifier assigned either by your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet Protocol address to direct Internet traffic to you where this is required;
• The type of browser and operating system you used;
• The date and time you visited this website;
• The web pages or services you accessed at this website;
• The time spent on individual pages and the website overall; and
• Which files you downloaded

The website also collects contact information (eg. email address). However, we do not use these details unless you choose to provide this information. The reason for collecting this information will be displayed on the appropriate page. In that event your details will only be used for the purpose for which you provided them.

We collect no personal information about you unless you voluntarily participate in an activity that asks for information (i.e. sending an enquiry via the contact us section). If you choose not to participate in this activity, your choice will in no way affect your ability to use any other feature of the TQI website.

Purpose for collecting this information and use of information

The information we automatically collect or store is used to improve the content of our web services and to help us to understand how people are using our services. Information you provide to TQI is strictly used for the purpose you provided it.

TQI analyses the website logs to continually improve the value of the services available on our site. Our website logs are not personally identifiable, and we make no attempt to link them with the individuals that browse the TQI website.

Other information you provide voluntarily is used for delivering the documents or services you request and in case we need extra information for clarification. We use your e-mail or other details to contact you: this may be to advise receipt or to address issues you identify.

Other privacy issues

Following are some other privacy issues that we consider relevant:

Cookies

Cookies are simple text files stored on your computer by your web browser. They provide a method of distinguishing among visitors to the TQI website.

Cookies created on your computer by using this website do not contain personally identifying information and do not compromise your privacy or security. We use the cookie feature only to store a randomly generated identifying tag on your computer. You can refuse the cookie or delete the cookie file from your computer by using any of the widely available methods.

Cookies can be removed at any time from your hard drive.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (Google). Google Analytics uses cookies and JavaScript code to enable analysis on usage of this website. The data collected about your use of this website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored on Google's servers. Google will use this data for the purpose of compiling reports on website activity for the ACT Teacher Quality Institute and provide other services relating to website activity and Internet usage.

Google will not collect personal information about you. The reports provided by Google to us will only contain aggregate non-personal data about your use of this website, (these reports may contain data relating to pages viewed, files downloaded or the completion of online subscriptions). TQI will use the data collected by Google Analytics to improve the functionality of this website.

Google may transfer this data to third parties where required to do so by law, or where third parties process this data on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any personal information you may have previously provided to Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. Please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above

Security

This site does not provide facilities for the secure transmission of information across the internet. Users should be aware that there are inherent risks in transmitting information across the internet.

Disclaimer for External Links

The TQI website has links to other websites. These include links to websites operated by other government agencies, universities, unions, professional learning providers and teacher employers. When you link to another site, you are no longer on our website and this Privacy Statement will not apply. When you link to another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site.

Neither TQI, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the ACT Government warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this system does so at his or her own risk.

Contact Details

To offer comments about this website, or about the information presented in this Privacy Statement please contact us via the information provided on the TQI contact us page.

If you believe that your personal information has not been appropriately handled, you can contact:

TQI privacy contact officer
Email: tqi@act.gov.au
Phone: 02 6207 5005

If you feel that your complaint has not been appropriately addressed, you can make a complaint to the independent Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You can contact the OAIC at:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992