Privacy and cookies
Education Scotland is committed to protecting our visitors' personal information. We want our online service to be safe for everyone. We aim to help you to understand what information we might collect about you through the use of cookies and how we use it.
Cookies
What is a cookie?Most websites you visit will use cookies in order to improve your user experience by enabling that website to ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit or for repeat visits.
Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, storing your preferences, and generally improving your experience of a website. Cookies make the interaction between you and the website faster and easier. If a website doesn’t use cookies, it will think you are a new visitor every time you move to a new page on the site – for example, when you enter your login details and move to another page it won’t recognise you and it won’t be able to keep you logged in.
What's in a cookie?
A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website’s server and only that server will be able to retrieve or read the contents of that cookie. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. It allows a website to remember things like your preferences.
Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting ('first party cookies') or they may be set by other websites who run content on the page you are viewing ('third party cookies').
First party cookies set by Education Scotland to offer you a personalised experience
Education Scotland cookies allow us to keep track of your browsing so you don't get asked for the same information you've already given to the site. Some private areas of the Education Scotland website require you to provide your login credentials. You can set your browser not to accept cookies but, if you do this, please be aware that certain personalised areas of the Education Scotland website cannot be provided to you.
Note that where you are asked to provide login credentials, your name and email address will never be disclosed to a third party.
| Cookie Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ASPSESSIONIDACCRBBTA
ASPSESSIONIDCCDSABSA | A cookie with a name similar to these will be set for the duration of the user’s session to maintain a variety of information, eg seminar choices for SLF, wishlist of CPD opportunities etc |
| _shib_session_....... | When a user accesses services on the Education Scotland site which are protected by their Glow log-in, this cookie is set for the duration of their session so that they only have to log into Glow once. |
| PHPSESSID | Used by our blogs for the duration of a user’s session. |
| ES_Accepts_Cookies | This cookie is used to record if a user has accepted the use of cookies on websites operated by Education Scotland. |
Third party cookies set by comScore to measure Education Scotland website traffic
To measure its website traffic, Education Scotland uses a third party solution called Digital Analytix provided by comScore. The data gathered by Digital Analytix allows Education Scotland to determine how well its online service is performing. As part of its continuous improvement ethos, Education Scotland analyses the extent to which all its web content is accessed and consumed. Where necessary, it will make enhancements to improve the service.
comScore sets its own cookie to allow it to perform the measurements Education Scotland requires. Numerous measurements are made including the number of website visitors, visits and page views as well as the city/country in which visitors are located.
Note that all gathered data is anonymised – no data is ever used by comScore or by Education Scotland to identify any user personally. To discover more about how comScore uses cookies to help Education Scotland measure its website traffic, visit the comScore privacy page which also tells you how to opt out of being measured by Digital Analytix if you so wish.
| Cookie Name | Description |
|---|---|
| c1 | Corporate cookie. A unique identifier which helps us to link the browsers behaviour/journey across multiple sites held under a 'supersite'. We do not hold any personal details. |
| s1 | Site cookie. A unique identifier which helps us to link the browsers behaviour/journey for a specific site. We do not hold any personal details. |
| ns_cookietest | Test to see whether browser accepts cookies. |
| ns_session | Session cookie. |
Other third party cookies
| Cookie Name | Description |
|---|---|
PREF
| Occasionally there are YouTube videos embedded on our site or our blogs. These cookies will be set by YouTube. |
PREF
| Cookies set by Google Maps when used on sites such as Scottish Schools Online. |
| BIGipServerprod_as101202_http_pool | A cookie with this (or a similar) name will be used by Ordnance Survey maps which appear on our Outdoor Learning site. |
How can I control my cookies?
You can use your web browser to:
- delete all cookies
- block all cookies
- allow all cookies
- block third-party cookies
- clear all cookies when you close the browser
- open a 'private browsing' session
- install add-ons and plug-ins to extend browser functionality.
Where do I find information about controlling cookies through my browser?
Internet Explorer - Microsoft help – How to delete cookie files in Internet Explorer
Chrome - Chrome help – Manage cookies
Firefox - Firefox help – Give certain websites the ability to store passwords, set cookies and more
Safari - Safari 5.1 (OS X Lion): Manage cookies
Privacy information
Education Scotland takes your privacy seriously and recognises that your privacy is important to you. Education Scotland is registered with the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998 and is committed to respecting online privacy.
We will apply appropriate protection and management of any personally identifiable information you share with us. Any personal information you do provide will be held and processed by Education Scotland in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. We will not pass on your details to any third party unless you give us permission to do so.
The following privacy statement covers the Education Scotland website at www.educationscotland.gov.uk; it does not cover other websites to which links are provided from this website.
Privacy statement
The Data Protection Act 1998 protects the rights of individuals by making sure that any organisation that collects or holds information about living people does so in a way that is fair to those people.
Education Scotland takes your privacy seriously and is committed to responsible handling of personal information in accordance with our Information Charter, which is as follows.
When we ask for personal information we promise:
- to make sure you know why we need it.
- to ask only for what we need, and not to collect too much or irrelevant information.
- to protect it and make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn't.
- to let you know if we share it with other organisations to give you better public services - and if you can say no.
- to make sure we don't keep it longer than necessary.
- not to make your personal information available for commercial use without your permission.
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