Jennifer Moreau reports:
A parents’ group lead by a Burnaby woman is filing an ethics complaint over a survey on kindergarten kids.
Local resident Helen Ward is the president of Kids First Parent Association of Canada. On Jan. 21, Ward made a complaint to UBC’s behavioural research ethics board about a letter sent home to parents regarding the Early Development Instrument, a survey on kindergarten kids.
“It’s breaking standard procedures for privacy protection and parental consent,” Ward said.
The letter informs parents about the survey and mentions that data collected can be linked to education and health information. The letter also states that participation is voluntary, and that parents can contact their children’s teachers if they don’t want them to participate.
Ward has issues with the use of passive consent, meaning if parents say nothing, their kids will be included in the survey, rather than signing a consent form expressly stating they want their kids involved. Ward is also complaining about what she calls a lack of information on what the data gets linked to.
Read more on Burnaby Now.