r/education • u/SteaIthed • 2d ago
School Culture & Policy Is my school allowed to install program-viewing and website blockers on my personal laptop?
This is just a question i have and i would like answers since my school wont give me any. Im currently in the process of purchasing a personal laptop. I asked the school if it was okay for me to handle everything with my laptop. They said this was okay. Now, because its my personal laptop they said it wont be covered under the schools warranty. Which makes sense. But know here comes the confusing part, for me at least. Is my school allowed to put software on my computer without my consent that restricts what i am able to do on it? If i dont use the schools provided devices, or their own network. Do they have the right to make changes to MY personal device?
Reason why im asking is because i plan to use this device after i finish school, and i dont want spyware and restrictions on my own laptop. Especially when trying to install programs ect.
Now i understand this is probably entirely dependent on the schools policy. But i would like a general answer, What most schools do at least.
For your information my school is located in Australia, Queensland, Sunshine Coast
tl;dr Is my school allow to install programs on my personal laptop without my consent?
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u/alax_12345 2d ago edited 2d ago
Editing this comment - Just realized this is a student.
Your school has the right to monitor anything they own, any storage under their control like network drives or school emails, and website access in school. Any communications you have on school email can be read by IT. Your IT people can scroll through your school email and network files at any time, for any reason. They can restrict you from using your personal phone, email, or social media accounts. Keep your school and private life separate. Website blockers at the firewall are out of your control anyway, regardless of the device.
What you should do is to put all of your school-related files, documents, spreadsheets, images, pdfs and such on a thumbdrive and use a school device for all school-related tasks. When you come home each day, synchronize your thumbdrive with a backup. The thumbdrive allows you to retain some control over document that you create.
You can use your own laptop, but they will probably try to install some kind of monitoring software. You can refuse to allow it, but they can ban you from using it in the building. If you take the school Chromebook and jailbreak it to Linux to install a VPN, they might not notice for a while or they could see it immediately.