Where does student data go? Questions to ask before you approve an AI tool

Student data goes wherever the company’s terms allow it to go. It may be stored in Australia or overseas, used to train the company’s next AI model, or used for advertising. You can find out before you approve a tool by reading the company’s own pages for the plan your school will use, and answering six questions. Below is each question: why it matters, what to look for, and what the answer means for our check result.

Before you start

Check one plan at a time. The free and education plans of one product often have different terms, so make sure the policy you read covers the plan your staff and students will use.

Check the default settings. A school may be able to turn off a setting such as training, but the default is what happens if nobody changes anything, so that is what counts.

When a company’s pages do not answer a question, write down “not confirmed” rather than a guess. A short, polite email to the company asking the missing question is often the quickest way to an answer. A “not confirmed” answer gives the result “Not confirmed yet”, unless another answer already makes the tool “Not for student data”.

In Victorian government schools, the department’s generative AI policy (read 25 September 2026) requires schools to direct staff and students not to put personal information about students or staff into any generative AI tool. It also asks schools to prefer tools that do not pass the data to third parties, do not use it to train an AI model, and do not keep it for the company’s future use. The same page points to the department’s software policy, under which schools must not use tools that the Safer Technologies 4 Schools (ST4S) program has assessed as non-compliant, non-participating or high risk. The ST4S reports are in Arc, the department’s software catalogue. Other schools can check their sector’s or state’s rules.

Does the tool need student information?

Some tools do their job without any information about your students. A lesson planner works from the topic and year level, not from names or marks. A tool like that carries much less risk, as long as staff keep student details out of it.

Other tools need student information to work. A feedback tool needs the student’s writing, and a tool that sets up student accounts needs at least a name or an email address. Look at the sign-up page, the help pages on student accounts, and the main task the tool does. Ask whether staff could use it well with no names at all. In report comments, a placeholder can stand in for a name, as our article on keeping student names out explains.

On our tool pages this fact has three answers: no, no but users can enter it, or yes. It never makes a tool “Not for student data” on its own. It works as a pair with the next fact: a tool can reach “Lower risk” only if it needs no student information or it stores the data in Australia.

Where is the data stored?

Data kept outside Australia can also fall under other countries’ laws. That matters most when a tool holds student information.

Look in the privacy policy for a section on international transfers or where data is processed. A trust centre, or a list of the other companies that host and run the service (often called sub-processors), can also help. Some companies let a school choose Australian storage. If that option exists, check which plan offers it and whether a new account gets it without anyone asking.

For the check result, storage in Australia meets our green rule. Storage outside Australia is fine for a tool that needs no student information, and it is a point to check before student use for any other tool. If the company does not say where it stores the data, the result is “Not confirmed yet”.

Does the company train its AI on what people type?

Some companies use what people type and upload to build or improve their AI. If a student’s writing goes into training, the company keeps using it long after the lesson ends.

Look for wording in the privacy policy about using content to improve the service or develop models, and check whether it covers the plan you are reading. Then look in the help centre for a data or privacy setting, and find out whether it starts switched on or off. Education terms sometimes say that student content is not used for training, so read those too.

If the company does not train on the data, the fact meets our green rule. If training is on unless someone turns it off, the best possible result is “Check before student use”, even if your school turns it off, because we check the default. If training is on and nobody can turn it off, the result is “Not for student data”. If the company does not say, the result is “Not confirmed yet”. Our article on whether AI learns from what students type goes further.

Does it show ads, or sell data or use it for ads?

What students type should not be used to sell to them. That is why this fact, on its own, can decide the result.

The question has three parts, and each needs its own answer. Does the plan show ads? Does the company sell personal information? Does it use what people type or upload, or any student’s data, for advertising? Look at the plan itself, then at the privacy policy sections on advertising, marketing, and selling or passing on personal information.

A “yes” to any part makes the result “Not for student data”. To count as a clear “no”, the company must say so for all three parts. If it is silent on any one of them, the result is “Not confirmed yet”. A company that advertises its own product to adult account holders, without using what they type, does not trip this rule. We note it on the tool page instead.

Does the company offer school or education terms?

Some companies offer terms or a data agreement made for schools. Without them, only the personal terms apply, and each teacher agrees to those alone.

Look for an education plan, a page for schools, or a data processing agreement that the school signs rather than each user. A teacher on a personal free account may not be covered by the school terms of the same product.

For the check result, school terms meet our green rule. If the company offers none, the best possible result is “Check before student use”. If we cannot tell, the result is “Not confirmed yet”.

Can the data be deleted on request?

If a student, parent or staff member asks, someone needs a way to have their information removed. The same applies when your school stops using a tool.

Look in the privacy policy for a section on your rights, and in the help centre for how to delete an account, a conversation or a whole school’s data. Note how long the company keeps data, including in backups.

For the check result, a clear way to request deletion meets our green rule. If there is none, the best possible result is “Check before student use”. If the company does not say, the result is “Not confirmed yet”.

Two more questions worth asking

Our check covers the six facts above, but two other questions belong in your approval. First, who can hold an account? Company terms often set a minimum age, and some tools are for adults only. Our tool pages show this apart from the check result, because a tool can suit staff and still be wrong for students. Second, who at the company can see the data? Some privacy policies say staff may review conversations, for example to look into misuse.

A check result is not an approval

A check result describes the company’s terms on the day we read them, using fixed rules that are set out in full on our About page. It is not an approval. Companies change their terms, so read the current pages before your school decides.

As we publish tool checks, our tool directory shows the six answers for each tool, with a source for each one.