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Guide

Taking the register with no signal, without losing a single absence.

Reviewed on

The short answer

Taking the register has to work even when the classroom has no network: the register is stored encrypted on the device, the screen says plainly whether it is saved, sending or done, and it is sent on its own when the connection comes back.

This is not a technical detail. The daily attendance record underpins the absenteeism protocol of the Catalan Department of Education, and a phone holding class lists is processing children’s data that has to be protected.

The register is the first piece of the absenteeism protocol

The Catalan Department of Education’s absenteeism protocol asks schools to keep a systematic record of attendance so that absenteeism is spotted early and acted on with families and local services. Without a reliable daily record, there is nothing to analyse at the end of the month.

So an absence that stays on a sheet of paper, or on a phone that never sent it, is not one absence fewer: it is a gap in the record that someone will have to rebuild.

Where the signal drops in a school

  • Basement classrooms and sports halls.
  • Soundproofed music rooms, which also block the signal.
  • The playground, the school garden and trips away from school.
  • The bus and the dining hall, which are registers too: who got on, who got off, who had lunch.

The usual workaround is to note it on paper and type it up later. That is twice the work, and it is where absences and notes get lost.

What “works offline” should really mean

  1. The teacher takes the register as usual, with or without a connection. The app asks nothing different of them.
  2. The register is saved on the device, encrypted, the moment it is marked. If the phone dies or the app closes, nothing is lost.
  3. The screen shows its status: saved on the device, sending or done. The teacher does not have to guess whether it arrived.
  4. When the network returns, it is sent automatically, without anyone having to remember.
  5. If two people mark the same pupil (the class tutor and the PE teacher, say), the system settles it with a known rule and never silently overwrites what the other said.

A phone with class lists is also processing personal data

Article 32 of the GDPR requires security appropriate to the risk, and names encryption and the ability to ensure the confidentiality of systems. With children’s data on a device that can be lost, that means:

  • data stored on the phone is encrypted;
  • the app locks with a passcode or face recognition when you come back to it after a while;
  • signing out deletes everything that was on it;
  • notifications show no names or reasons on the lock screen.

The family’s notice, before the register

Many morning phone calls are just to find out why a pupil is absent. If the family can report the absence from their phone, with a photo of the note, the teacher already sees it when taking the register and the office does not have to chase anyone.

Frequently asked questions

Is a register that arrives an hour late still valid?

Yes. What matters is that the absence is recorded against the right day and session. A good tool keeps the time the register was taken, not the time it reached the server.

What if a teacher loses their phone with a register still waiting to be sent?

The data is encrypted and the app is locked, so whoever finds it cannot read it. Anything not yet sent does not arrive: that is why the status must be visible and the register must send itself as soon as there is a connection.

Can teachers use their personal phone?

The school decides, as the data controller (GDPR, Art. 24). If it allows it, the app must protect the data whatever the device: encryption, locking and deletion on sign-out.

When does an absence count as absenteeism?

The Department’s protocol and your school’s own absenteeism plan define it. Applying either one first requires a daily record of every session.

Do we need registers for lunch and the school bus too?

You need to know who is there. At lunch, for special diets and billing; on the bus, so the family knows their child got on and off. These registers are often taken where there is no signal.

How Auladia does it

On a phone or tablet, the teacher’s register and notes work offline. The app stores them encrypted on the device and sends them when the network returns, and the screen always says whether the register is saved on the device, sending or done. Absences the family has already reported, with a photo of the note, appear next to the pupil’s name.

The staff app locks with a passcode or face recognition, and signing out deletes everything that was on it. Notifications say “New notice from school” and nothing more. The lunch register, with each pupil’s diet beside their name, and the bus run, stop by stop, also work without a connection.

The app for iPhone, iPad and Android is in pilot: it is not yet on the App Store or Google Play. The app itself is in Catalan and Spanish.

A teacher’s day with Auladia

Sources

The rules and official documents this guide cites.

  1. Community protocol for preventing, detecting and acting on absenteeism (Catalan) Catalan Department of Education
  2. Regulation (EU) 2016/679, General Data Protection Regulation, Articles 24 and 32 EUR-Lex
  3. Guide for schools (Spanish) Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD)

This guide explains the rules; it is not legal or tax advice. Published on .

Want to see it on screen?

In the demo we show you how Auladia handles it with a made-up school’s data, and what it does not do yet.

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