Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice explains how personal information will be used by Pearson in relation to the products and services that link to this Privacy Notice. In this Privacy Notice we call these our "Services”.

Some Pearson services may reference or link to another site or service. Use of other sites and services (including other Pearson sites and services) may be subject to different terms and privacy policies. Examples of product-specific privacy notices include:

Digital Learning Services Privacy Notice
Pearson Pathways
Accelerated Pathways

If any content or information you store or upload to Pearson websites or apps contains the personal information of other individuals, you must be legally permitted to share that information.

Summary

• Where your consent is required we will obtain your permission before sending you promotional material about Pearson or accessing information on your device relating to your use of our websites and apps. You can withdraw that consent at any time.
• We use your personal information to enable you to register with Pearson and to provide you with the Services that you request, or which are requested on your behalf by educational institutions, parents or guardians.
• Some of our Services provide interactive features that engage with third party sites such as social media sites or those of educational institutions. If you use those features those sites will send us information about you.
• Our Services may use artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide you with a personalised experience and educational tools and material that are likely to be most useful to you.
• We use cookies and other technologies to track the use of our websites and apps and to improve and personalise our services. This varies by site and app and details are available on product specific website and app cookie policies and preference centres.
• We are a global business and may transfer your personal information to other countries around the world, (in particular the United States and the United Kingdom), which may not have the same data protection laws as those of the country from where you access our sites and Services. Wherever we transfer your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information in accordance with applicable law.

This Privacy Notice applies to all Services linking to this Privacy Notice unless you are notified that another product-specific privacy notice applies. However, it won’t apply to any third-party sites which are linked to our sites. We recommend that you read the privacy notice of any such third-party sites that you visit as we are not responsible for them.

If access to the Services is purchased for you by an Institution (such as a School, College or University) then Pearson may act as a joint controller of your personal information together with that institution. In such cases, we encourage you to ask your institution to let you know what it will do with your personal information. In limited circumstances, we may alternatively act as a data processor on behalf of a school or institution and where that is the case you will need to refer to that institution’s privacy notice.

What information does Pearson collect about me?

Pearson collects both personal information (information can be used directly or indirectly to identify unique individuals) and anonymous information (which cannot be used to identify any individual) when you use our Services. This information includes:

• Registration information that we use to help you set up an account (e.g., your name, country, date of birth, year group or grade, institution, course or class identifier, email address, username and password).
• Information associated with you when you purchase a product or service from us (e.g. postal address, phone number and payment information).
• Location information (including IP address) which we use to provide you with relevant content. Certain Services may also offer you the opportunity to share your specific location (via a mobile or other device) in order to access location specific benefits and participate in community events, however such options will always require express consent from an adult and can be withdrawn at any time.
• Information that is used, created or shared by you when you contact us or use our online services including requests for information or support or participate in our forums or customer communities (which may be public or restricted to particular groups or individuals depending on the circumstances and any preferences you may set).
• Activity and usage information generated by your use of our Services, such as the content you view and post, preferences, responses to interactive exercises, assessment activity and results, instructor comments, books that you have read, assignments that have been taken or assigned and instructor comments, grades or scores.
• Information you provide if you link your Pearson account to our other products and platforms or to third party channels (such as social networks).
• Still or video images of you if you link your Pearson account to any service which use video capture/recording such as our online proctoring solutions or virtual classrooms.
• Application and systems log data which could include, in addition to your IP address, internet service provider and browser type, type of device and details of the website, application or email communication you came from before accessing the Services.

Wherever possible the information we collect or generate about you is anonymised and aggregated with the anonymised information of other users so Pearson cannot identify you.

Pearson will use this anonymised information to understand how the Services are used, to improve them or monitor them for fraud and unauthorised activity.

However, Pearson may use your personal information to improve and personalise the Services. This may include analysis of your use and progress across a variety of Services so that we can help you progress with your learning - for instance to evaluate the educational efficacy and effectiveness of the Services and to make appropriate recommendations to you and to our institutional customers based on this evaluation.

What about Children’s Information?

Pearson recognises its responsibility to keep children safe online and the need to put additional privacy protections in place to keep younger users safe when they access our Services. As a result, some features may have age-gates to prevent children from inadvertently accessing them or turning them on.

We have also taken steps to ensure that parents are informed of our collection and use of their children’s personal information and are able to control that use. When our Services are aimed at children or are likely to be accessed by children, we:

• Require a responsible adult’s name and email address and participation in the registration process (parents and guardians may also be required to register and control accounts on behalf of very young children on the understanding that control of the account will transfer to the child when they are old enough if the account is still active);
• Collect only the minimum information about children that is needed to deliver the service;
• Default all ancillary data processing activities (e.g. profiling, marketing, data sharing and geo-location) to off and only activate them upon the instruction of a parent (which will usually be done by the parent from within the child’s account);
• Notify parents and guardians of our practices with regard to their children’s data and provide them with context specific emails and push notifications to alert them to changes in settings relevant to their children’s information; and
• Give parents and guardians access to their children’s information, or the ability to request it, and to ask us to update or delete their child’s information.

Please note that we may require parents or guardians to verify their identity for the purposes of providing consent by supplying us with credit card information, by speaking to a customer service representative by phone or by participating in a brief video call. Where such verification is required, we will not retain the information gathered in the course of verification but will instead keep a record of the check that was made after which parents or guardians may be able to confirm their identity via a PIN code, password or similar security feature.

How does Pearson collect my personal information?

• When you, or someone acting on your behalf (normally a parent or guardian but potentially a teacher or institution if they seek to register you for the Services) disclose your information through using the Services, register to use the Services, contact us (online or offline), or order Services from us.
• When you interact with the Services, our website, our mobile applications or open our email communications. We use cookies, pixels, tags, application interfaces, web beacons and similar technology to collect this information. To find out more, please visit our Cookie Policy.
• From specified third parties if you use Services which incorporate or link to third party products. For example, if you use Services to obtain a personalised learning pathway which includes courses from third party providers those providers may provide us with information about your engagement with them to inform your personalised learning pathway.
• From other trusted third-party sources so we can update, confirm or add to the information we collect, such as the validation of postal addresses or credit card information.

What will Pearson do with my personal information?

We may use your information in the following ways (but always in accordance with applicable law and the choices you make via the controls we provide):

• Provide you with the Services you request;
• Communicate with you about your use of the Services, including sending you updates about or request feedback on the Services, new features and changes to our policies;
• Personalise the Services and the content we provide;
• Send you offers and promotions for our products and services and third-party products and services (both directly and via social media and other third-party channels);
• Provide you with targeted advertising based upon your activity on our sites and applications and those of third parties in accordance with our Cookie policy.
• Operate, understand, develop and improve our sites, Services, applications and platforms; and
• Detect, prevent and respond to fraudulent or unlawful activity.

Will Pearson disclose my personal information to anyone else?

Pearson will only disclose your information in limited circumstances:

• With our service providers (for example, suppliers who develop or host our Services) in which case we will require them to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to meet the requirements of applicable law;
• When you instruct us to disclose your data with a third party in order to provide a requested Service (for example if you purchase Services which include courses or materials delivered directly by that third party);
• With a parent or guardian where that person has purchased access to the Services on behalf of a child (but on the understanding that control of the child’s account may transfer to that child when they are old enough in accordance with applicable law);
• With an educational institution (on a limited basis and only with your knowledge and where that data disclosure is necessary to provide the Services) where you direct us to or if that institution purchases access for you to specific Services for which they are also a data controller (such as virtual classrooms or specific learning tools so that they can teach, assign, assess and provide feedback on assessments);
• When you permit us to share your personal information with other companies so that they can send you offers about their products and services; and
• When we disclose your personal information with third parties in connection with the sale of a business, to enforce our terms of use or rules on behaviour, to ensure your safety and that of other users of our Services, to protect our right and property or those of others and in other situations where we believe that the disclosure is required by law.
• Pearson does not use, collect or disclose Sensitive Personal Information for any purpose other than those which are necessary to perform the Services reasonably expected by an average consumer, or as otherwise permitted by law, and never without your consent.
• Pearson does not Sell or Share Personal Information collected through the Services without your consent.

What Controls and Choices do I have?

We provide you with the ability to exercise certain controls and choices regarding our collection, use and sharing of your personal information, which may include:

• Correcting, updating and deleting your personal information via your account;
• Telling us not to use your personal information to customize your experience with Pearson via create a personalised experience for you using the controls we provide on our Preferences Center;
• Choosing whether to receive offers, promotions and other information about our products and services;
• Choosing whether to receive from us promotions and offers about third-party products and services which may be offered in conjunction with our own goods and services;
• Telling us if we can share your personal information with third parties so that they can provide you with information, promotions and offers about their own products and services;
• Choosing and changing your choices for subscriptions, newsletters and alerts;
• Opting out of customer surveys and requests for your feedback;
• Requesting access to your personal information;
• Requesting the removal of your personal information from forums, chats or other communications channels on our sites, applications and platforms; and
• Choosing to control targeted advertising by using the settings and options on your own devices or within tools that we may offer on our own sites and applications.

You can exercise these controls in various ways, including via your account by following instructions or opt-out links within the communications sent to you, or by using the controls available on the device(s) you use to interact with the Services.

For how long will Pearson keep my personal information?

We will keep your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we are processing your personal information unless the law permits or requires longer or you instruct us to keep it for longer.

How does Pearson keep my personal information safe?

We seek to protect the safety of all your personal information by implementing appropriate technical and organisational measures. For example, provided your browser accepts HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) Secure encryption, we seek to protect your payment information against unauthorised access through a secure server. Where we use third parties to process personal information, we require them to ensure the safety of your information.

Any personal information you voluntarily post on a public area of our site, such as a bulletin board or discussion forum, or an interactive area requiring registration and/or subscription, may be collected and used by others. Please be careful what personal information you disclose in this way. You understand that we cannot control the actions of other users.

Will Pearson send my personal information to another country?

Pearson is a global business and may transfer your personal information to other countries around the world, which may not have the same data protection laws as those of the country from where you access our sites and Services. Wherever we transfer your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information in accordance with applicable law.

What Rights do I have?

We and our group companies use your personal information to provide you with the Services you request from us. You may, depending on where you live, have the following rights:

• to request access to your information;
• to update your personal information;
• to ask that we remove your personal information;
• to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information;
• to ask that we limit or restrict the processing of your personal information;
• to ask that we transfer your information to another service provider;
• to object to our processing of your personal information.;
• to opt out of automated processing which has a significant impact (such as profiling); and
• to complain to a regulator about the handling of your personal information.

You can use the controls within your account to exercise many of these rights and can also contact our data privacy office by emailing us at: dataprivacy@pearson.com

If you wish to make a complaint you can either contact your local regulator or the UK Information Commissioner’s Office: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

If you live in the EU you can also contact us via our local representative:

Pearson Deutschland GmbH.
St-Martin-Str. 82
81541 München
Germany

If you live in the UK or Europe and you use our Services the data controller of your personal information for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations is Pearson Education Ltd of Shell Mex House, 80 Strand, London, WCR2 0RL. Our Data Protection Officer can also be contacted at this address.

If you live in the United States your relationship may be with Pearson Education Inc or NCS Pearson Inc as set out in the relevant End User Licence Agreement.

Further details of our businesses throughout the world are available here: Pearson

Supplemental Privacy Statement for CA, CO, and VA Residents

Residents of California, Colorado, and Virginia should read our Supplemental Privacy Statement in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental Privacy Statement explains Pearson's commitment to comply with consumer privacy laws and applies to personal information collected through the Services.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will always include the date of a new version so that you know when there has been a change and seek consent to such changes as may appropriate to comply with applicable law.