1. Background

Thanks for visiting our Privacy Policy (Policy), we are Teacher Me Service Pty Ltd ACN 694 937 749 (Teacher Me Service, we, our, us and other similar terms). We are committed to providing quality products and services to you and this Policy outlines our ongoing obligations in respect of how we manage your Personal Information. It applies to the terms of use of our online educational platform that connects students with expert educators across Australia, known as Teacher Me (Teacher Me) and other agreements we may form with you.

We recognise the importance of protecting children’s Personal Information. We ensure that we adhere to stringent protocols regarding the handling of children's Personal Information. Where we collect Personal Information relating to a person under 18 years of age, we will limit collection to information that is reasonably necessary to provide Teacher Me. We also commit to exercising strict discretion when using Personal Information especially that of your child. We will only share Personal Information in relation to the provision of our services and will do so only after notifying you of our intent. Please be advised that this Privacy Policy encompasses more than just the collection or use of the Personal Information of a child. It applies to the general use of Teacher Me.

When we talk about Personal Information, we mean information or an opinion about an identifiable individual (not a company), whether or not that information or opinion is true or in a material form (Personal Information).

2. Disclaimer

3. Collection of Personal Infromation

3.1 How Teacher Me Service collects Personal Information
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We collect Personal Information in the ordinary course of our business, which is the provision of our Teacher Me platform. Personal Information is collected when you:

(a) create a Teacher Me account;
(b) update your Teacher Me profile;
(c) contact or correspond with us via email, telephone or via our website;
(d) subscribe to our newsletters or complete surveys and online forms;
(e) purchase, use or enquire about our Teacher Me platform;
(f) and/orseek support in relation to our Teacher Me platform. 

Information will only be collected directly from you unless you authorise another person to provide the information. 

3.2 What personal information is collected?
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The types of Personal Information we collect include your name, address, telephone number, email, IP address, device identification, your social media details when you follow us on any social media platforms and any additional information you provide to us.

If you are an educator, we also collect your qualifications, teacher registration or licence, Australian Business Number, photo ID and (if applicable) your Working With Children Check or equivalent clearance for the relevant state or territory in which you operate.

Where you contact us on behalf of your employer, the information you provide often contains information about your employment, position and employer’s contact details. In those circumstances certain employment information is collected.

4. How Teacher Me Service uses personal information

4.1 Why we collect personal information
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We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our Teacher Me platform to you. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. 

Examples of when we may use your Personal Information include:

(a) informing you about our Teacher Me platform;
(b) providing you with access to our Teacher Me platform;
(c) administration needs in relation to providing you with our Teacher Me platform, including the administration of your account;
(d) matching students with educators, including by sharing your Personal Information with other users of Teacher Me;
(e) facilitating lesson bookings and communication between users;
(f) verifying teacher identity and credentials;
(g) improving our Teacher Me platform;
(h) dealing with requests, enquiries or complaints and other customer care related activities; and
(i) carrying out any activity in connection with a legal, governmental or regulatory requirement imposed on us or in connection with legal proceedings, crime or fraud prevention, detection or prosecution.

4.2 Direct Marketing
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Where you provide us with consent to do so (e.g. if you have subscribed to our email lists or have indicated that you are interested in receiving offers or information from us), we may send you marketing communications by email about our products and services that we feel may be of interest to you.You can opt-out of such communications if you would prefer not to receive them in the future by using the “unsubscribe” facility provided in the communication itself.

4.3 Surveys or Market Research
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We (or an appointed third party) may also conduct surveys or market research and may seek other information from you on a periodic basis. These surveys will provide us with information that allows improvement in the type, quality and the manner in which our goods and services are offered to you. You can opt out of participating in such surveys or market research using the facilities made available to you.

4.4 Use of de-identified data
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The data we collect may have analytical value to us, our users, our business partners and our related entities. We reserve the right to process or distribute information we collect through our platform and related services. However, we will only distribute data which has been de-identified, unless otherwise to our associates, or as set out and in accordance with this Policy. 

5. Cookies and browser analytics

5.1 What are cookies
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Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by the websites you visit. They are processed and stored by your web browser. When you visit a website or engage with a business through social media, certain information is collected by cookies. This is generally anonymous information and it does not reveal your identity. In and of themselves, cookies are harmless and serve crucial functions. They are widely used in order to make websites work more efficiently and improve the user experience, as well as to provide information about the use of a website.

5.2 Why we use cookies
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By storing and using information about your use of our website, including preferences and habits, we are able to make your visit to our website more productive. For example, some cookies remember your language or preferences so that you do not have to repeatedly make these choices.

5.3 We use the following types of cookies
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(a) Required cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, Google reCAPTCHA service cookies to identify bots to protect our website against malicious spam attacks, Squarespace cookies to prevent cross-site request forgery and cookies that pass information from one web page to another and to use online forms.

(b) Analytical cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are able to find what they are looking for easily. We also use third party cookies, such as those provided via the Google Analytics service. The information passed back to such third party providers is anonymous.

(c) Marketing cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences. These cookies also record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We may use this information to make our website and communications sent to you more relevant to your interests.

5.4 How can I remove cookies
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Your web browser can choose whether or not to accept cookies. Most web browser software is initially set up to accept them. If you do not want your browser to use cookies, you can manage and control their use through your browser, including removing cookies by deleting them from your "browser history" (cache) when you leave the site. However, if you choose to reject cookies some parts of our website may not work properly.

6. Data retention and security

6.1 Security mechanisms we employ

Generally, we store your Personal Information using secure servers protected from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. However, like most businesses, we hold some information on our staff’s computers (such as emails from you) and where necessary as hard copy files (such as printed invoices).

Our systems are located in Australia and are managed by us and our service providers. Personal Information that we store or transmit is protected by technical security and access controls, including username and password authentication, multi-factor authentication, and data encryption (such as SSL) where appropriate.

We also implement organisational security measures to protect Personal Information. These include limiting staff access to Personal Information to what is reasonably necessary to operate the Platform and maintaining confidentiality over Personal Information.

In our dealings with third party service providers, we take care to work with subcontractors and service providers who we believe maintain an acceptable standard of data security compliance.

6.2 How long we keep your personal information

We retain your Personal Information for as long as is necessary to provide our Teacher Me platform, as required for our internal business operations, and to comply with our legal obligations. 

If we hold Personal Information about you, and we do not need that information for any purpose, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify that information, in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), unless we are prevented from doing so by law.

Under Australian law, financial records, such as those relating to financial transactions, must be retained for 7 years after the transactions associated with those records are completed.

If you no longer want us to use your Personal Information, you can request that we erase it and, where you have an account with us, close your account. Where possible we will do so in accordance with the APPs. However, where you request the erasure of your Personal Information we will retain information from deleted accounts as necessary for our legitimate business interests, to comply with the law, prevent fraud, collect fees, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with investigations or requests by government, a court of law, or law enforcement authorities, enforce the terms of service and take other actions permitted by law. Any information we retain will be handled in accordance with this Policy.

7. Disclosure of your personal information

7.1 Who we share your personal information with?
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Your personal information may be disclosed to:

(a) our employees, a related company and our professional advisers (lawyers, accountants, financial advisers, etc.);
(b) regulators and government authorities in connection with our compliance procedures and obligations, including law enforcement agencies to assist in the investigation and prevention of criminal activities; 
(c) a third party, in order to enforce or defend our rights, or to address financial or reputational risks;
(d) if you are a student: educators you choose to contact, book or communicate with through our Teacher Me platform;
(e) if you are an educator: students who view your profile or who contact or book you through our Teacher Me platform;
(f) third party contractors, suppliers and service providers with whom we have a business association, including: 
i. administration service providers;
ii. marketing service providers;
iii. and information technology service providers, including cloud application providers.

We will not disclose your Personal Information other than in accordance with this Policy without your consent.

7.2 Offshore transfers
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We may store or distribute your Personal Information to third party contractors, service providers and suppliers with whom we have a business association. Our engagement of service providers, such as those who operate cloud services, may have international data centres and disaster recovery sites. Consequently, these providers may have access to your information offshore. We rely solely on reputable organisations for such cloud services.

8. Anonymity and use of pseudonyms

If you contact us with a general enquiry, we may interact with you anonymously or through the use of pseudonyms. However, you are required to provide true and accurate details when requesting the supply of goods or provision of services. You agree you will provide accurate information if we require it.

9. Access to Personal Information and corrections

We endeavour to only hold Personal Information that is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You have the right to make a request to access Personal Information which we hold about you and to request corrections of any errors in that data. To make an access or correction request, contact us using the contact details provided at the end of this Policy.

If you have an account with us, you can access some of the Personal Information that we collect about you. By logging into your account, you can update or correct certain information.

In order to protect your Personal Information, when you contact us, we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information or making the correction.

10. Communications and privacy concerns

Your privacy is important to us. If you have any complaints, concerns or questions about our handling of your Personal Information, we ask that you first contact our privacy officer whose contact details are listed below. We will investigate your complaint and reply to you in writing if you provide us with contact details and request us to do so. 

Email: hello@teacherme.com.au 
‍Post: 544 Diddillibah Road, Diddillibah, QLD 4559

If, after we have conducted our investigations, you are still not satisfied, then we ask you to consult with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au 
‍Telephone: 1300 363 992 (from overseas +61 2 9284 9749)
‍Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001

11. Variations to this policy

We will need to change this Policy from time to time in order to make sure it stays up to date with the latest legal requirements and any changes to our privacy management practices.

When we do change the Policy, we’ll make sure to notify you about such changes, where required. A copy of the latest version of this Policy will always be available on this page.