Relevance of copyright for teaching staff

Teaching staff deal with a range of copyright material when preparing course material and delivering lessons to students. Copyright compliance is not only a legal obligation, but a professional responsibility. It is important for teaching staff to demonstrate respect for copyright rules. In adopting copyright best practice, teachers promote a culture of copyright awareness and model appropriate behaviour for students.

Importance of educational context

Working in the educational sector you have access to statutory permissions and special licences that allow you more extensive use of copyright material than would otherwise be allowed under normal rules. Material copied or made available under these provisions is for educational or instruction purposes only. This generally means material can only be supplied to enrolled students (or staff) at an educational establishment. If there is an intention of using the material outside the education or class room context, it is likely that you will need to get permission from rights owners.

Importance of attribution

It is always necessary to acknowledge sources for all copyright material copied and supplied during the course of study, including articles, images or video clips. Many teachers are also authors and content creators and would expect similar acknowledgement for material they create.

Sometimes copyright will not apply

Although copyright will apply to the majority of teaching resources, there are some situations where copyright does not apply, for example if the term of copyright has expired and the work is in the public domain, you do not need permission to use it. A few specific types of “public” documents such as statutes, court judgements and official reports do not have copyright protection.