Best for
Digital citizenship lessons, online safety weeks, health/wellbeing classes, and introductory AI/data discussions.
Digital Technologies / Health / Citizenship • Years 7-11 • Practical classroom audit
Digital Privacy Audit Worksheet
Use this worksheet to help ākonga investigate the digital traces they leave behind, the permissions they grant, and the risks that appear when personal or whānau data is treated casually online. The aim is practical awareness, not fear.
Use the worksheet, then generate local follow-up tasks
Once students complete the audit, use Te Wānanga to create a follow-up reflection, whānau letter, or class action plan matched to your school context.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 30-45 minutes if students audit live on devices, or 20 minutes as a reflective paper task.
- Best grouping: Individual audit first, then pairs for discussing what surprised them.
- Prep: Decide whether students will use real devices/accounts or complete the audit hypothetically.
- Teaching move: Keep the emphasis on practical protection and digital tikanga, not shame or panic.
Resources already provided
- App permissions and data-sharing prompts
- Whānau and cultural data reflection prompts
- Action-planning section
- Curriculum companion for planning and reporting
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how to recognise what digital data is collected about us.
- We are learning how privacy decisions affect us, our whānau, and our communities.
- We are learning how to improve our own digital safety practices.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can identify which apps or services have access to my data.
- I can explain at least one privacy risk and one practical action I can take.
- I can reflect on why data about whānau and culture should be treated with care.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This worksheet supports explicit teaching around digital citizenship, health and wellbeing, and responsible technology use. Use the companion page to make those curriculum links visible in planning.
Why this matters in Aotearoa
Privacy is not only an individual concern. In Aotearoa, data can also expose whānau, community relationships, places, and cultural information. Good digital citizenship includes asking what should stay private, who should control access, and how online habits affect more than just the person holding the phone.
Part 1: Searchability and visibility
Search your own name, username, or public social media identity. Record what is easy to find.
- What appears first?
- What information is public that you expected to be private?
- Would you be comfortable with a future employer, teacher, or younger sibling seeing it?
Part 2: App permissions
Review at least three apps or services you use often. For each one, note:
- location access
- camera / photos access
- microphone access
- contacts access
- whether that access feels necessary
Part 3: Data you may not notice
- search history and viewing habits
- location history
- device and browser information
- engagement patterns: what you click, like, or pause on
- who you interact with and when
Which of these surprises you most, and why?
Part 4: Whānau and cultural data
- Have you shared photos or information about others without checking first?
- Have you posted locations, taonga, or events that carry cultural significance?
- Who should decide whether such material is public?
Use this section to discuss how data can also be relational, not just personal.
Action plan
This week I will change: ________________________________________
The app or setting I most need to review is: _______________________
One privacy habit I will improve is: _______________________________
One thing I would explain to my whānau or friends is: _____________
Teach this tomorrow
Print / share
- This worksheet
- Any school digital citizenship expectations you want students to compare against
Decide before class
- Whether students will use real devices/accounts or fictional examples
- Whether action plans stay private or are shared in pairs
Look for by the end
- Students can name at least one real privacy risk
- Students leave with one practical action they can actually take
Whakaaro Hoki · Student Reflection
1. After completing this audit, what surprises you most about your digital privacy footprint?
2. Identify one specific app or permission you will review or remove this week. Why did you choose it?
3. How does thinking about your digital privacy connect to the concept of mana motuhake (self-determination over your own data)?
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Digital Technologies — Hangarau Matihiko
Level 4–5: Understand how digital systems and AI tools work; evaluate the social, cultural, and ethical implications of technology; design and apply computational thinking skills to real problems.
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Analyse how technology shapes relationships, power, and identity within communities; evaluate the impacts of digital innovation on society, including effects on Indigenous data sovereignty and cultural representation.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
In te ao Māori, data and knowledge are not neutral — they carry whakapapa and obligations. Māori Data Sovereignty (Mana Motuhake i ngā Raraunga) holds that Māori have the right to govern, own, and interpret data about themselves and their communities. When digital systems are designed without this understanding, they risk perpetuating colonial patterns of extraction: taking knowledge from communities without accountability or benefit-sharing. The concept of kaitiakitanga extends naturally to the digital realm — guardianship of what is collected, stored, and shared about us is as important as guardianship of land, water, and living knowledge systems.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students understand how digital systems store, represent, and transmit data and consider the ethical implications of digital technologies on society.
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students can identify and describe the key components of digital systems and how they interact.