# Copyright, Licences and Sources for Classroom Material

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Rules differ by country and by institution licence; check your
school's policy and any licence it holds (for example, a copying licence for published books).

## Common legal frameworks

| Country / region | Exception for teaching | Typical limits |
|------------------|------------------------|----------------|
| UK | Fair dealing for illustration for instruction (CDPA s.32) and educational licences (CLA) | Must be fair (small amounts, non-commercial), acknowledged; CLA licence sets copying limits |
| US | Fair use (17 USC 107): purpose, nature, amount, market effect | Short extracts for non-profit teaching more likely fair; whole works rarely |
| EU | Digital and cross-border teaching exception (Directive 2019/790 Art. 5) | Illustration for teaching, under the school's responsibility, with source cited |
| Canada | Fair dealing for education | Short excerpts per institutional guidelines |
| Australia | Statutory education licence | Copying limits (for example, 10% or one chapter) |

## Safer sources

| Source | Notes |
|--------|-------|
| Creative Commons (CC BY, CC BY-SA) | Free to use with attribution; SA requires the same licence for adaptations; NC means non-commercial only; ND means no adaptations |
| Public domain | Old literature (e.g. Project Gutenberg), US federal government works |
| Openly licensed news and images | Some public broadcasters and agencies publish learner resources; Wikimedia Commons; Unsplash/Pexels (own licences) |
| Your own material | Photos you took, texts you wrote, recordings you made with consent |
| Learner-produced texts | With consent; anonymise |
| Linking | Linking to a page is usually fine; copying its content is the risk |

## Attribution format

> "Title" by Author, Source, Date, licence (link). Adapted by [teacher] for classroom use.

## Practical rules

- Use short extracts; cut to what the task needs.
- Do not redistribute coursebook pages, paid articles or song lyrics publicly (LMS shared beyond your class,
  public websites).
- Videos: play from the original platform rather than downloading where possible.
- Social media: remove names, usernames and faces of private individuals; use public accounts or
  invented posts.
- Keep a record of sources and licences in the lesson file.