Photography of naughty behavior at primary school

[Lilacpurpleviolet]

Really want to know if iabu, hence posting here.

Teachers at our school (dc is in yR) take photos of children when they have done something naughty and show these as 'evidence' to parent and child at pick up, this is done in a very stern (angry) voice by the teacher.

For example, a boy scratched another boy. The boy who did the scratching was told off and the boy who was scratched was asked to stand still so that the teacher could take a picture. I'm not sure what they did with this image.

My dc got carried away and acted silly with a messy activity and ended up with messy marks all over her face and uniform. Other children also got messy. This was a 'play fight' so no aggression or nastiness by dc though I can see that the teachers would want to crack down on such behavior.

Anyway when I collected dc we were told very very sternly about what dc had been up to. The teacher then held a digital camera in my daughters face showing her close up pictures of her face with all the splashes whilst reprimanding my dc in a very intense voice.

The thing is that dc's face was still covered in splashes so there was really no need to show me this photographic 'evidence' as I could see it for myself. Also I have always supported the teacher and trust she wouldn't make things up. Why show me a photo of dc's 'misdemeanor'?

Am I being unreasonable to think this use of photography is 'shaming' for the child and really quite inappropriate?

Btw, I have spoken to the head who said that these particular photos of dc would be deleted. Still, I wonder if this type of use of photography is the norm in schools and what other people think about it. Is there a policy on such thing? Thanks.

This sounds ridiculous to me. 27 years of teaching and it never occurred to me to take pictures to prove naughty behaviour.

Also not sure why the 'angry voice' when reporting to the parent. If the matter has been dealt with in school then when reporting the parent all that is needed is a matter of fact X did this and the consequences were Y explanation.
We had a supply teacher once who took all misbehaviour as a personal affront 'I shouldn't have to put up with this' was her cry. Is there an element of that here?

"YANBU. Clearly, taking photographs of significant injuries is sensible for a range of reasons. Likewise, if there are serious problems with particular parents failing to accept accounts of serious bad behaviour and getting overly defensive about it then yes, again I can understand why you might wish to record such evidence to present. A blanket policy though, and particularly using this over a fucking smudge on a painting, is absolutely ridiculous."

Thank you, it's reassuring that most people feel this was not right. I'm new to dealing with school (pfb) and also originally from another country so I wasn't sure if this is common in schools over here, very glad that it isn't!!!