Teacher using pictures of class on her own social media

[Supermagicsmile]

I am willing to accept I am being unreasonable if you think I am but my gut reaction is that I'm not.

My friend is a teacher who uses social media to show the type of activities she is doing with her class. She always takes the pictures before/after school and never includes the children. She follows other teachers who do the same (although some do include pictures of the children with faces blanked out.) She has spotted my dd on her teacher's social media account with pictures of the children on. (Their faces are blanked out) but I am still not happy about it. She knew it was my dd because of her hair bow in her hair which I made!

I have checked what we signed and no where does it mention their images being used for a teacher's own social media. I have seen it for myself and no where does it mention the school or link back to their main account so it's definitely not affiliated with them.

AIBU? Would you speak to the teacher or go to the head? I don't want the teacher to get in trouble but I would like her to be told what is and isn't appropriate without permission!!

I honestly do not understand the hysteria in this country about teachers and photos.

Teacher puts funny quotes from ANONYMOUS children (at the very minimum, they have 30 kids...), they get flamed on here. In other countries, books are being published with these kind of quotes.

Teacher put photos of children with faces blanked out: people get outraged. Why? Who is going to recognise the children in the first place, and what if they do?

I have teacher friends working in various countries, they haven't got that problem. It's such a nicer atmosphere when people don't get so precious for no reason whatsoever. When there are safeguarding issues, they are taken very seriously, even more seriously and it seems to work a lot better.

I'd be really concerned if me signing a consent form for DD's photos to be used on the school site also implied that her photos could be used on personal FB pages. That's worrying

As a teacher I think this is completely unacceptable. Is she using her own phone/camera in class to take the photos? The device used shouldn't be leaving the school. Yes you may of signed for your child's photo to be used in the school website but not on a teachers personal social media. Even if the faces are covered. I wouldn't want my child's photo used in this way either. I would speak to the head. I can't see why she would think this is acceptable behaviour.

It doesn't matter whether the child's face is blanked out or whether the child is recognisable. It's completely unprofessional for a teacher to put children they teach on their personal social media accounts. A school account or website is a different matter. I wouldn't be at all happy about it. Speak to the teacher.

The device used shouldn't be leaving the school.

See, we have this issue at my school with devices not being allowed to leave the school and learning journals having to be in a locked cupboard and never leaving the premises. When are we actually supposed to do learning journals, either paper or online? I certainly don't have time to do it at school!

Uokbing...it's not up to the headteacher....and certainly won't be from may next year when the new data protection regs come in. It's up to the parent where their child's photo goes. And if a parent hasn't agreed it can go on a teachers own personal media, they can all be fined.

My personal device is allowed at school. Our IT policy doesn't say otherwise. I wouldn't take photographs of children because I don't want or need them on my phone, but there is nothing in the law or my school's policy preventing me from doing so, specifically. At least not that I am aware of

It's generally good safeguarding practice not to let teachers use their personal mobile phone to take pictures of children. Using a school device gives the school control over the images and prevents any misunderstandings.

I have quite a few teacher friends and none of them post any photos from work (blurred or unblurred) on their social media.

In fact I work in a school (non-teaching role) and staff there are not allowed to take photos of the pupils at all unless for official school website purposes and, even then, they can't use their own phone or camera, it has to be with the school camera.

As your DDs face has been blurred out I wouldn't make a fuss but maybe check what the school's policy is

As a teacher, I simply couldn't be arsed to share photos of what I do on social media because, well, I'm a teacher and who has time for that?? I'm aware I've missed the point completely. Tell her to stop sharing photos and go home earlier instead.

At our school taking photos on your own device is a huge no no. It has caused issues because we don't have enough money for everyone to have an I pad that works properly, and then I pads we do have don't have data only WiFi so can only be used in the building, but SLT still want us to live tweet from sporting events, school trips etc?!

I love how typically MN the responses are.
So much outrage for so little information.

Unless you know the school's view on sharing T&L ideas online, the staff esafety policy, what they say about non-identifyable images, whether school have ok-ed resource and idea sharing, what device they were taken on, when thry were shared etc, then nobody has any grounds to be outraged, or furious, or to be reporting the teacher to the head.

As ever on most school threads:

Reasonable - contacting the teacher for clarification and asking questions

Unreasonable - deciding you're furious and that the teacher is out of order when you don't have enough information to make that decision

It's not allowed at my DC's school - we give permission for local media/school website/good practice sharing with other schools/the school's own & PTFA social media and that's it. No staff are allowed to share photos of the classrooms or children on personal social media.

As a teacher, I simply couldn't be arsed to share photos of what I do on social media because, well, I'm a teacher and who has time for that??

I know right?! I always think that 99% of these teachers who spend their time uploading all their amazing displays and tuff tray activities onto pinterest/Twinkl, must be NQTs with no kids who are still bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Pengwyyn.....the law is being changed.....Google the new data protection laws coming in next year. Unless a parent has specifically stated their child's picture can be used in certain publications, social media etc....it cannot be used, and if it is you and the school will be fined. So it cannot be on your personal phone.

@Nuffaluff

Very sensible response.

Pengwyyn.....you need to care what will be illegal next year, because if you aren't aware of it, you could be fined and/or lose your job. Was just trying to help as obviously a lot of people on here haven't had the training yet..

Yes surely it doesn't matter what the law is going to be....next year?

Google the new data protection laws coming in next year. Unless a parent has specifically stated their child's picture can be used in certain publications

From my understanding, people don't need to reconsent - so if a parent has given permission prior to May 2018 to share a photo, then the school doesn't need to reconsent those parents.

However, any consent request to share photos after May 2018 needs to be specificaly given.

So the school wouldn't be breaking the law if they had asked for consent to share photos before May 2018.

There's a huge difference giving permission for photos to be shared on a school site!

I always think that 99% of these teachers who spend their time uploading all their amazing displays and tuff tray activities onto pinterest/Twinkl, must be NQTs with no kids who are still bright eyed and bushy tailed!
Why so disparaging?
Why not just think 'ok some of them clearly live for teaching but the likelihood is they're just trying to help others out'?

I'm in a swapping/sharing group online and it's mainly made up of mid career teachers who are trying to achieve work/life balance. It's great and saves me lots of time.