Teacher Blogs And Childrens Photos

[Guest]

I have my own online blog which I recently started. I created it to record activities/crafts etc that have worked well in class, as well as a way of organising great ideas that I come across online. I have pictures of my students but have stuck a spot over their faces so that they are unidentifyable and therefore useless as a photo for copying. I do not mention names of children, nor the school. I have not asked permission from parents as I started this during the summer break. The parents have all signed consent however for photos to be taken of the children in school.

 

My question is:

 

Could this be considered a breach of privacy even if the children cannot be identified?

 

I am not working in the UK and do not have any formal guidelines so would be interested to hear how teachers feel about/manage this.

 

Thanks for any feedback

[Guest LornaW]

I would recommend that you ensure the parents have signed a permission ofprm that they are happy for their child's pohoto to be published on the web. Although you think the child cannot be identified it may be that others can and it would be dreadful for you to be disciplined over ann issue like this.

 

I am not usually over cautious but in this matter I would ensure I hafve a permission slip from all concerned.

 

Lorna

[HappyMaz]

I agree with Lorna - my permission slip specifically mentions using photographs on our website and personally I wouldn't upload photos even with their faces obscured without having this permission in place.

 

Better to be safe than sorry!

 

Maz

[Guest]

Such a shame - I hadn't really thought that aspect through. I doubt the head will give me permission to ask the parents.

 

Thank you for your replies, they make perfect sense.