Draft Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing (including digital photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establishments.

Transcription

1 D I N BVRG H + THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL Draft Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing (including digital photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establishments. Executive of the Council 4 November 2003 Purpose of report 1 To provide the Executive with draft revised Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing (including digital photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establishments. 2 To seek approval to using the Draft Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing (including digital photography) of Children and Young People for the recommended con su Ita t ion strategy. Main report 3 Schools already have guidance which has been working well in practice but which now needs to be updated. Within the guidance there is the capacity for parental permission to withdraw their children from photography and videoing in a media context. Revised guidance was issued in December 2002 but on legal advice was withdrawn. The previous guidance, therefore is still operative and allows for parents to photograph or video school events. 4 The draft revised Guidelines (Appendix 1) are necessary to supplement the current guidance in light of Government Guidelines and legislation. 5 The Guidelines offer further guidance to educational establishments on the taking of video and photographs (including digital photography) of children and young people in terms of their legal duty to care. They also offer guidance on enabling parents to make informed choices in respect of their children. Furthermore, they are designed to offer advice on individual circumstances such as a child who is the subject of an acrimonious marital dispute, a child who is the subject of adoption proceedings or any other legal proceedings where it may not be in that child's best interests to be photographed. 1

2 6 These guidelines will enable schools to take on board parental choices. Parents will be able to exercise their responsibilities and opt out of photographing and videoing of children and young people in terms of: 0 All forms of photographylvideoing M ed i a photog ra p h y/f i I m i n g 0 Learning and Teaching purposes Assessment purposes This will involve: Consultation with parents Seeking parental consent Allowing parents to opt out 0 Putting systems in place to manage parental choices 0 Making advice available to schools if required 7 The Guidelines are underpinned by the principle of parental withdrawal. Consequently this may mean partial or total withdrawal of children/young people at their parents request from some or all activities and will not affect other childen/young people's participation or the rights of the parents to record their chi Id re n. 8 The Guidelines provide a policy framework to Heads of Establishments in response to numerous individual requests from Head Teachers and Community Education Staff and will enable Heads of Establishment to inform parents and young people of their rights. The Guidelines provide: a Standardised consent forms for parents. b Guidance on the storage and destruction of material. c A checklist for Heads of Establishments including the necessity of advising School Boards. Consultation Process 9 Guidelines will be circulated to all Heads of Establishment and feedback invited. 10 Heads of Establishments will be asked to consult with their Parent Communities (as detailed in Appendix 2) and feedback views. 11 Establishments will be asked to give feedback to the Education Department by 31 January

3 Financial implications 12 None. Recommendations 13 To note that the existing guidelines are in operation and continue to be so until the end of the consultation. 14 To agree that the Council's view is that these guidelines are the best way of providing advice for both educational establishments and parents and that they form the basis for the consultation strategy. 15 To agree to the consultation strategy recommended. 16 To refer the Guidelines to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel as part of the consultation. 17 To agree to receive a report on the outcome of the consultation \ Roy Jobson Director of Education Appendices 1 Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing (including Digital Photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establishments. 2 Parental Consultation Guidelines for Heads of Establishments. Contactltel Wards affected Dr Susan Hamilton All Background Papers 3

4 Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing of Children Appendix 1 DRAFT October 2003 Guidelines on Photographing and Videoing (including digital photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establish men ts 1 Context These guidelines seek to outline the principles to be followed in managingissues which relate to the photographing and videoing of childredyoung people in schools and educational establishments. Inevitably the guidelines will not cover each and every detailed situation which may arise. Head Teachers and Centre Managers will be in a position of using discretion, judgement and common sense in applying the guidelines in particular situations. If need be they can seek advice as appropriate from the Principal Officer (Personal Safety) Neighbourhood Liaison Officers, Pupil Service Support Manager, Communications Officer, Head of Community Education. There is a fairly wide range of situations which may involve the taking of photographs or the making of video recordings of childredyoung people. In some cases there may arise a perception of conflict between the requirements of the school to take photographs and make recordings as part of the discharge of the education authority s responsibilities, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the desire of a parent to protect his or her child s right to privacy, (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights). In addition, and in relation to school activities such as concerts, dramatic performances, sporting contests and community events, there will be parents who regard an entitlement to take photographs of their children participating in such events as a legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression, (Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights). 2 Consent of Parents Parents will be offered the opportunity of expressing a wish to withhold consent to photographing and videoing in a p forma issued at the commencement of the school year referring to photographing or videoing childredyoung people in terms of (a) teaching and learning, (b) photographing or videoing by the media and (c) photographing or videoing of activities such as concerts, dramatic performances and similar events and (d) staff development and training (Section 4 expands on the circumstances relating to photographing/videoing in particular circumstances.) All indications by parents that they seek to withhold consent to photographinghideoing will be considered having regard to the individual circumstances of each case and the balancing of the interests of the parent, on the one hand, and, those of the education authority on the other hand. It is recognised that parents may advance cogent reasons for withholding consent. These might be reasons based on religious belief or concern that the dissemination of images or videos could be detrimental to the welfare, safety and well-being of a pupil, as, for example, where the dissemination of such images might disclose the attendance of a pupil at a particular school and place the child s welfare in jeopardy.

5 Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing of Children In the absence of any expressed wish to withhold consent parental consent will be assumed until there is an indication to the contrary. 3 Parents - Definitions All reasonable steps will be taken to respect the withdrawal of whenit is made by a parent of a pupil in attendance at a school or educational establishment. For the purpose of these guidelines a parent or guardian having actual custody of a pupil and the party whom the school or educational establishment regards as the day to day contact in respect of the pupil is to be regarded as the parent. 4 Circumstances involving Photographing and Videoing (a) Photographing or videoing of an individual pupil may be required for educational purposes such as: (i) (ii) (iii) Personal identification and record keeping Learning and teaching purposes Assessment purposes Photographing and videoing of the pupil will involve the pupil as an individual. The school or educational establishment will store negatives of photographs, master copies of videos and digital photograph files in a secure place. Videos and photographs will not be kept for a purpose longer than necessary having regard to the purpose for which they were taken. The views of parents who wish to withhold generally consent for photographing or videoing will be carefully considered but alongside the perceived need for photographinghideoing in terms of the discharge of the education authority s functions both generally and in respect of the particular pupil. Photographing/videoing in this category will involve only an individual pupil and will be directly related to the discharge of the education authority s functions, and, in consequence, parents should be advised that there will be a clear presumption that photographinghideoing is a reasonable and legitimate course of action. (b) An education authority s functions extend to the provision of appropriate training. Videoing or photographing of childredyoung people individually or in groups may be seen as helphl in staff development and the training of teachers and other staff. Parentdguardians will be provided with a full explanation of the purpose and objective of the training. Material will be kept securely and retained for no longer than it is required for training purposes. An indication to withhold consent in this category may be respected to the extent that the pupil will not be photographed or videoed, or not photographed or videoed so that he or she is capable of being identified, but without prejudice to the particular traininghtaff development project and associated photographing/video recording proceeding.

6 Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing of Children (c) (d) From time to time the media may be interested in particular schools or educational establishments and against that background may seek to take photographs and/or obtain video recordings. The education authority and schools are not in a position to seek to control directly photographing or videoing by the media outwith educational premises. Within schools and other educational establishments photographing and videoing will be regulated. In situations involving media news coverage the request to take photographs may be made on very short notice. In some cases, however, such as, for example, a proposed documentary programme, the approach is made on a longer timescale. In such cases parents will be advised of the understood nature and purpose of the media activity. All reasonable steps will be taken to respect the views of parentdguardians and young persons who do not wish to be videoed or photographed. Many childredyoung people will be involved in school activities such as concerts, dramatic performances, sporting contests and community events. Some of these activities will take place in locations which are public places where the education authority and schools have no general power to prevent persons from taking photographs or making video recordings. Where events take place within educational establishments which are likely to involve photographinghideoing part of the preparation for the event will involve advance information relating to that event parents will therefore have an opportunity to indicate well in advance of the event that they would wish to withhold consent to the taking of photographs or the making of videoing recordings. Such views will be taken into account but not to the extent that other parents (likely to represent the majority of the parents of childredyoung people involved) will be denied the opportunity for obtaining their own records of the event. Recognition of a parent s objection to photographinghideoing may be implemented by giving, wherever possible, a behind the scenes role, which will not totally debar the pupil from participation.

7 Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing of Children Appendix A Parental Consent Form on the Videoing and Photographing (including Digital Photographing) of Children and Young People in Education a1 Establishments. 1. DETAILS OF PUPIL Name: Date of Birth: 2. DETAILS OF PARENT Name: Address : Contact Telephone Number: I have ticked the following box(es) because I wish to withhold consent for any photographing or videoing of the above-namedpupil in terms of the categories described. Personal identification and record keeping Learning and teaching purposes Staff training and development Photographing/videoing by the media Photographing/videoing related to school activites including concerts, dramatic performances, sporting contests and community events U Note Signature Date If you do not tick any of the above boxes it will be assumed that you, as the parent of the pupil, consent to the videoing/photographing of the pupil. The Head of the Establishment will make every endeavour to chase the return of this form. In the eventuality of the form not being returned the Head of the Establishment will assume you have consented.

8 Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing of Children Appendix B Head TeacherCentre Management Checklist on the Videoing and Photographing (including Digital Photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establishments Has Senior Management been advised? Yes No NIA Have parentdguardians been informed? Are systems in place to inform new staff supply teachers, students and visitors? Has a copy been placed in relevant DepartmentdStaff Room in the Establishment? n o 0 n o 0 Is it included in the Staff Handbook? Has the School BoardManagement Committee been informed? Has it been included in the School Handbook? Are systems in place to inform volunteers? Do you have a supply of Consent Forms? * N/A (Not applicable)

9 Appendix 2 Parental Consultation Guideline for Heads of Establishment Following the last meeting of the Consultative Committee with parents, it was agreed that individual establishments would consult with their parental communities. Copies of the Guidelines will be provided for Educational Establishments for Parents meetings if required. They will also be available on the Education Website EGfL. Heads of Establishments should adopt the most appropriate form of consultation for their circumstances. They may wish to do this through some of the following routes: School boards 0 Parents' meetings School newsletters Pare nt/teacher Associations 0 Centre Committees (for Community Education Establishments) Meetings with service users 4 Suggested areas to be covered through the consultation are: Why do we need the guidelines? (1) Statutory duty to care. (2) Enable parents to make informed choices and allow them to opt out. (3) To meet individualised circumstances eg a child who is the subject of an acrimonious marital dispute; a child placed for adoption; a child who is the subject of child protection procedures or a legal order; religious reasons. Parents would be able to exercise their parental responsibilities and opt out of: (1 ) All forms of photography/videoing (2) Media photography/fiiming (3) Learning and Teaching purposes (4) Assessment purposes What will this involve? (1) Parents would be consulted (2) Consent would be sought (3) Parents would be allowed to opt out (4) Schools will put in place systems to manage parental choices (5) Advice will be available to schools if required 5. Establishments will be asked to give feedback to the Education Department by 31 January

10 Agenda item: Report title: Draft Guidelines on the Photographing and Videoing (including Digital photography) of Children and Young People in Educational Establishments In accordance with the Council s constitutional arrangements, the contents of this report have been noted by the appropriate Executive Member. Without prejudice to the integrity of the report, and the recommendations contained within it, the Executive Member expresses hidher own views as follows: Signed: Date: For information - Paragraph 8.2 of the Council s Constitutional Arrangements states: Officers will continue to prepare reports, with professional advice and recommendations, on matters requiring decisions by the Executive: P a report seeking decisions on matters of corporate strategy, corporate policy and corporate projects will be submitted direct to the Executive P a report seeking decisions on matters relating to the special responsibilities allocated to an individual member of the Executive will be submitted, in the first instance, to that member. The member will add his or her own recommendation to it before submission to the Executive. Where the Executive member disagrees with the advice and the recommendation of the officers, the Executive member will also state his or her reasons.