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Electronic devices and photography policy

This policy provides clear guidelines to monitor and limit the use of electronic devices and photography in Early Learning Victoria centres, to ensure child-safe practices.

On this page

Early Learning Victoria's practices put children’s safety and wellbeing first and protect them from harm and abuse.

This is why we have clear rules about how people use electronic devices and take photos and videos.

We have zero tolerance for child abuse. We also strongly promote the Victorian Child Safe Standards.

1. Scope

Early Learning Victoria has a duty of care for all children attending its centres.

This policy applies to children, families, staff, management and visitors of Early Learning Victoria centres. This includes volunteers, students on placement and contractors or labour hire employees of Early Learning Victoria.

2. Policy statement

This policy sets clear rules to monitor and limit the use of electronic devices and photography in Early Learning Victoria centres. Read this policy together with:

  • Child safety and wellbeing policy
  • Educational program policy
  • Protecting children policy
  • Supervision of children policy
  • Privacy policy
  • Records management policy

For guidance on using electronic devices in community spaces, see the Integrated services and consulting and community facilities use policy.

2.1 Requirements

The National Model Code

We follow the National Model Code for Taking Images or Videos of Children while Providing Early Childhood Education and Care (the National Model Code)

The National Model Code supports approved providers to create a child safe culture for taking photos and videos of children. This includes rules for the sharing and storing of images or videos.

Our practices align with the National Model Code. We only use electronic devices issued by the service when taking images or videos of children. This happens only while providing education and care. We also have strict controls about storing and keeping images and videos of children.

No one carries a personal electronic device (including one that can take images or videos, store media or transfer media) while providing education and care working directly with children.

Exceptions to the restrictions on personal devices are:

  • limited to essential purposes (that are not to do with taking images or videos of children)
  • authorised in writing by the approved provider (or another means if not practical)
  • only authorised if access does not get in the way of actively supervising children.

3. Actions and procedures

We seek consent for photography and the use of images during the enrolment process on Kidsoft.

Families can approve or decline use of their child’s image in 5 categories. These are:

  1. visual displays or documentation within the centre
  2. newsletters (printed and emailed)
  3. informative family emails
  4. CDs/DVDs given to families
  5. public platforms (e.g. social media, websites and public reports).

We support families fully if they decide not to consent, or to withdraw their consent. We respect and follow their preferences for all platforms and uses.

We prefer that families update their consent preferences on Kidsoft. However, families can also complete a paper form, the Public use of images consent form (see Attachment 1), if needed.

3.2 Use of electronic devices

Personal electronic devices for staff

Centre staff are not allowed to carry or wear any personal electronic device while providing education and care and working directly with children. This is line with the National Model Code.

Early Learning Victoria centre staff must store personal electronic and media storage devices in their individual, secure locker at the start of each shift. Staff may use their personal electronic devices during their breaks – for example, in the staff room or outside the centre.

Exemptions

An Early Learning Victoria employee must get written exemption from their nominated supervisor to carry their personal device while children are present.

Instances that may be authorised include:

  • a personal health requirement – for example, for heart or blood sugar monitoring
  • disability – for example, if a personal electronic device is used as an essential means of communication
  • family necessity – for example, having a family member with a serious illness
  • a local emergency or technical issue – for example, expecting a bushfire evacuation text alert.

If an exemption is given and the employee agrees, nominated supervisors should tell relevant staff about the employee’s personal electronic device arrangements. The reason for the exemption does not need to be shared. Centre staff with an approved exemption must not use personal devices to take images or videos of children. Their use must not interfere with active supervision duties.

Emergencies

Staff may use their personal electronic devices in an emergency to communicate with emergency services. This includes if a child is lost, or a child or staff member is injured. It also includes emergencies causing lockdown or evacuation (see the Emergency management and evacuation policy). Personal electronic devices must not be used to take images or videos of children, unless directed by emergency services.

Early Learning Victoria-issued electronic devices

Staff may only use Early Learning Victoria-issued electronic devices to take images or videos of children as part of their education and care.

Early Learning Victoria centres allow only a few authorised electronic devices. These include laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

We may use tablets and laptops for routine checks and to take photos of children as part of the educational program.

All devices must be put away safely at the end of each day and must stay at the premises. Loose tablets must be stored in a lockable cupboard in a secure staff area. Kiosk tablets, which are secured in their charging docks, do not need to be moved.

All applications and software on Early Learning Victoria-issued devices are controlled by the Department of Education (the department).

Educational program

Safe technology can have a place in children’s learning. It can also promote child safety and wellbeing, including in the online world.

Technology can make learning more interactive and engaging for children. Powerful research tools can help fuel children’s interests and learning. Educators can also use photos and videos to show families what and how their children are learning. Images can also help children re-visit their learning (see the Educational program policy).

Early Learning Victoria supports children to engage in digital and online technology in a safe and responsible way. This is outlined in the Educational program policy, Early Childhood Australia’s Statement on Young Children and Digital Technologies and the National Model Code.

Taking images of children

Educators using Early Learning Victoria-issued devices must always put the child’s best interest first. This includes seeking consent before taking a photo, video or voice recording. Educators should take images without interrupting or distracting from the child's learning experience.

Where possible, educators should avoid taking images of a child’s face. Instead, they should emphasise the child’s learning, focusing the camera on the child’s hands and actions. An exception is when the learning focuses on understanding emotions. In this case, photos of the child’s face are appropriate, as long as the child has consented.

Essential identity photographs

Early Learning Victoria collects a photograph of each child when they enrol, and each year after that. This supports their safety, identification and wellbeing. This photograph helps centre staff recognise each child and keep them safe and well. It also helps staff follow medical or risk management plans.

External professionals working directly with children

There are specific restrictions for professionals working directly with children in an Early Learning Victoria centre.

This includes:

  • third parties delivering programs or incursion and excursion activities
  • allied health and inclusion professionals (who might be supporting children with additional needs)
  • mentors or coaches
  • visiting teachers supporting students on placement
  • preschool field officers
  • primary school teachers attending the centre for a school transition program.

External professionals must have written permission from the nominated supervisor and the child’s parents or carers to take images, videos or audio at the centre.

Any media taken must include only the child in their care. It must only be taken to support their professional duties and must be taken with a work-issued device.

Who the restrictions do not apply to

The above restrictions do not apply to people who are not involved in delivering education and care or working directly with children. This includes:

  • parents and carers who are simply dropping off or picking up their child
  • authorised officers from the Regulatory Authority
  • police officers
  • officers from other regulatory bodies (e.g. environmental health officers and WorkSafe Victoria officers).

However, these people must still follow all child safety policies, procedures and supervision rules. This is in line with the Supervision of children policy.

Tradespeople and maintenance workers

Tradespeople who need photos of completed works or for quotes or plans must first speak to a staff member. An Early Learning Victoria device will be issued.

Once photos have been taken, they will be reviewed by a staff member and then sent to the nominated email address.

If the images are taken on an Early Learning Victoria tablet, they must be uploaded to a laptop via USB to a USB-C power adapter before being emailed, as AirDrop has been disabled.

The only Early Learning Victoria devices that can transfer images wirelessly are the mobile phones issued to centre directors and assistant directors.

3.3 Professional Photography and public use of images

From time to time, Early Learning Victoria may hire professional photographers to take photos or videos of children at Early Learning Victoria centres. These images may be used on Early Learning Victoria’s social media, website or emails. Or, they may be used on related publications by the department, such as websites.

Families are told before any special event or proposed new use of their child’s image. They then have the chance to review or update their consent preferences. If there is no update, Early Learning Victoria will use the current consent.

Before hiring photographers, we ensure contracts have clear clauses on privacy, storage and handling information.

Photography at official events and media

Media, ministers and government departments sometimes ask to use images of children as part of an official event. In these cases, we will:

  • assess privacy and consent matters
  • seek specific consent for any new public image use not already covered by enrolment forms
  • take steps to ensure children's privacy, dignity and consent are respected at all times.

3.4 Image storage and deletion

Storage of images and videos

All images, videos, and recordings of children must be stored according to the Records management policy. This includes ensuring that digital files are:

  • stored only on approved platforms and devices (for example, Kidsoft and SharePoint)
  • kept securely to prevent unauthorised access, sharing, alteration, or loss
  • not downloaded or transferred to personal devices or unauthorised cloud storage.

Early Learning Victoria centre staff are responsible for ensuring that visual records with images of children are:

  • clearly named and organised by date and purpose
  • not retained longer than necessary
  • not shared beyond Early Learning Victoria systems or intended recipients.

Destruction of records

At the end of each calendar year, all images and videos stored on Early Learning Victoria iPads and similar devices must be reviewed. If needed, they must then be deleted by the nominated supervisor.

Early Learning Victoria does not need to notify families when their child’s images are destroyed.

The nominated supervisor must:

  1. Check if the image or video is still required for current educational use or family communication.
  2. Determine whether the item has met the mandatory retention period
  3. Advise the department’s Records and Mail Services (RMS) at archives.records@education.vic.gov.au about the intention to dispose of records.
  4. Complete a Records Destruction List describing the records to be destroyed. This list is then sent to RMS.
  5. On receiving the listing, RMS will:
    1. review the records
    2. ensure the records are eligible for destruction. This includes consulting with Legal and Freedom of Information (FOI) teams to confirm the records are not subject to any active FoI request or active or ‘reasonably likely’ to occur legal cases, royal commissions or investigations
    3. seek approvals to destroy the records from the nominated supervisor, legal, and FOI teams.
  6. Once approval is received, the nominated supervisor must carry out the deletion process. When destroying images and videos it must be done in a way that ensures:
    1. personal, confidential, or sensitive information is not released
    2. permanent deletion, including where possible the deletion of backups on servers and storage devices
    3. the records are irretrievable and cannot be reconstructed or their content extracted or read.
  7. The nominated supervisor must keep a record of the destruction on their centre’s SharePoint site. This includes:
    1. the date destruction took place
    2. the approving officer(s)
    3. a summary of the records destroyed (e.g. '2024 daily photos of child activity at XYZ Centre').

The above is in line with the Records management policy and Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) standards.

Early Learning Victoria will remind all centres each year between December to January to review images and videos of children and to prepare 'destruction listings' to send to RMS. This coordinated process helps RMS bundle requests and consult with legal and FOI teams efficiently. RMS are available to assist with every step of the process.

Preservation for investigations

If Early Learning Victoria learns of an actual, expected or potential investigation, FOI request, complaint, insurance claim, or legal proceeding, it must suspend destroying potentially relevant images or recordings immediately. The nominated supervisor must alert RMS, which will issue a preservation notice and consult legal and FOI officers as required.

Preserved records must be retained until the hold is lifted in writing by RMS. This clause overrides routine end-of-year deletion in 'Destruction of records' above.

3.1 Responsibilities of families

Families must not take any photos or videos of children, including their own child or children, during the educational program or special events. This means that images or videos taken at a special event cannot be uploaded to social media.

Families are also responsible for:

  • giving or refusing consent for a professional photographer to take or publish photos, videos or recordings that include their child. This is part of the enrolment form. Consent can also be updated on Kidsoft or with a paper form
  • giving or refusing consent for their child to be photographed by an external organisation at a special event
  • giving or refusing consent for a support worker or external professional to photograph or record their child, if relevant
  • telling staff if their child needs to use a personal electronic device – for example, if their child has additional needs.

3.2 Responsibilities of staff

4. Resources

Legislation and standards

  • Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010
  • Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011
  • National Quality Standard, quality area 2: Children’s health and safety
  • Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014
  • Health Records Act 2001
  • Child safety and wellbeing policy
  • Educational program policy
  • Emergency management and evacuation policy
  • Excursions, incursions and regular outings policy and procedure
  • Family and community communications policy
  • Incident, injury, trauma and illness policy
  • Protecting children policy and procedure
  • Records management policy
  • Staff code of conduct policy
  • Supervision of children policy
  • Integrated services and consulting and community facilities use policy
  • Visitors, volunteers and students on placement policy
  • Privacy policy

Links

Attachments

Definitions

Authorised electronic devices: These are devices owned, managed and handed out by Early Learning Victoria. They include tablets or laptops. Devices are only used to record education or for administration.

Inappropriate images or videos of children: This is visual or audio content not directly related to the educational program. Or it may be content that puts at risk a child’s dignity, privacy or safety.

Personal electronic device: This is any device owned by a person that can take images, videos or recordings. This includes mobile phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches (with a camera or recording function), digital cameras and camera glasses.

There are clues to check whether a smartwatch has a camera or can record video. Look closely for:

  • a very small camera lens on the watch face, bezel or band (usually 1-2mm in diameter)
  • an aperture (tiny hole) typically found at the 12 o’clock position or side of the watch case.

Personal storage media device: There are devices or platforms used for saving or transferring digital content. This can include USB drives, SD cards, portable hard drives, or cloud-based apps not approved by Early Learning Victoria.

Recordings related to educational program: This refers to images or videos that record children’s learning and development and help us improve it. They are used to support our planning, teaching and talks with families.

Special event: This is a planned centre activity outside the normal educational program. It can include holiday celebrations, incursions, excursions, performances or family events.

External support professionals: These are specialists such as speech therapists, occupational therapists or other similar professionals. They may work with individual children at the centre to support their development, behaviour or learning.

Education

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