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.

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

Our practices safeguard children from child abuse and harm and prioritise their safety and wellbeing. Early Learning Victoria has zero tolerance for child abuse and actively promotes the Victorian Child Safe Standards. Establishing child safe practices for the use of electronic devices and photography is essential to safeguarding children in Early Learning Victoria centres.

1. Scope

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 establishes strong guidelines to monitor and limit the use of electronic devices and photography in Early Learning Victoria centres. This policy should be read in conjunction with the following Early Learning Victoria policies:

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

For guidance on the use of electronic devices in community spaces please see the Use of consulting and community facilities policy.

2.1 Requirements

The National Model Code

The National Model Code for Taking Images or Videos of Children while Providing Early Childhood Education and Care (the National Model Code) has been developed to support approved providers to create a child safe culture when it comes to taking, sharing and storing images or videos of children at their services. Early Learning Victoria’s practices align with the National Model Code, which states that:

  • only service-issued electronic devices should be used when taking images or videos of children while providing education and care
  • personal electronic devices that can take images or videos, personal storage and file transfer media should not be in possession of any person while providing education and care working directly with children
  • any exceptions to the restrictions on personal devices should:
    • be limited to essential purposes other than the taking of images or videos of children
    • be authorised in writing by the approved provider (or another means if not reasonably practicable), and
    • only be authorised where access does not impede the active supervision of children
  • approved providers and services should have strict controls in place for the appropriate storage and retention of images and videos of children.

3. Actions and procedures

Consent for photography and the use of images is obtained during the enrolment process via the child’s enrolment form in Kidsoft. Families can approve or decline use across five clearly defined categories:

  1. visual displays/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).

Early Learning Victoria fully supports families in any decision to withhold or withdraw consent and will ensure that these preferences are respected and upheld across all platforms and uses.

A paper-based Public Use of Images Consent Form is available for use by families who enrolled their child at an Early Learning Victoria centre in 2025, or on an as needs basis. However, families should be encouraged to update their consent preferences via Kidsoft wherever possible, as this is the preferred method.

3.2 Use of electronic devices

Personal electronic devices for staff

In line with the National Model Code, Early Learning Victoria centre staff are not permitted to carry personal electronic devices, personal storage and file transfer media while providing education and care and working directly with children. Early Learning Victoria centre staff must store personal electronic devices and storage media devices in their individual, secure locker at the beginning of each shift. Staff are permitted to access their personal electronic devices during their breaks, for example, when in the staff room or outside the centre.

Exemptions

An Early Learning Victoria employee must obtain a 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 outage – for example, anticipating a bushfire evacuation text notification.

In cases where an exemption is granted and with the employee’s consent, nominated supervisors should inform relevant staff about the arrangements regarding the employee’s personal electronic device. The reason for the exemption does not need to be shared. Centre staff with an approved exemption must not use their personal device to take images or videos of children, and its use must not impede active supervision responsibilities.

Emergencies

Staff are permitted to use their personal electronic devices during an emergency to communicate with emergency services. This includes situations involving a lost child, an injured child or staff member, or a lockdown or evacuation (see the Emergency management and evacuation policy). However, personal electronic devices must not be used to take images or videos of children, even in emergency situations.

Early Learning Victoria-issued electronic devices

Only Early Learning Victoria-issued electronic devices can be used when taking images or videos of children as part of their education and care. Early Learning Victoria centres have a limited number of authorised electronic devices which include laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Tablets and laptops are used to perform routine checks and to capture images of children as part of the educational program. All devices must be secured at the end of each day and remain at the premises. Loose tablets must be placed in a lockable cupboard in a secure staff area, whereas kiosk tablets, which are secured within their charging docks, do not require relocation.

Educational program

Early Learning Victoria believes that safe technology use has a place in children’s learning and promotes child safety and wellbeing in its physical and online environments. Technology can make learning more interactive and engaging for children and support in the process of interest-based learning by providing powerful research tools. Moreover, images and videos can be used by educators to capture evidence of learning that may be shared with families and allow children to 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, as 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

When taking images on Early Learning Victoria-issued devices, educators must act in the best interest of the child by 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 the child’s face and instead emphasise the child’s learning by focusing the camera on the child’s hands and actions. However, an exception applies when the learning experience specifically focuses on understanding emotions. In such cases, photos of the child’s face are appropriate provided the child has consented.

Essential identity photographs

Early Learning Victoria collects a photograph of each child upon enrolment and annually to support safety, identification, and wellbeing. This photograph assists centre staff in identifying each child and ensuring their health and safety. For children with medical conditions (e.g. allergies), the photo also supports the effective implementation of their medical or risk management plan.

External professionals working directly with children

The restrictions to use of personal electronic devices, personal storage and file transfer media apply to any person who is providing education and care and 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, mentors or coaches, visiting teachers supporting students on placement, preschool field officers and primary school teachers attending the centre as part of a school transition program.

Early Learning Victoria centres may have external professionals who support children with additional needs. External professionals must seek written permission from the nominated supervisor and the child’s parents or carers to capture images, videos or audio at the centre. Any media captured must include only the child in their care, be taken solely to support their professional duties, and must be taken using a work-issued device.

Who the restrictions do not apply to

Restrictions relating to the use of personal electronic devices, storage devices, and file sharing do not apply to individuals 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 – for example, environmental health officers and WorkSafe Victoria officers.

While these individuals are not subject to the same technology use restrictions, they are still expected to comply with all overarching child safety policies and procedures and supervision requirements in line with the Supervision of children policy.

Tradespeople and maintenance workers

If photographs are required for documenting completed works or for quoting or planning purposes, tradespeople and maintenance workers must first speak to a member of staff. An Early Learning Victoria-issued device will be provided for this purpose.

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

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

The only Early Learning Victoria-issued 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

Occasionally, Early Learning Victoria may engage professional photographers to capture images or videos of children at Early Learning Victoria centres. These images may be used on Early Learning Victoria’s or related Department of Education public platforms, including social media, websites and email communications.

Before any special event or proposed new use of a child's image, families will be informed and given the opportunity to review or update their consent preferences provided during enrolment. If no updated response is received, Early Learning Victoria will act according to the original consent provided at enrolment.

Prior to engaging professional photographers, Early Learning Victoria will ensure that all contracts include clear clauses around privacy, appropriate storage and information handling.

Photography at official events and media

Certain individuals are not subject to restrictions relating to the use of personal electronic devices, personal storage and file transfer media. Occasionally, Early Learning Victoria may receive requests from media, ministers, or other government departments to use images of children as part of an official event. In these cases:

  • Early Learning Victoria will assess privacy and consent implications
  • specific consent will be sought for any new public image use not already covered by enrolment forms
  • Early Learning Victoria will 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 in accordance with 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 containing 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-issued iPads and similar devices must be reviewed and, if eligible, deleted by the nominated supervisor. Early Learning Victoria does not need to notify families when their child’s images are destroyed. Consistent with the Records management policy and Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) standards, 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 under PROV standards and/or the National Quality Framework.
  3. Contact the department’s Records and Mail Services (RMS) at archives.records@education.vic.gov.au to advise of the intention to dispose of records.
  4. Complete a Records Destruction List describing the records to be destroyed and send the list to RMS.
  5. On receipt of the listing, RMS will:
    1. review the records
    2. ensure the records are eligible for destruction – this process 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.
  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).

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 or expected or potential investigation, FOI, complaint, insurance claim, or legal proceeding, Early Learning Victoria must suspend destruction of potentially relevant images or recordings immediately and the nominated supervisor must alert RMS, who will issue a preservation notice and consult Legal and FOI as required. Preserved records must be retained until the hold is lifted in writing by RMS. This clause overrides routine end-of-year deletion.

3.1 Responsibilities of families

Families are responsible for:

  • ensuring they do not take any images or videos of children, including their own child or children, during the educational program or special events
  • ensuring they do not upload any images or videos taken at a special event to social media
  • providing or denying consent for a professional photographer to capture and/or publish images, videos or recordings that include their child as part of the enrolment form and updating if these preferences change
  • providing or denying consent for their child to be photographed by an external organisation at a special event
  • providing or denying consent for a support worker or external professional to photograph or record their child, if relevant
  • communicating to 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
  • Use of consulting and community facilities policy
  • Visitors, volunteers and students on placement policy
  • Privacy policy

Links

Attachments

Definitions

Authorised electronic devices: Devices owned, managed and distributed by Early Learning Victoria (such as tablets or laptops) that support learning, documentation, and administrative functions.

Inappropriate images or videos of children: Visual or audio content not directly relevant to the educational program or which may compromise a child’s dignity, privacy, or safety.

Personal electronic device: Any personally owned device capable of taking images, videos, or recordings. This includes mobile phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches (with camera/recording functionality), digital cameras and wearables, such as camera glasses. To determine whether a smartwatch has a camera or is capable of video recording and needs to be put away by the user, look closely for any of the following:

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

Personal storage media device: Devices or platforms used for saving or transferring digital content, such as USB drives, SD cards, portable hard drives, or cloud-based apps not approved by Early Learning Victoria.

Recordings related to educational program: Images and videos used to document and reflect children’s learning and development and are used to support programming, reflection, and family communication.

Special event: A planned centre activity outside the normal educational program, such as holiday celebrations, incursions, excursions, performances, or family events.

External support professionals: Specialists such as allied health professionals who may work with individual children at the centre to provide developmental, behavioural, or learning support.

Education

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