Why centres are stopping class photos amid child safety and AI concerns

One of Australia’s largest childcare providers has banned class photos, citing child safety concerns, leaving photography businesses scrambling and disappointed parents without the treasured keepsakes.

Across the country, childcare centres are in a state of upheaval after a string of abuse incidents led to sweeping reforms banning staff from carrying mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets or any device capable of taking or transmitting images of children. It also created new rules on where photos and videos of children could be stored.

For Goodstart Early Learning, which has more than 660 centres across Australia, the risk of photographs beyond its control being manipulated is too high at present.

“Until we can be certain that every photography session is conducted by a photographer who has strict controls on the storage and security of photographs of children, we won’t be allowing commercial photography in our centres,” it said.

The phasing-out of traditional class photos comes at a time of growing debates and concern about the safety of children’s images. Schools have been warned it is no longer safe to share student’s images online as artificial intelligence becomes weaponised.

Australian crime professor Michael Salter, an internationally recognised child sexual exploitation expert, said commercial photographers and childcare centres needed to change their practices.

“The fact is that images of children, especially high-quality resolution images of children, now have an additional currency and valence they didn’t use to have,” Salter said.

“It’s incumbent on parents to be very aware of the importance of preserving the privacy of their children. We are simply in an era where images and video is being scraped at scale. Internet service providers have not yet responded to the threat of this kind of data harvesting.

“I think the photography industry and the education sector need to be alive to the risks and what minimum standards mean in this new environment.”

While regulations do not prohibit commercial photography, many centres have come to the realisation that once the images are taken, they hand over control to photographers to store and process images safely.

Queensland mum Carrie, who asked for her surname to be withheld, treasures the preschool photos of her children. But when she flicks to her son’s album, the pictures suddenly stop.

“It came out of nowhere,” said Carrie. “Maybe in the big scheme of things, it is just a photo, but it is nostalgic to look back on. It’s almost a rite of passage,” she said.

The decision shocked early childhood photographers, some of whom had been snapping photos at the centres for decades, and triggered a “mass wave of disruption and panic in the photography industry”, said Queensland photographer Liz Teece.

While current laws and regulations do not ban third-party school photos, they do not explicitly outline a standard policy or procedure.

“Everyone is interpreting the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority regulations differently,” said Teece.

“We have had mass revolt from parents who just want their child’s photo. It’s been incredibly tough to say to families we are sorry, but we just can’t.”

Sydney photographer Clayton Walker has spent more than $50,000 updating his systems, having cybersecurity experts examine the software and training his staff in mandatory child protection issues. Families can log in and delete their own child’s photos at any time, even if the centre wants them active longer, and they do not keep images forever.

Goodstart said it hoped to be able to reintroduce class photography in the future. “We are always exploring ways to improve our systems and practices and will be happy to reintroduce commercial class photography when we can assure ourselves that it is as safe as possible and meets the requirements of the national model code.”

“A lot of centres are making some pretty strong changes about their data and privacy policies and who they are allowing into the centre. It’s just created change, and there’s no particular one way that companies are doing it,” said Walker.

He wishes the laws were clearer, as do other photographers, who have since formed an alliance, calling for official standards of consent, data security, child safety and professional conduct.

Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s besieged childcare, sector said those in charge “still haven’t learnt the lesson”.

“The teachers and educators I speak to are exasperated at failures in leadership in this sector. Not a single one of them has identified to me concerns about professional photographers taking photos with prudent and standard privacy and safety conditions.”

Mum Carrie said the decision was confusing, given many centres used apps to share photos of their children throughout the day. She worries that too will soon disappear.

“I hate that I have to work and send my kids to day care, so it is nice to get those little updates,” said Carrie.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.