A governor’s guide to image sharing

Introduction

The internet is an amazing place for chatting and sharing with others. That’s why a big part of the way we communicate today is visual – through photos, videos, livestreams, memes and emojis.

Sharing images can be quick, easy and fun. However, it’s important to think about what we choose to share, how it reflects on us and how it may affect our audience.

Children and young people use images to build their online reputation in a way that’s often positive and respectful of others. However, what they see and experience online also has the potential to negatively affect them.

This guide:

• explores some risks that children and young people face
• provides information to help you support and safeguard your learners
• supports you in managing disclosures and risks
• raises the importance of good practice and procedures in online safety
• helps you fulfil your governance duties as a ‘critical friend’.

The positives of image sharing

Its many benefits include:

• picture power – images are a handy way of expressing something that might be hard to put into words for example sharing your talents, places you’ve visited or explaining a new skill
• turning complexity into simplicity – an image can often make ideas clearer for others to understand for example infographics
• diverse entertainment – the internet is full of creative and talented people who love to create artwork or take photos to make us laugh or think
• access to a global audience – social networks enable us to share our images and messages with millions of users worldwide, as well as with smaller groups of family and friends.

Reasons for posting images of themselves or others online may be to:

• share memories or experiences
• express themselves
• get noticed (to get ‘likes’ or followers)
• raise awareness (of a cause or news story)
• advertise a product, service or brand
• boost their confidence.

There’s always a reason behind why people share images. Remembering this can help us understand what others have shared. It may begin to explain why children and young people may wish to share explicit images online too.

Learners and technology

Although your role as a governor brings you into contact with learners, it may not be on a regular basis. Here are some common learner traits. Learners can:

Be quick to adopt new technologies

New devices, apps and ways of working with technology often don’t faze them. They may, though, use technology differently to adults or in ways other than its creators intended.

Show high technical ability

Some children and young people are capable of understanding highly technical processes and features. 

However learners are developing and:

• may make mistakes
• are curious
• may find their mood, decision-making and risk-taking are impacted by development stage and growth
• cannot always appreciate the long-term consequences of their or others’ actions.

Although lots of children and young people are adept technology users it doesn’t follow they’re better protected online.

What are the risks of sharing images?

Here’s our top things to consider

Personal information

An image of a learner in school uniform can disclose their school address, appearance, gender and approximate age. The image background can also give away clues about places the learner may frequent.

Location data

Images taken on most mobile devices will, by default, capture information about ‘where and when’. Software can extract this data and disclose precise location coordinates.

Contact from others

Posting an image encourages other people to give feedback – ‘liking’, ‘sharing’ or ‘commenting’. Some images may be posted to provoke a reaction or without thinking about the possible consequences. Images may be shared with a small group of trusted friends online or publicly, possibly inviting comments and unwanted contact from strangers.

Where does the image go and for how long?

Once shared, images can easily be copied and re-shared by others. This makes it very difficult to remove an image from the internet definitively, as the opportunity for another user to repost the image always remains

Online reputation

Other users can see the:

• behaviour of learners
• comments learners make about other images on social media.

They may perceive them as positive or negative depending on the image, context and comment.

Misunderstood messages

Images can be misunderstood or challenged online by others. An image or meme seen as ‘funny’ by the person who created or shared it may not be appreciated in the same way by others.

The impact of editing

It’s very easy to crop or otherwise alter images before sharing them – the final version showing (and meaning) something quite different to the original. This may suggest an event that didn’t really happen, or portray something impossible or offensive.

Sharing nudes

Sharing nudes (sometimes referred to as ‘sexting’) is the creation and sharing of nude or semi-nude images or videos of yourself or others. It has legal implications for learners and is a serious safeguarding issue. Find out more about sharing nudes later in this guide.

Helping you in safeguarding

Supporting and safeguarding learners

The following are questions to explore with your school/college’s leadership team.

• Does your school or college have online safety and acceptable use policies?
• Are there policies around the collection and use of learners’ images?
• How do you assess that they are clear, understood and respected by all learners and staff?

An excellent way of evaluating your school’s online safety provision and practice is to register and access 360 safe Cymru.

Supporting and safeguarding your setting

• What mechanisms are in place to manage and respond to online safety issues?
• Are reporting channels and procedures robust, appropriate and consistent?
• Are appropriate filtering and monitoring policies in place to ensure learners and staff are protected when using school technology and services?

Here is advice on the Recommended web filtering standards for schools in Wales. Further filtering and monitoring advice is available at the UK Safer Internet Centre site.

Supporting and safeguarding staff

• Have staff received training around handling online issues that include the sharing of images?
• Has the school or college’s designated senior person (DSP) received additional training, for example have they completed the Responding to incidents of sharing nudes online training module?
• Are there contingency and succession plans in place if the DSP is off site or moves on?

Education

• Is there a planned online safety education programme that covers the risks of sharing images? Does this develop in breadth and depth as learners progress through the school?
• Is there provision to ensure more vulnerable children can access this learning?
• What opportunities are there to extend this learning to the school community for example parents and carers, volunteers?
• You’ll find resources for schools to develop broad and balanced online safety education provision at the Keeping safe online area on Hwb.

Sharing nudes (incidents involving under-18s)

Creating or sharing a nude, semi-nude, indecent or sexually explicit image or video of a child under the age of 18 is illegal. When incidents only involve under 18 year-olds situations will be considered on a case-by-case context, with some dealt with as a safeguarding and/or criminal matter.

The following resources can support important conversations with learners about this sensitive issue so that they are aware of the risks and know where to get help if they have lost control of an image.

‘Just Send It’ from Childnet – a story about the effect sharing nudes can have on relationships and the wellbeing of young people.

‘I Saw Your Willy’ from NSPCC – an example of how younger children may create these images out of curiosity.

‘So you got naked online’ from SWGfL - help and advice for young people who find themselves in a situation where they or a friend have put a nude image or video online and have lost control over who it's being shared with.

‘Send me a pic?’ from CEOP Education - includes a series of three session plans to help young people discuss issues related to the sharing of nude images and understand healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviours.

‘Online issues and worries: sharing nudes’ – advice created specifically for children and young people to help them understand the law, what can go wrong and where to go for help.

Why does it happen?

Reasons a learner may take and share these images include:

• Peer pressure or dares - with friends or others online daring a learner to take and share an image.
• Partner pressure - from a boyfriend or girlfriend who might send an image and expect one in return.
• Curiosity - learners are frequently curious about bodies, sex and relationships – with created or shared images a way of exploring their questions.
• Naivety - younger learners are sometimes unaware of the risks and consequences of taking and sharing images of their bodies.

Possible consequences

• The law - learners need to be aware of the law around creating and sharing these images.
• Emotional or psychological distress - once an image has been shared, a learner may become upset or worried.
• Reputational damage - people may talk about the image and might think differently about the learner. It may also affect relationships with friends and partners.
• Where the image goes and who sees it - it’s hard to know who has a copy of the image and why they may have it. This can be very distressing for the learner.
• Manipulation or exploitation - once someone has the image, they might try to blackmail or exploit the learner to engage in further risky behaviour, even demanding money.

Sharing images: checklist

• Are your school’s safeguarding procedures leading to the effective logging and recording of online safety incidents?
• Does your school’s safeguarding policy adequately cover issues around sharing nudes and is the ‘Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: Responding to incidents and safeguarding children and young people’ being used to support the development of policies and procedures?
• Does the designated senior person (DSP) feel they have sufficient training to manage these incidents?
• What links does the school have to outside support from police/social services and other organisations who are there to help safeguard learners?
• Is the Governing Body informed of the frequency and impact of online safety incidents as part of the recording process?
• Is your school developing a culture of safe and responsible online use?

Getting further help

Although all safeguarding concerns should be reported to your school’s DSP, there is specific guidance to support education settings with developing procedures to respond to incidents involving sharing nudes or semi-nudes, available through the ‘Sharing nudes’ page.

Professionals Online Safety Helpline (POSH) delivered through the UK Safer Internet Centre. The Helpline is available to all who work with children and young people in the UK. It addresses online safety issues they either face themselves or involve children in their care.