Last updated on February 23, 2025
Photos for Class is a free image search engine to use in your school publications.
Photos for Class is suitable for use by pupils or students, Indeed, this is its main strength. This free search engine makes it possible to find images suitable for all audiences, with a Creative Commons license, therefore reusable. It also raises awareness among students notions of copyright by facilitating the citation of the source of an image.
Prevent young students from falling into their search for illustrations on inappropriate images. This is one of the starting ideas for Photos for Class. The creators of this search engine tried to limit the risk of accidental exposure by using Flickr filters but also by banning certain queries and keywords in the search. Photos for class also relies on the adult user community that can report an inappropriate image for immediate removal from the index. This seems to be effective, I have not been able to trap the engine. That said, there is no zero risk in this area, particularly on requests made in French. But overall there are far fewer risks here than on Google Images or during a direct search on Flickr.
The interface is very simple. Just indicate the subject of the search and launch the query. Photos For Class will search the huge Flickr database in record time and display the images found in the form of a gallery. Unable to filter the results, the images are displayed at a rate of about 20 per page. Moreover, no indication is given of the criteria used in the order of display. Under each image, three buttons. The first allows you to upload the photo immediately (you can also click on the image to download it) , the second allows you to see the image in Flickr, the third allows you to report an image as inappropriate. Simple, even simplistic as an interface but effective.
Photos for Class is finally a pedagogical work. When a student uploads an image, the image will contain a quotation allowing to credit it as it should be mentioning the name of the author, the licence conditions and the source.
A good address for an introduction to iconographic research with students of all ages. Photos For Class is free. The interface is in English but queries on the engine work in all languages.
Link: Photos For Class
English