Safety & Security A managed approach to e-safety in schools


young people had been affected by some form of cyberbullying. Ofsted, meanwhile, has also warned that pupils are regularly accessing sites where they could potentially be exposed to grooming or abuse.


In January 2012, Ofsted recognised e-safety as a serious issue and has placed it at the heart of its ongoing inspection criteria. Since then, it has judged: the effectiveness of a school’s ability to safeguard against online ‘bullying and harassment’; monitored how consistently schools ‘manage pupil behaviour’ and how they develop pupils’ ability to ‘assess and manage risk appropriately and…keep themselves safe’.


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aul Evans, Managing Director at Redstor, provider of cloud services, including e-safety for schools, discusses the need to implement the right e-safety systems to protect and educate pupils against modern day threats. “As children become increasingly ‘tech- savvy’, one would struggle to argue that the Internet has not positively bolstered the learning experience, bringing with it a plethora of resources for teachers and reams of learning material for students.


However, it’s not without its various hazards. Downsides of the Internet


In November 2011, NSPCC research collated from Government reports found that 38% of


Challenges and solutions The main challenge facing school IT administrators today is how to ensure that pupils remain safe online and are less likely to unearth malicious content without hindering the learning process.


Many schools have favoured a ‘locked down’ approach in the past, in which a simple blocking and filtering system is put in place. However, such software alone is not sufficient to protect children whilst online, primarily because the majority of 14 year olds are technologically experienced enough to bypass blocked sites using proxy servers or other means. In addition, whilst such systems are an important weapon in an overall e-safety arsenal,


they do not flag bullying or grooming behaviour, nor do they alert IT administrators to the fact that students have attempted to access prohibited or damaging material, such as pro- suicide sites.


Managed systems


Ofsted has noted that ‘managed systems’, which have fewer inaccessible sites than ‘locked down’ systems, are more effective in helping pupils learn how to use new technologies safely. This is because they allow children to learn from their mistakes in a safe online environment where they can become accustomed to working within a defined set of boundaries. Blocking and filtering software also has the potential to adversely affect children’s learning by indiscriminately blocking potentially useful material.


A managed system allows education professionals to monitor exactly what pupils are accessing and inputting at any point, enabling them not only to block malicious material but effectively plan and educate students about relevant e-safety issues.


Understanding the potential risks of the Internet, implementing safe and responsible practices and adopting a more intelligent e- safety service, are crucial steps towards developing a managed approach that will keep students safe online.”


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