Views & Opinion E-safety in schools: protecting pupils – and


education Comment by Sam Pemberton, CEO of Impero Software


Over the past twenty years technological innovations including high-speed internet, tablet computers, intelligent search engines, instant messaging, and social media, have opened up more opportunities for better learning. If you’re a teacher, you’ve likely seen this for yourself; certainly, with laptops and online learning activities, pupils are more engaged with the curricula than ever before and that’s a very good thing.


But for all the good it has done, the ubiquity of technology has been a mixed blessing for schools. Bullying, homophobia, racism and sexual harassment have all made their way online and so are ever harder to spot. Unfortunately in recent years we’ve also seen radicalisation and extremist recruitment become an internet activity - in 2015 there have been several high-profile cases of ISIL recruiters enticing vulnerable pupils to venture abroad to join the extremist group. The government, aware of this danger, introduced both the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 – which placed a responsibility on schools to protect schoolchildren from radicalisation – and Ofsted guidelines which


place a direct responsibility on schools to ‘prevent people being drawn into terrorism’.


So what can be done to ensure pupils stay safe online?


Monitoring not blocking


By and large, schools now understand that e-safety is a very complex topic. Asking webmasters to block distracting, potentially harmful or inappropriate sites is likely to have poor results: as well as being resource- intensive, evidence also suggests that students sometimes work to circumnavigate the blocks. It’s also not wise to foster a climate of restriction and censure when it comes to education. E-safety measures should never be seen as punitive: the point of technology in classrooms is to encourage curiosity, not stifle it, and if a problem is encountered, it should be assessed as an opportunity for constructive dialogue.


Alongside standard filtering and antivirus tools, classroom monitoring software provides an opportunity to build a clear picture of each student’s IT activity over time, and in context.


While initiatives like our keyword library algorithms will inform teachers when certain search terms are used and what they mean (for example, “pic for pic”, a term indicating an exchange of inappropriate photos, or “YODO” “You only die once” – a jihadi phrase) – the idea isn’t to treat each instance as a red flag. Instead teachers, equipped with explanations of each term, can view how they are being used in context, so that dialogues can be opened up with students and, if appropriate, any e-safety issues can be addressed.


Learning together


Pupil’s don’t need to be and indeed shouldn’t be constantly subject to draconian limitations. Head teachers should make every effort to introduce a culture of responsible learning, so that pupils and staff alike become good digital citizens. Technology can be an invaluable educational tool – it’s up to schools to help children make the most of it through an open and modern e-safety approach.


Getting the most out of technology in our schools Comment by Joe Mathewson, co-founder of interactive learning platform Firefly


Are we getting the maximum out of technology in the classroom? Probably not. The introduction of technology in many schools in the UK has been done on a piecemeal basis, largely because of the expense and need for training. Many of the technology solutions appearing in schools are difficult to use and just as difficult to explain to multiple staff members with differing levels of expertise.


So it’s no surprise to see September’s OECD report on technology in schools call for a whole new approach, and something that I would wholeheartedly agree with. However, it was rather distorted by some sections of the press to mean that schools shouldn’t be investing in technology. And this couldn’t be further from the truth.


Investment in technology needs to be very carefully planned - there are many options for schools to consider, and they could easily end up spending more than they should on technology that gives little value in return. Schools need to approach this in a similar way as any company would - careful research,


meetings with potential providers and so forth. In short, due diligence. Schools ideally need someone effectively acting as a CTO (chief technology officer) on a full-time basis, in order to make the correct purchasing decisions and oversee the effective use of technology in the long term.


I would never advocate the indiscriminate use of technology in the classroom - it cannot be used as a babysitter for pupils, and its overuse could very well lead to a decline in standards. But the recent call by Tom Bennett, the discipline tsar at the Department for Education, to ban pupils’ own devices from the classroom seems more motivated by populism than common sense.


Firstly, enforcing such a rule is very problematic. Are you going to make every pupil hand in their device at the beginning of each lesson, then redistribute them all again at the end? This would be utterly impractical. But Bennett is also ignoring their potential to help pupils learn - these devices might be used for sending messages or playing a


game, sure, but they could also be used as an 18 www.education-today.co.uk October 2015


ad-hoc research tool, giving the pupil a resource through which they can find additional evidence to back up their arguments or even challenge their teacher. The focus needs to be on teaching pupils about the potential of these devices and how they can be used in a way that adds value to their everyday life experiences.


A school in London has this week banned pupils from using any technology in the classroom until they turn 12 - and even extended this rule to home life. Again, this is an extreme reaction; like all things in life, we need to take a balanced approach. An outright ban sends out mixed messages - to some pupils it may make the desire to misuse technology in the classroom even more appealing, to others it could lead to the belief that technology is a bad thing that should always be avoided. Above all else, we need to be teaching pupils how to take a responsible attitude to everything in life, and the indiscriminate banning of any item is not going to achieve this.


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