Views & Opinion How to encourage online safety awareness
in schools Comment by Tony Anscombe, Senior Security Evangelist, AVG
The issue of online safety has never been more prominent. Safer Internet Day, which took place last month, saw conversations surrounding the issue soar. With such vast numbers of kids more accustomed to Snapchatting and Instagramming than we are, staying on top of the plethora of social media platforms out there, while understanding the associated risks, is no easy feat.
It’s not just parents who are under pressure to educate kids about behaving responsibly online, as well as the potential dangers. Teachers also have a big role to play supporting their pupils and educating parents on online safety best practice – communicating a consistent message to children, whether at home or in the classroom. While at school, children are constantly interacting, surfing and exploring the Internet for relevant content. It has revolutionised learning and is a valuable educational tool. However, teachers commonly have to deal with its wider issues, often without formal training. Because the curriculum is updated at a slower rate than technological change, practitioners need to be proactive in encouraging cyber awareness. Tackling the issue should begin with teachers joining forces with parents. Attempts made by schools to engage parents only work if they are willing to try, implement or reinforce similar
practices within the household – complacency is not an option.
For this to work successfully, there must be open dialogue in place between teachers, pupils and parents. Approaching parents about online safety awareness at school events, discussing it during parent’s evening and ensuring the significance of the subject is regularly communicated via school newsletters are key. Schools should ensure staff are given the necessary resources to tackle the challenges the online world poses. If there is a lack of appropriate resources or training – it is worth questioning why such procedures aren’t already in place and exploring how they could be implemented. There are also free educational resources available, such as those found on Childnet, NSPCC and the Safer Internet Centre. Tackling the dangers of the web is about actively seeking out guidance, enabling open conversations around the topic and identifying simple yet effective solutions: • Help parents to set expectations with their kids as to what is acceptable and what isn’t.
• Be attentive to student discussions about the latest app they’re using and encourage parents to be just as inquisitive.
• Work with parents to enable kids to make smarter decisions by warning them of the unintended audience.
• Encourage responsible behavior by suggesting to pupils they only post online what they’d be comfortable to say in person.
Engaging in various activities with children to reinforce how they can keep their information private is also helpful in furthering their understanding around the topic. One such example is AVG’s initiative with The Scouts Association, announced last month, aimed at encouraging kids to think before posting/sharing pictures, videos or texts via their smartphone without a second thought.
The #tk6 initiative asks young people to ‘take six’ seconds before sharing such material. This small, yet significant behaviour change is key within a society where communication via social media is immediate and largely unforgiving. Teachers can kick off the conversation around online safety by recommending their pupils take six seconds (#tk6) to think before sharing material via their smartphone.
With the world very much at their fingertips, kids need the wisdom, maturity and knowledge of their teachers and parents to guide them in accessing the wealth of information available to them online. As with anything in life there are risks, but they become minimised if we are equipped to deal with them.
When should schools start educating pupils about internet safety? Comment by Emma Robertson, Co-Founder of Digital Awareness UK
A recent study from BBC News Round found that three quarters of primary school aged students are using social media, despite the legal age limit for most networks being 13. We work in schools across the UK every day and in our experience the average age students start regularly using platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram is ten, although many start much earlier, leaving them exposed to issues such as grooming, cyberbullying and online scams.
This presents a challenge for schools – do they start educating students about safe use of social media before they start using it? And if they do, will that entice students who previously weren’t interested in social media to start experimenting? When it comes to safeguarding students, whether they’re dealing with sex, drugs, or alcohol, schools usually offer strategies and insights to children to ensure they can mitigate risk before it takes place. But when it comes to the internet, how early do you start? Research shows that the average age for first online exposure to pornography among boys is 11, and by the time they reach secondary school, most students will have already been the victims of cyberbullying. That’s why we deliver age- sensitive digital awareness workshops to students,
March 2016
from reception to university level. Prevention is always better than cure.
When working at primary school level, the issues we deal with usually come about as a result of the children’s trial and error approach to social media. They aren’t experienced enough to understand the importance of not accepting friend or follower requests from strangers, ensuring their securing settings have been set to an appropriate level, or they click on a link suggesting they would win an iPad when they’ve actually just infected their computers with a virus. Once we get into secondary schools and further education, students are more familiar with these issues as many will have first-hand experience of them. Instead the focus is on how to manage their digital lives effectively – looking at trends such as revenge porn, FOMO (fear of missing out) and second screening (using multiple digital devices simultaneously).
But education in the classroom plays a very small role when it comes to safeguarding young people. Often the real need for education is amongst parents and teachers – parents because they are giving their children access to technology and setting ground rules inside and outside of the home, and teachers who need to be able to spot
risk, engage with students around the issues and educate effectively.
This can be achieved through:
• CPD: Activate regular training solutions to keep staff skilled up on social media safety
• Education: Create a culture of responsible social media use amongst students through an innovative strategy that effectively integrates e- safety throughout the curriculum
• Policy: Ensure your students and staff have clear acceptable use guidance
• Parental engagement: Get your e-safety efforts backed up at home through inspiring parent events
• Leadership: Ensure your SLT empowers staff to effectively advise on social media safety by investing in your e-safety vision
• Crisis management: Get a robust escalation system and crisis plan in place
Digital Awareness UK use leading YouTube stars, hackers and social media specialists to inspire students to enjoy using social media safely.
www.digitalawarenessuk.com and @DigitalSisters
www.education-today.co.uk 19
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