VIEWS & OPINION


Education for a connected world


Comment by MARK BENTLEY, Online Safety and Safeguarding Manager, London Grid for Learning


Transforming parental engagement into a dialogue


Comment by DR. JANET GOODALL, lecturer in education leadership and management at the Department of Education at Bath University


If you are reading this, you probably already have an interest in online safety, digital resilience, digital citizenship, or whatever term is currently en vogue in your setting. But what about the people around you who don’t take an interest? How can we prepare children and young people for a connected world if we are a lone voice or expected to do it all ourselves? Unsurprisingly, we probably can’t. If only there were a way for teachers to work together across the


curriculum to ensure pupil progression in developing digital resilience without reinventing the wheel and allowing everyone to get involved, including those who may not have a natural affinity or interest, as well as those who simply feel ill equipped to speak about the online world. You’ll be pleased to hear there’s now a way for teachers to do this, with


the new UKCCIS digital resilience framework Education for a Connected World. If you haven’t heard of UKCCIS, it is the UK Council for Child Internet Safety and well worth finding out more about, especially after the government’s Internet Safety Strategy highlighted its future strategic role (disclaimer: we at LGfL DigiSafe sit on the education working group which developed the framework). The document is a progression framework with four nominal age ranges –


EYFS -7, 7-11, 11-14 and 14-18 – but of course the ‘stage, not age’ principle applies and you can apply it as appropriate. For example, specialist SEND schools may well take a different approach, and this may be the case in many mainstream schools as well. However, the point is to offer a baseline to plan against and help you to consolidate learning and identify progression. The framework is divided into eight broad themes covering behaviour and knowledge, protection, development and respect for others as well as norms and laws: • Self-image and identity • Online relationships • Online reputation • Online bullying • Managing online information • Health, wellbeing and lifestyle • Privacy and security • Copyright and ownership Each strand and age range has ‘can do’ statements in the style of a typical


class learning objective, ranging from this for the lower ages. Some of the topics covered by the statements are challenging, such as addressing online pornography for secondary students. But they are in the framework with good reason, both in terms of real-world necessity and the legislative landscape (the introduction of relationships and sex education, and the upcoming introduction of age verification for online pornography). Incidentally, on that, there is some support for teachers at pornography.lgfl.net. A different kind of challenge for many colleagues might be teaching about new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, which is mentioned in several strands. But again, it’s there because of the reality of the world we live in, let alone the world as it will be when our pupils leave school in a few years’ time. As we move towards summer and the inevitable reviews and rewrites of


curriculum plans, schemes of work and so on, it’s a great time to engage with colleagues on this issue and have this document at the ready to support you as you do so. I bet your colleagues will be surprised to discover how many of the statements they already cover. And where you don’t, plenty of organisations are working to provide resources to support you. Many of which you can find at saferesources.lgfl.net.


May 2018


Our recent research shows that the impact of parental involvement in schools is much bigger than the differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. Essentially, it is very important for a child’s development to have a high level of parental engagement with their learning. We know that about 80% of the difference in how well children do


at school, is dependent on what happens outside the school gates, whether it is in the home or in the wider community (Rabash et al, 2010 and Save the Children, 2013). Establishing an effective parental engagement system should be a


priority – what is important is to identify interventions that are truly effective, particularly with those parents who may not be obviously involved in learning. Knowing how to support a child at home is half the challenge for parents, something schools could be helping with; providing moral support, setting a good example (particularly with reading) and showing an interest in their child and their learning are all good examples. The variety of digital communications systems has made schools


increasingly proficient at giving parents information. However, there is a difference between engaging in dialogue and simply giving out information. To support learning, to be truly effective, communication needs to be two-way. A couple of years ago we ran a highly successful project with 34


schools in a rural area of Somerset. Teachers sent home questions to parents ‘what can you tell me about your child to help me tailor their learning?’ Parents submitted responses like, ‘he loves dinosaurs’. At the same time parents sent in questions to the teachers, ‘how can I support my child’s learning?’ Parents and teachers in another school were provided with questions they could ask at parents’ evenings – parents asking what they could do to support learning, and teachers asking what parents could tell them that would have the same effect. Both these things emphasised what parents and teachers have in common, which is the child’s learning. Bringing all this knowledge together is so important. A teacher


knowing why a child may be late into school or a parent being able to raise a concern changes the dynamic of school/parent relationships. For today’s technology to be used to not only disseminate


information, but also as a basis for dialogue, schools need to provide a system that is convenient for parents to access. 92% of parents own smartphones and therefore apps such as the Piota app and others are important; it’s important that schools really understand what works best for their parents. A survey of teenagers revealed that they wanted parents to ask


them about their day when they got home to show they cared. If parents already know what the child has been working on, the conversation can be so much more fruitful. In a book we are soon to publish (Hundred Tips for Primary Teachers on Parental Engagement, Dr. Janet Goodall and Dr. Kathy Weston, Bloomsbury), teachers are offered advice on this conversation they can pass on to parents. In the words of Dr Kathy Weston, ‘When parents and teachers work


together in partnership, children have a better chance of thriving and reaching their potential. Parents are a child’s first teacher. Teachers need to be supported and respected by parents. When everyone is working in alignment, children are better able to thrive.’


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