VIEWS & OPINION


Using technology for good: addressing the mental health crisis among children


Comment by ADELE BANNISTER, Online Safety Expert at Smoothwall


Last month World Suicide Prevention Day took place – a day to raise awareness for an increasing epidemic in the UK, particularly among young people. Recent data from the Office of National Statistics found that in the last year alone, 187 under-19s took their own lives, 15% more than the year before. And in less than a decade, the number of teenage suicides in England and Wales increased 67% from 2010 to 2017. These are worrying figures; the urgency to identify threats before they


become real-life incidents has never been greater. Particularly so, when you consider how the digital world has affected the way children think, talk and behave. There is clearly a link between the ubiquity of technology and a child’s mental health. As the risks associated with the misuse of technology and social media are


so high, schools have a significant role to play in helping to monitor and safeguard children’s mental wellbeing; but they need the right support to do so effectively. What can be done to ensure teachers are receiving the right support they


need?


Educate the educators There is a wealth of readily available resources that are open for teachers to use should they want to raise their own awareness about online safety, the latest technologies and social media platforms. Children’s technology habits are always evolving and changing, so it’s important that teachers utilise these resources to make sure they are up to date on what their pupils may currently be using. Teachers can also find lesson plans and creative ways to help them speak to


children about the dangers they may be facing online, which can be done in an interactive and engaging way through games, videos and workshops.


Spotting the signs early There can be some tell-tale signs if a child is struggling with their mental health, issues at home or being bullied. A lowering of their self-esteem, a change in eating habits, avoidance of social interactivity and a decline in grades can all raise red flags. However, there are times when the symptoms are harder to spot. We recently found that only 5% of children would report a cyber bullying incident to a teacher yet 95% of teachers rely on a child to tell them if they were being bullied. There’s clearly a disconnect here that needs addressing. Having the right tools in place for monitoring can therefore provide


invaluable support to teachers, as well as schools’ safeguarding officers, to build a profile of its users and context of a situation, identifying patterns of behaviour and trends that point to cyberbullying. There are technologies now available that not only monitor online behaviour, but also offline behaviour which, when combined, can create a more holistic view of what a child may be experiencing and alert the appropriate people.


Building a safer online future With the advanced capabilities society now has, technology – if used correctly – can play a key role in safeguarding children. It can help teachers and schools detect and flag potential issues and help a child before well in advance. Addressing the problem early is essential in ensuring that children are not


only educated on the risks and dangers associated with social media and technology’s impact on mental health, but that schools are equipped to cope with serious issues associated with mental health.


October 2018


Monitoring versus filtering – mutually exclusive or perfect partners?


Comment by BERNARD SNOWE, CEO at online safeguarding provider, Securus


At the beginning of September the Department of Education (DfE) issued updated statutory guidance for Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). The latest updates placed an even greater onus on teachers to manage safeguarding and to act on issues when they arise. Safeguarding in the classroom is a tough but necessary challenge


that teachers face everyday. As children and young people evolve to become digital natives this task becomes even greater. Much of the day-to day communication between pupils has moved online making the various risks faced by them harder to identify. The online environment frequently offers a place for problematic behaviour to take place under the cover of a digital utopia where we are all connected as ‘friends’. The DfE recognized this growing need to protect children while


using ICT back in 2016 when they introduced monitoring as part of the statutory guidelines. Two years down the line there is still some confusion about what monitoring means and how it differs from filtering, a requirement that was already in place. To be clear, the act of monitoring refers quite simply to keeping watch on the children in your care whether in the physical world or the online one. Online we have the benefit of being able to do this systematically


by putting software systems in place that monitor for us. Unlike the playground, software systems can keep eyes on all the children in our care at the same time. This is not a big-brother technique, the software systems that monitor do so based on specific parameters. We don’t want or need to see each and every interaction between children. We do want to see a cry for help or recognize a situation that is getting out of control before it’s too late. In many cases the systems used are those that use word and phrase captures with the evidential screen shot based on a library of words built from a range of sources to flag up problematic or worrying behaviour. So how does this differ from filtering? The very necessary act of


filtering blocks young people from visiting inappropriate online destinations. Filtering plays an important role in simply not allowing young people to go where they shouldn’t and saving them from unnecessary exposure to harmful or distressing material as well as protecting networks from other forms of web threats. It’s important to note here that filtering and monitoring focus on different but equally important safeguarding tasks and should go hand-in-hand. However, we are all increasingly aware young people and children


are now digital natives and often know more than we do. We are learning from them. For that reason alone, the richness of monitoring can give us a wealth of information. Not just about what’s happening right now under our very noses and therefore when to intervene but spotting patterns of behaviour, distinguishing between accidental and deliberate access to inappropriate content where ‘context’ is key and learning about what’s coming down the line. This perfect partnership is the best way of addressing the online


behaviour, the interactions and the new trends that we haven’t imagined yet.


www.education-today.co.uk 23


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