Internet Safety Education in Schools

Ruth Hammond

Key messages for today

• Issues and risks

• Role of the school/organisation

• Advice and guidance

• What do you need to do?

Two Key Beliefs

• The internet has the potential to transform teaching and learning.

• All of us involved in education have a duty of care to children.

So • protect and educate.• effective solutions combine safe practices and

safe systems.

Why use ICT?• Professor Stephen Heppell,

Director Ultralab “..the internet isn’t just a new form of digital television…”

• Learners who use ICT, and use it well, outperform their counterparts who do not. ImpaCT2 found that at KS2 this can be the equivalent of a whole term’s extra progress and at GCSE it can account for half an extra grade.

• Host of positive benefits

• Children live in a world of ICT!

For young people ICT is not a novelty but the way they engage with their world

21st century culture

• Communication via email, chat rooms and message boards, IM, SMS, weblogs

• Entertainment – watching films on DVD, downloading music, playing games, taking, storage and retrieval of digital images.

• Education – research, word processing, data manipulation, modelling, design, creativity, recording thoughts

• Personal management – diary, appointment calendars and address books, alarm clock and personal reminders, finding the best party locations!

• For shopping

Why should I be concerned about e-safety?

• Every Child Matters: Change for children– Be healthy– Stay safe– Enjoy and achieve– Make a positive contribution– Achieve economic well-being

• Safeguarding Children in Education – Sept 2004

• Practitioners need to know that ICT is safe if they are to take advantage of its benefits

• Schools have a duty of care - both inside and outside

What are the risks?• Content• Commerce• Contact

• The ‘C’ of ICT is the most dangerous ie Communication which can lead to Contact

• Approx 40 - 50 cases in the last 4 -5 years compared to 500 serious road casualties per year!

• Don’t concentrate on the dangers and forget the benefits • ‘C’ is also for culture

• The biggest Internet danger is that we concentrate on the dangers and forget the benefits!

• Balance and perspective

What should schools be aware of?

• keeping personal information secret across all technologies – email, chat, IM, mobile

• bullying across all technologies• websites

- spotting copycats- evaluating reliability/validity of information- identifiable/contactable/pupil email addresses/images on web sites- accessing inappropriate web sites at school

• copyright and plagiarism• viruses and spam via email• damage to network through downloading of files/viruses• P2P networks - allow anyone to publish videos and large files to

anyone who needs them eg Napster and Gnutella, music and porn!• camera phones – pictures can give away info or be used for bullying• 3G technology – access to internet anywhere, anytime• data security• However - ICT is the media not the cause

Issues for schools to consider

• Who is responsible for teaching e-safety?– In primary phase?– In secondary phase?– Whole school issue– Technological issues

• At what age should internet safety lessons start?• How can parents be involved?• What support is there in schools for teachers in the

event of a ‘disclosure’?• Advent of 3G and ‘mobile internet’• Protection for staff – AUP

What should schools be doing?

•Be alert to the possibilities!

•Provide:

- Policies and procedures- Infrastructure - Education for staff, parents, students

What help is available?What help is available?

Main recommendations:

E-safety co-ordinator

Policy and management team

Checklist to help develop a series of AUPs

Incident log

Advice and guidanceSuperhighway Safety web site shortly migrating toBecta’s Schools website http://www.becta.org.uk/schools/esafety

What help is available?What help is available?

Technological solutions• ISP Safety site

http://ispsafety.ngfl.gov.uk

The Becta Accreditation of Internet Service toeducation scheme enables schools to purchase servicesfrom accredited suppliers that meet and maintain specificstandards in content filtering and service performance.

Now in its second round of accreditation

What help is available?What help is available?

Education and training• The Internet Proficiency

scheme for KS2

• Signposts to Safety for KS3/4

• NGfL ‘badged’ sites and Gridwatch

• Advice for parents and the wider community

Conclusions

Key principles: the paramount importance of children’s safety

the need to the need for schools to adopt solutions that combine a mix of technical approaches and safe practices set out in school policies and codes of practice

that the issue can only be addressed by educators, the industry, parents and government working together

the issue is one of good teaching, as much as it is about effective supervision.

What do you need to do?

• Remember the mantra– Policies– Infrastructure– User education

• Know what advice is available

• Plan how you will incorporate today’s messages back at school

Ruth Hammond

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)Millburn Hill RoadScience ParkCoventryCV4 7JJ

 • Tel:  02476 416994• Fax: 02476 411418• www.becta.org.uk

 • ruth.hammond@becta.org.uk

ICT – positive benefits• contributes to raising standards across the curriculum – ImpaCT2• enhances the learning experience of pupils and improves the effectiveness of

teaching• allows pupils to engage with content visually, audibly and kinaesthetically

– ie personalisation of learning experience• revisit and repeat learning as required• allows interactivity and communication opportunities• reaches children that find traditional teaching methods ineffective or difficult • removes tiresome tasks eg drafting and re-drafting, calculating results• allows more time for higher order thinking skills eg analysis and interpretation of

cause and effect, what if?• takes learning beyond school day and school boundaries• allows parental/carer involvement• allows access to information, images, communication with a range of audiences,

animation, video and collaborative endeavours• difficult concepts or potentially dangerous scenarios can be experienced eg

virtual reality tours and movies• aids teacher assessment – automated marking and voting pads, recording and

analysis of assessment data• provides access to learning for those with special needs