Teachers' Viewsabout

Child Abuse on the Internet

Yeşim YENİLMEZAssoc.Prof. S. Sadi SEFEROĞLU

Hacettepe University Institute of ScienceDepartment of Computer Education and Instructional Technology

Beytepe-ANKARA

2nd World Conference on Educational Technology Researches27-30 June 2012, Near East University, Kyrenia, North Cyprus

2WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Child Abuse on the Internet Child abuse is not something new. Abusing children and

youngster was a reality even before the Internet became widely available for many users.

However, with the Internet, giving misleading information by hiding information about identity and communicate with young children have become much easier.

3WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Child Pornography and Pedophilia

One of the most important threats on the Internet is pornographic contents. Children also can be used to prepare the pornographic contents.

An important reason for the high demands of child pornography is that the individuals who watch pornography have pedophilic tendencies (Erdoğan, 2010).

4WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Child Pornography and Pedophilia (2)

Erdoğan defines pedophilia as “Over a period of at least for 6 months, having repetitive stimulating sexual fantasies, sexual impulses or behaviors about engaging in sexual activity with a child or children who have not entered puberty yet.”

5WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Purpose of the study

Due to the rapid increase in the number of children among Internet users, raising children’s awareness about the dangers on the Internet is important.

The purpose of this study is to determine – teachers’ awareness about child abuse on the Internet.

6WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Methodology

This study is a descriptive study. Data used in this study was originally collected for a thesis

written by the first author under the advisement of the second author. – Only a small portion of the data collected for that research

was used in this study. Data of the study were collected in the fall semester of the

academic year 2011-2012.

7WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Study Group

The working group of the study consisted of – 583 teachers who work in different cities of Turkey.

In terms of gender, – 61.2% of the participants were female and – 37.9% of them were male.

8WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Data Collection Tools

Personal Information Form – was used to collect information on demographic

characteristics of participants such as • gender, • age and • type of school they work.

Awareness of Danger of Internet Questionnaire – was created to reveal the teachers' views about child

abuse on the Internet contains – 13 items.

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Data Analysis

The data were analyzed using – frequency distributions and – percentages.

FindingsItems about Teachers’ Views about Child Abuse

on the InternetStrongly Disagree Disagree Undecide

d Agree Strongly Agree Total

1. The internet is an environment in which children can be exposed to abuse.

f 16 20 48 319 180 583% 2,7 3,4 8,2 54,7 30,9 100

2. I have enough knowledge about child abuse on the Internet.

f 10 55 117 289 112 583% 1,7 9,4 20,1 49,6 19,2 100

3. Teachers should receive training about child abuse on the Internet.

f 11 17 26 264 265 583% 1,9 2,9 4,5 45,3 45,5 100

4. When children exposed to abuse, they may experience difficulty to express it.

f 13 20 22 223 305 583% 2,2 3,4 3,8 38,3 52,3 100

5. Perpetrators of child abuse in real life also abuse on the internet.

f 28 73 92 253 137 583% 4,8 12,5 15,8 43,4 23,5 100

6. I think that there are victims of emotional abuse (insult, scolding, blaming, intimidation,

exclusion, or oppression, etc.) on the internet among my students.

f 21 59 266 77 160 583

% 3,6 10,1 45,6 13,2 27,4 100

7. I think that there are victims of sexual abuse (image capture, exhibitionism, conversations with sexual

content or having them watch pornographic movies, etc. ) on the internet among my students.

f 90 192 165 94 42 583

% 15,4 32,9 28,3 16,1 7,2 100

Findings (2)Items about Teachers’ Views about Child Abuse

on the InternetStrongly Disagree Disagree Undecide

d Agree Strongly Agree Total

8. Hiding ones identity and giving misleading information about age and gender is very easy on the internet.

f 7 16 21 184 355 583

% 1,2 2,7 3,6 31,6 60,9 100

9. The possibility of deception of children by malicious persons is higher on the Internet than in real life.

f 16 29 38 220 280 583

% 2,7 5,0 6,5 37,7 48,0 100

10.Downloading, duplicating and delivering to the masses of potentially inappropriate content for children (pornography, violence, fear, etc.) is quite simple on the internet.

f 6 12 32 245 288 583

% 1,0 2,1 5,5 42,0 49,4 100

11.If internet literacy levels of families increases, the possibilities for their children being exposed to abuse on the internet will diminish.

f 11 39 65 235 233 583

% 1,9 6,7 11,1 40,3 40,0 100

12.Child pornography on the Internet is an important problem to be solved at the international level.

f 6 11 17 140 409 583

% 1,0 1,9 2,9 24,0 70,2 100

13.All persons engaged in child pornography feels sexual desire towards children.

f 13 47 149 205 169 583

% 2,2 8,1 25,6 35,2 29,0 100

12WCETR-2012, Near East University, 27-30 June 2012, Nicosia – North Cyprus

Findings (3)

While 68.8% of teachers believe that – they have sufficient information

about child abuse on the Internet, only 11.1% of them believe that – they have not enough information

about this subject. Regardless of their knowledge level of

the threats, a majority of the participants (90.8%) stated that – it was essential to be trained

against dangers faced on the Internet.

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Findings (4)

When the teachers were asked whether their students were exposed to emotional or sexual abuse, – their answers on “undecided” scale were high (emotional

abuse 45.6%, sexual abuse 28.3% respectively). the reason of this situation might be that teachers’

observations about whether or not their students were exposed to abuse were inadequate.– Students can access the Internet at home and internet cafes by mobile

phones wherever internet access is provided.– Teachers may not realize that their students were exposed to abuse.

Fear, depression or behavioral disorders that may occur at the students’ side, after they experience the abuse, may cause them to be embarrassed.

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Findings (5)

80.3% of the teachers think that the increase in internet literacy skills of families may reduce the probability of children to be exposed to abuse. – Research (*) supports this finding.

(*) EU Kids Online III Turkey (2010). Avrupa çevrimiçi çocuklar araştırma projesi Türkiye bulguları ön özeti. [Available online at: http://eukidsonline.metu.edu.tr/], retrieved on 13.10.2011.

Ybarra, M. L., & Mitchell, K. J. (2004). Youth engaging in online harassment: associations with caregiver-child relationships. Internet use and personal characteristics. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 319-336.

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Findings (6)

More than half of the teachers (65.2%) think – anyone who engages in child pornography is pedophilia.

However, findings of some studies (*) show that – there are some individuals who interested in child

pornography – do it for only commercial reasons.

(*)Krone, T. (2004). A typology of online child pornography offending. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice , No: 279. Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, Australia. [Available online at: http://aic.gov.au/documents/4/F/8/%7B4F8B4249-7BEE-4F57-B9ED-993479D9196D%7Dtandi279.pdf ], Date of access: 10 Ekim 2011.

Polat, O. (2006). Çocukların cinsel sömürüsü raporu. 2006; 1-40. [Available online at : www.0-18.org/raporlar/cocuk_cinsel_somuru_rapor_01.doc], Date of access: 23 Nisan 2011.

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Conclusions and Recommendations

The majority of the teachers is generally aware of child abuse on the Internet.– But they were undecided about their students whether

exposed to abuse or not on the Internet.– Also they considered that training about child abuse on

the Internet should be needed. According to these results, it can be said that educating

teachers about this issue is extremely important to solve the problem.

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Conclusions and Recommendations (2)

For the continuity of the training for teachersrelevant school policies should be established.– In order to develop policies on this issue, school

administrations can collaborate with information technologies teachers who happen to be knowledgeable on this subject in their school.

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Conclusions and Recommendations (3)

It can be suggested that – the teachers should converse with their students about

the risk and threats that they may encounter on the Internet.

– They also should be good observer of their children’s problems related to internet usage, and

– should be part of the team to find solution to the problems they may face.

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Conclusions and Recommendations (4)

It can be said that – it is essential that the places where children play games

and internet cafes are controlled more efficiently, especially the ones available for children around the schools.

It could be also suggested that – in order to improve service quality and ensuring the safety

of children who use these places, – more rigorous rules and standards need to be designated

and put into effect.

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This Presentation in Wordle

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Thank You!