Online Safety in Schools

The internet can be an incredibly useful research and social tool for children and young people, but it can also be a dangerous place. Recent research has found that over 80% of children (aged 12-15) have had potentially harmful experiences online.  The internet is a significant force for good: you can use it for social interaction, you can study online, and it is an endless resource for academic research, knowledge gathering, or simply finding out the opening hours of your favourite restaurant. In order to use the internet safely, young people need to be taught about online safety in schools. From the risks posed by the internet and how to avoid them to how online safety should be embedded into the school curriculum, here’s everything you need to know about online safety in schools:

Why is Online Safety Important?

Online safety is incredibly important in schools because children can be just one wrong click away from danger. But teachers can support their pupils to navigate the internet safely by being honest and open with them about the dangers of online technology and then educate them and support them so that they can have the confidence and the tools that they need to stay safe online. In fact, protecting children from online dangers within the school environment has been considered so important that it is now legislated against. According to the gov.uk website, The Department for Education’s (DfE) 2019 ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) statutory guidance is the key legislation that applies in this situation and states that “Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure there are appropriate procedures in place…to safeguard and promote children’s welfare… this should include … acceptable use of technologies…and communications including the use of social media.”

Risks for School-Age Children

Regardless of whether they are in primary school or secondary school, when school-age children are exposed to the internet, there are risks involved. The internet poses four main types of risks to children. These risks are content risks, contact risks, conduct risks and contract risks. A fuller explanation of how these may impact children within schools can be found here:

Content risk – In the simplest terms, this is the risk posed by children being exposed to inappropriate content that is not age-appropriate. This can include computer games that include violence or sexual content, pornography, or images of cruelty or violence. Controls should be put in place to mitigate the risk of children being exposed to content that is not suitable for their age and may, therefore make them feel upset, uncomfortable, or in any other way be deemed inappropriate.

Contact risk – From the very first-time children use the internet in school, they should be informed in an age-appropriate way of the risks involved in sharing personal information with people they don’t know. Children are inherently trusting, so it is a significant risk that they might share information with others, provide their contact details to strangers, or even meet someone they have met online. Effectively, this risk involves the possibility that a child may come into contact with either adults posing as children online or other individuals they don’t know.

Conduct risk – A conduct risk is the term used to describe children using the internet as a tool for bullying. They may hurt or intimidate others with their words or could destroy a game that someone they know has created. On the subject of gaming, making in-app purchases either accidentally or deliberately but without parental permission would be another example of a conduct risk.

Contract risk – Almost all websites will ask for consent to terms and conditions before they can be accessed, but it is a risk factor for children to accept terms and conditions they don’t understand. This also applies to signing up for unfair contracts, or contracts that the child doesn’t understand, or agreeing to personal data gathering despite the child not being of age (or having the competency) to make these decisions.

When To Be Concerned

Practising online safety can help to mitigate the risks inherently associated with any kind of digital technology. But as either a parent or educator, when should you be concerned that the young people in your care are not practising online safety, or are not behaving in a way that is sensible online? Here are some top warning signs that should lead to concern:

• Using social media below the allowed age. Most social media platforms will not let young people register for their own accounts until they are at least 13 years old. Whilst social media networking sites don’t present any threats that don’t already exist elsewhere online, it is important that the young person is both old enough and mature enough to access them and understand their inherent risks. Social media should be used with strict parental controls in place for those under 18, and parental supervision is encouraged.
• Withdrawn or negative behaviour. This could be a sign of bullying, and cyberbullying is a very real concern for young people. Because of its hidden nature, cyberbullying can be harder to spot than conventional bullying- the audience can be large, and it can occur at any time. It’s important to look out for these signs and to keep channels of communication open so that young people feel they can share if they are victims of cyberbullying.
• Age and content ratings for gaming should be adhered to, and teachers or teaching assistants should be concerned if they are not. Many games are for adults and have themes or imagery that is inappropriate for children. All video games sold in the UK have age ratings clearly marked on their box. Studies of children exposed to violent media online, or in online gaming show that they become numb to violence and are more likely to demonstrate violent or aggressive behaviours themselves, which is why access to violent media at an early age should be a warning sign to educators.
• Open access online chat forums are another warning sign to educators. These can either be social media chat forums or chat forums via games like Roblox or Minecraft. In both instances, children are able to chat freely with strangers, and it is impossible to know whether these strangers are children or adults. Young people may feel intimidated or deceived into sharing personal information and compromising their online safety, which is why access to these arenas from an early age is a sign for concern.

Managing Online Risk

As either an educator or a parent, there are many ways in which you can manage the risk posed by going online to the young people in your care. These include:

• Talk about the type of online content they might find before letting young people go online for the first time. It’s important to talk to children in an age-appropriate way about the dangers of the internet and let them know that the internet contains a broad spectrum of content, much of which is not deemed appropriate for children. As well as setting parental controls, you should also explain what parental controls are and why you have put them in place. Internet filters can help to protect children online, but they are not a guaranteed safety technique, so it’s important that young people know what they should do if they see something that shocks or worries them. This can include reporting their concerns to a trusted teacher or adult, and giving them clear examples of things that indicate that a website might not be appropriate (swearing or abusive language, and inappropriately violent imagery are great examples of this).
• Explain that not everything on the internet is true. Just because you read it online doesn’t mean that it’s accurate. Some news is made up and some websites contain opinions rather than facts. Encourage children to apply logic, to question what they read, and to look for signs of a trusted or quality website. This is a key element of digital literacy that is important for all children to learn.
• Supervising and supporting young people with their early online experiences. Going online with the young people under your care gives you the chance to see how they navigate the online world. You can see the kinds of apps, websites, and games that they choose and ensure that the content they are gravitating toward is appropriate. You should also direct children towards appropriate websites or games as part of this shared online interaction. Websites can be fun and interesting as well as being informative and educational. Direct their online interactions by exposing young people to websites that will help them with their homework or projects and teach them the right kinds of search terms they should use to find the information they need without typing in terms that might lead them to something inappropriate. Using specific terms (such as ‘what did Queen Victoria wear’) rather than generic ones (such as ‘Royal fashion’) are more likely to yield appropriate results, for example.
• Leading by Example. If a pop-up or advert appears whilst you’re spending time online with pupils or students then simply by ignoring it or closing it, you are showing those young people how they should respond to these kinds of online interactions. Often young people will learn by example, so ensure that the examples you give are always positive ones. Use the internet for positive and supportive purposes, and only use it when it’s appropriate: if your child sees you on an internet-enabled device all the time then they are more likely to do the same thing./li>
• Reinforce online safety. The most important element of this is ensuring that your child knows not to communicate online with anyone they don’t know in person. This is something that is often encouraged in games aimed at children, such as Minecraft or Roblox. These games have features that encourage strangers to communicate with each other. If the young people in your care are playing these games, then they should know to ask for parental permission before using any new app, they should never share any information with anyone they don’t know, and they should inform an adult if someone they don’t know tries to contact them online.
• The most important way in which you can manage online risk in young people is to ensure that they take responsibility for their own online behaviour and ensure that they demonstrate appropriate online behaviour. Young people should understand that they should never say something online that they wouldn’t be prepared to say face to face, that they should think before they post their own photos online or comment on the photos or others, and they should know how and when to walk away from any arguments and disagreements online. It is important for children to know when to step away and when it is better to say nothing at all.

Embedding Online Safety into a School

Schools have a responsibility to protect young people from the risks associated with regular internet use, but this responsibility should be shared with the young people themselves, as well as with their parents or primary caregivers. The Department for Education (DfE) has introduced new guidelines for schools which highlight the importance of embedding online safety into the fabric of the school and the school community. Because the nature of the online world changes so rapidly, it would be difficult for schools to educate children on the safety of specific apps or websites. Therefore, teaching should focus on wider knowledge and behaviours rather than on trends or platform-specific learning. Online knowledge is often universal, and the right safety rules can apply just as well to one website or app as they do to another. Some of the main learning points that educators, or wider school communities, should embed in their young people about online safety include:

• Teaching young people how to effectively evaluate what they see online
• Studying the in-depth techniques that are often used for online persuasion, so that young people can recognise when these persuasive techniques are being applied to them (and how to avoid them).
• Understanding the difference between acceptable and unacceptable online behaviours and how to evaluate them.
• Offering hints and tips for how to recognise online risks.
• Be clear in letting young people how and when they can seek support if they need it, and to who they should report any concerning behaviour.