Online safety for kids

Whilst we all recognize the opportunities the Internet offers, keeping children safe online is a constant source of concern often exacerbated by the gap in online proficiency between child and parents/teacher.

Encouragingly, Jackie Harden reports that support is available and easily accessible. If you feel able to recommend other sources of support, we would love to hear from you.

A digital world

In an ever-growing digital world, children can spend a long time online these days. Right from a very early age they have access to their parents’ smart phones and tablets, and quickly learn how to navigate things that we as adults can only wonder at.

Yet a recent survey of parents of 5-11 year olds found that “only half of parents feel equipped to teach e-safety at home.”¹.

 

 

Whose responsibility?

So whose responsibility is it to teach these young, inquisitive minds to explore within safe boundaries, communicate well and leave a positive footprint in the virtual world?

All my years of classroom experience convince me that the best results come when teachers and parents work together. Never has that been more important than on the issue of children’s safety. The challenge for us as teachers is twofold; firstly, to move with the ever-changing digital age, and find safe resources and practices that will excite and engage children. Secondly, to keep parents informed and involved so that they can continue the conversation at home (or even better, for teachers to build upon what parents have already put in place!).

From infancy

It’s easy to think that online safety only becomes an issue in KS2 (Grad4 & 5) or Secondary School but the truth is 90% of primary age children go online and 22% of children aged 3-4 watch TV programmes on devices other than a TV. Thankfully, there’s a wealth of resources out there to support the teaching of online safety and to help teachers embed it into their everyday practice, even from Early Years.
My personal favourites include ‘Digiduck’s Big Decision’ an app developed by Childnet International and internetmatters.org. It’s an entertaining tale designed to teach children about being a good online friend and is free to download to use in the classroom or to recommend to parents.

The thinkuknow.co.uk website is a wonderful resource for teachers, parents and children to learn about staying safe online. There are also some very clever Horrible Histories clips that take a humorous route into different online safety issues such as privacy setting or being careful about what content you post online.

Simple ways to help

So many of the difficulties our children face in staying safe are because the online world is just so vast. Within a few clicks it’s possible for them to go anywhere, share anything and meet anyone. But it’s also encouraging to know that there are really simple things that we can do as educators and parents to make their online experience safe.

Mobile phone and broadband providers have excellent information for parents about setting up parental controls on devices and organisations such as internetmatters.org or Childnet International are there to help with loads of practical advice right from 0 up to 11 years old.

Perhaps one of the quickest wins to keeping children safe both in school and at home is setting your search engine to a child friendly option such as Kid’s Search or Swiggle so that children can learn the skills of going to exciting places online safely.

Teaching children the importance of password controlled profiles and setting up user accounts for them that only allow access to approved apps, games and sites is another way to encourage independence within a safe environment.

Online teaching and learning tools can facilitate this really well, enabling children to search information safely as well as develop other online skills such as taking ownership of material they have created and understanding copyright, learning the importance of relationships and communication in an online environment by posting comments in a blog or sending messages to real people within the school community. 

Involving parents

Thinking back over my years of teaching, I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly mastered online safety with my classes as it’s like trying to land a plane on an ever-moving runway. Yet when I see the possibilities that our children have through such a wide range of experiences, including using different devices, games, apps and online research, I’m inspired to keep finding those resources and practical ideas to make that learning environment the best that it can be for them. If we can get the parents actively involved in this, maybe this time we’ll land that plane!

 

Jackie Harden 

Jackie is a former Primary School teacher and Middle Manager. She has worked in a range of schools, both in the UK and abroad and has a passion for learning and seeing children reach their potential. She now works at Firefly Learning. Click Jackie’s picture for a direct link to their website.

¹ OnePoll / Internet Matters, Sept 2014

 

Further reading:

https://www.virginmedia.com/blog/online-safety/childrens-internet-safety-test/

https://vpnstreamer.com.au/internet-safety-for-children/

https://www.comparethemarket.com/broadband/content/screen-usage-guide/