The Importance of E-safety and Appropriate Online Behaviour
The recent ‘Byron Review’emphasises the key role that schools have in equipping pupils to stay safe online. It highlights how schools should educate children in e-safety with particular regard to conduct, contact and content.
Schools should take a proactive approach to e-safety. Senior managers should ensure that ‘e-safety is mainstreamed throughout the school’s teaching, learning and other practices.’ Whole school planning is essential to ensure that schools fulfil their duty of care to pupils.
The Byron Review recommends that,
“E-safety and media literacy should be embedded across teaching and learning, not ‘bolted on’.”
Teachers should ensure that pupils are provided with opportunities to develop knowledge and understanding of e-safety and acceptable online behaviour. In the Levels of Progression Grid for Using ICT, e-safety is not presented as a separate assessment criterion rather it is intended that it should be integrated across the curriculum at a level appropriate to the pupils.
Consequently, the Levels of Progression grid includes the following explicit statement to emphasise this:
“Throughout the Key Stage pupils should demonstrate, where and when appropriate, knowledge and understanding of e-safety, including acceptable online behaviour.”
Netiquette is the term used to describe acceptable and appropriate online behaviour. Some characteristics of this include:
- being courteous;
- being diplomatic;
- showing sensitivity to others (including cultural awareness);
- using acceptable and appropriate language;
- using acceptable and appropriate content; and
- publishing acceptable and appropriate content.
Schools should emphasise the dangers of pupils compromising themselves and others to a global audience via social networking sites, personal web pages, blogging, etc.