Back to school and online safety

It can be exciting to see your learners again after a long holiday, and even more exciting to meet new learners for the first time! Regardless of how long you have known your learners, there are plenty of things you can do to ensure that you tackle any online safety issues that may have arisen over the school holidays, as well as empower children and young people to be safe and positive online moving forward.

In this deep dive, we will explore the ways in which you can introduce online safety education to your learners, reflect on ways to look after yourself as an educator, and consider strategies for empowering families in your school community to be safe online.

How can I get to know my learners and their online experiences?

Before you can fully educate your learners on how to stay safe online, you need to understand their experiences. One of the most effective ways to gain insight into their online lives is to strike up discussions about their likes and interests online.

The following strategies can be effective in opening up discussions about online experiences:

• Trends and favourites – Sometimes the best place to start is to discuss what makes online life great – favourite games and apps, viral trends, funny memes and other positive experiences are things that children and young people are often keen to share, so why not ask your learners to tell you about their favourite things online?
• Discuss news stories – whether they have experienced certain online issues or not, children and young people often become aware of prevalent issues through mainstream news reports and reporting of news on social media. News stories can provide an opportunity to discuss topical events without the need to discuss your learners’ personal experiences – this can sometimes make starting a discussion easier.
• BIG questions – hypothetical questions can be used to start a discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of technology and the internet in our lives. Questions such as “What would happen if the internet no longer existed?”, “Will Artificial Intelligence make life better for everyone?” and “Should people always use their real identity online?” can get your learners thinking about the wider implications of technology and behaviour.
• “What if…?” – another strategy for discussing online experiences is to talk about strategies. ‘What if…?” questions can help students consider different approaches to dealing with issues that they (or their peers) may face online. For example, “What if your best friend was being bullied in an online game?” can open up discussions about the nature of online bullying but also the steps that learners can take to support their friends and report unacceptable behaviour.

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Activity:

Before moving to the next section, take a few moments to come up with some relevant BIG questions and “What if…?” questions that would interest and engage your learners.

Make sure you consider issues that are relevant to their age and experience. You could also select issues that you think they may have experienced, in order to know more about how well they can deal with these issues.

Not sure what issues your learners might be facing online? The next section might provide some useful ideas…

How do identify my learners’ online safety needs?

Educators are many things, but you can’t always be a mind reader! Therefore, it is important to have strategies up your sleeve to identify your learners’ needs when it comes to being safe and responsible online. This is also important to help you uncover misconceptions that may need addressing.

Some strategies you could use include:

• Surveys and questionnaires – sometimes the easiest way to find out about learners’ experiences is to ask them. Bear in mind that young people do not answer surveys truthfully, and that the wording of questions can be key!
• Quick quizzes – multiple choice quizzes and quick questions can sometimes help you identify whether learners have the knowledge and skills to tackle different online issues. It’s better to set a couple of questions about one or two issues than set a long test covering all aspects of online life.
• Pre- and post-assessment – as with all areas of education, it is important to establish whether your teaching is having a positive impact on learning. With online safety and digital citizenship, this can be very tricky – many factors can influence decision making online! You may have access to resources that allow you to assess understanding before and/or after online safety teaching. An English example that might help is the knowledge map feature of ProjectEVOLVE, created by the UK Safer Internet Centre (free sign-up required).

How can I empower my learners to get help?

While online safety education often focuses on prevention, it is inevitable that your learners will face issues online. Therefore, it is vital that they know how to access help and support, either for themselves or to help other online users.

• Who can they turn to? – make sure that your learners know who they can turn to (both in and out of school) for support with any online issues they face. Many schools use posters or other visual materials in classrooms and around to school to ensure all learners know the key staff who can support them. This can include dedicated child protection staff, leadership, school counsellors or psychologists.
• Methods of reporting – your school may already use a number of methods to enable learners to report issues or concerns. These can include anonymous methods such as ‘bully boxes’ (a box in each classroom that allows learners to anonymously deposit notes), a reporting app or dedicated school email account that learners can message with concerns. Ensure that your learners are familiar with these routes and how they work.
• Local/national helplines – making learners aware of external sources of support for online issues is also important. This can include local initiatives, 116 111 helplines or your country’s Safer Internet Centre helpline.
• Explain the processes – it is important that your learners understand the processes in place in your school to support them when they report a concern. The better they understand these processes, the more trust they can have that their report is taken seriously and dealt with appropriately. You don’t need to explain every detail to them, but it is important to provide assurances around confidentiality, as well as manage their expectations for how quickly an issue may be resolved.

How can I educate my learners to be safe and responsible online?

There are many things to consider in your approach to teaching about online safety, digital citizenship and media literacy. 

Why not check out the ‘Teaching online, safety, media literacy and digital citizenship in primary and secondary schools’ core module on the Better Internet for Kids Teacher Corner for full details of how to engage your learners with online safety messages?

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What do I need to consider in my role as an educator?

Empowering learners to be safe online and protecting them are two key roles as an educator. But you are also likely a user of online services (such as websites, apps and social media) as well as a member of school staff. It is important to consider your own safety online as well as your online reputation – the way you present yourself online may impact on the reputation of your school.

The following are all important to consider:

• Understand school expectations – in the same way that you help your learners to know what is appropriate and acceptable to do online, it is important to be familiar with your school’s expectations for staff around their use of technology and the internet. This may include specific guidelines for your role, such as an ‘acceptable user agreement’. In some countries, the professional standards associated with teaching may also stipulate expectations on conduct, and these may include online behaviour.
• Know your school policies and procedures – whether you are new to your school or an experienced member of staff, it is important to be aware of the policies that relate to online safety and child protection, as well as the procedures in place for reporting any child protection or safeguarding concerns. Knowing these well allows you to support your learners if they disclose an issue to you.
• Consider your online reputation – knowing what other online users can learn about you, and how they may perceive you, is important to managing your online reputation. Search your name (or username) on search engines and social media apps in order to see what appears in the results. Are you happy with the first impression someone may have of you online? Using privacy settings on social media can help protect your personal information and present a professional image. Promoting the positive things you do online can also help!
• Keep yourself up to date – while it can be challenging to stay up to date with every aspect of online risk, you can check out the other deep dives on the Better Internet for Kids teacher corner to help you understand the issues your learners may face online, as well as how you can support them. If you want to dive deeper into this area, there are free courses on European Schoolnet Academy to further your professional development.

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How can I work with families to promote online safety?

Many of the issues related to online experiences don’t happen when your learners are in school – they occur when children and young people are using technology and the internet at home or away from the classroom. Looking for opportunities to inform and empower families to keep children safe online can help prevent online issues from occurring, as well as strengthen the relationships between your school and members of the local community. 

There are many ways to engage with families, but the following can be effective when it comes to online safety:

• Encourage discussion – in the same way that you work to engage in discussion with your learners about their online experiences, share these strategies with families so they can repeat or continue the discussions at home. This could include sharing a ‘question of the day/week’ or sending details home to parents/carers of the key messages from online safety lessons their children have had in school.
• Use effective communication – don’t reinvent the wheel – use existing methods to share key online safety messages to families. Little and often is the key – this could be via newsletters, emails, SMS or school social media accounts. Use the methods that reach the families in your community. You may also wish to survey the opinions or views of parents/carers on online safety issues.
• Promote preventative strategies – as many online safety issues occur when learners are out of school, empowering families to use a variety of strategies to protect their children can be beneficial. These can include the use of family agreements to set expectations on the safe use of technology, technical solutions (such as parental controls, privacy settings or broadband content filtering) as well as raising awareness of age requirements for using different online platforms such as social media.
• Empower them to seek help – ensure that families understand your child protection procedures regarding online safety issues, as well as who they can contact in school if they have questions or to report concerns. Empowering families to use safety tools on games/social media such as reporting tools can also ensure that children receive prompt assistance with online issues. Promoting and sharing links to expert support and helplines can also help families to tackle online issues that may pose a risk to their children.

Further information and resources

Want to learn more about safer social media use? These resources may be useful:

• Better Internet for Kids resources – Educational resources from across the Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres. You can search key words for resources in your language and for resources for different age groups. Many of these resources can be shared with families too.
• Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres – Access information about your country’s Safer Internet Centre, including details of your national helpline and hotline.