On Friday we had a very important session on online safety.
We began by discussing the qualities we want to develop in the children we teach:
- respect
- common sense
- kindness
- a hard-working attitude
- life skills
- independence
- morality
- british values
We then moved discussion onto the dangers children face on the internet. There are three main dangers:
- content – watching or reading unsuitable material on the internet
- contact – meeting people over the internet, giving over personal info, being ‘groomed’, being victims of e-bullying
- conduct – being the perpetrators of e-bullying, downloading content illegally
There are two other possible dangers:
- Digital footprint – the traces you leave on the internet that build a picture of who you are
- Opportunities lost – too much time spent on the internet rather than partaking in more active activities
We looked at the ways of using the internet safely, such as not publishing your personal info, not uploading inapropriate material and paying attention to websites’ terms of conditions of use.
We then thought about the people that a child can turn to for help if they find themselves the victims of cyber-bullying or experiencing any other issues related to the internet. The order of people they turn to should be the following:
- parents
- teachers
- childline
We talked about the way schools use filtering systems to prevent children from accessing inappropriate websites whilst at school. However, this doesn’t always work as children have managed to get past these systems.
Finally, in groups we put together presentations about a specific aspect of e-safety. My group chose to do ours on using social networking sites responsibly:
Thanks for reading!