New and emerging media is vital to engaging children and young people in their learning. Educators play an important role in assisting children and young people to have safe and positive online experiences. Leaders, educators, children and parents/caregivers need to set up learning opportunities, processes and structures that enable children and young people to use digital technologies in a safe, responsible and ethical manner. It is important to both protect and teach children and young people while they explore and learn through an online environment.
Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world… Pope Francis
Cybersafety – eSafety – Digital citizenship
The National Safe Schools Framework provides a vision and a set of guiding principles for safe and supportive school communities. This document contains the element that children and young people in preschools and schools should access ‘Teaching of skills and understandings related to personal safety and protective behaviours.’ These skills should be taught to all children and young people as a prevention, rather than to only some children as a response.
The National Safe Schools Framework can assist teachers to identify whole school procedures, skills and understandings that promote cyber safety and minimise harmful behaviours such as online bullying. National Safe Schools Framework is available at the Safe Schools Hub. The Framework provides school communities with a vision, a set of guiding principles and the practical tools and resources that will help build a positive school culture. The Safe Schools Toolkit explores the National Safe Schools Framework, providing case studies and an online audit tool to pinpoint the areas of priority.
The Safe Schools Hub aims to ensure all Australian schools are safe, supportive and respectful teaching and learning communities that promote student wellbeing. ‘Teaching of skills and understandings related to personal safety and protective behaviours.’ These skills should be taught to all children and young people as a prevention, rather than to only some children as a response. The Safe Schools Hub provides information and resources to implement the National Safe Schools Framework.
The Safe Schools Hub is aligned with the Australian Curriculum, and it provides a whole-school approach to addressing key elements of the Australian Curriculum general capabilities:
- Personal and social capability: the National Safe Schools Framework provides a multi-level approach to building students’ abilities to understand themselves and others, and to manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively.
- Ethical understanding: the Safe Schools Hub activities develop an understanding of values such as honesty, justice and fair play.
- Intercultural understanding: empathy for others and the acceptance of diversity are central to a safe and supportive learning environment for all students.
- Information and communication technology capability: the site is rich in resources that teach responsible use of ICTs and assist students to understand the social impacts of technology.
Personal and social capability involves students in a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions, developing empathy for others and understanding relationships, establishing and building positive relationships, making responsible decisions, working effectively in teams, handling challenging situations constructively and developing leadership skills.
‘General capabilities in the Australian Curriculum’, Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority
The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum makes an important contribution to teaching children and young people how to maintain online safety. Children and young people can be taught strategies to help keep them safe through the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum. It is important to both protect and teach children and young people while they explore and learn through an online environment.
Enhancing online safety for children – https://www.esafety.gov.au/
The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner leads online safety education for the Australian Government and protects Australian children when they experience cyberbullying. Children and young people need to feel confident about alerting the adults in their lives when they are feeling unsafe, threatened, bullied or exposed to inappropriate events. Adults need to respond appropriately with actions that protect the child or young person affected by such behavior.
CESA Acceptable Use of Information and Communications Technology:
Baseline Standard Release V2.0 April 2015
eSafety
Resources from the Cybersmart website can now be found at eSafety – https://www.esafety.gov.au/ the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner
Education resources https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources
Cybersmart https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/classroom-resources/cybersmart-access
Bullying No Way http://www.bullyingnoway.gov.au/index.html
