I’m a day early, I know, but European Safer Internet Day arrived early at our school today, with Gripping Yarns performing for years 4, 5 and 6. The performer was very talented, with a good line in teenage angst and attitude, despite probably being nearer my own age than the children in the audience. She re-told the story of a girl – in character – whose parents had split up, resulting in her moving house with mum and starting a new school, with all the resultant loneliness that ensues. Issues explored included where the computer with internet connection was at home (bedroom vs living room), nuisance texts, chatrooms, giving personal details such as e-mail and phone number, sharing other people’s personal details, who it is safe to chat to online – and more….
The responses from the children were interesting. They had red, yellow and green cards to hold up when asked questions and it was certainly useful to spot those whose answers showed their online behaviour isn’t as safe as we might hope. At least by having our other Safer Internet Day activities tomorrow, we’ll be able to follow up those answers and help the children explore e-safety in a bit more depth. The dramatic story telling was also very useful. We used some of the CEOP videos last year – and have to say that some are quite scary. This time, we are going to be using the KS1 Animal Magic film throughout the school – it’s not that I want the animated nature to make it all “nice” but that it will enable us to discuss aspects of online behaviour without giving some of the kids nightmares.
But there are discrepancies about all sorts of online activities that are taking place in school. “Blocked For Me, Open For You” is a recent blog post by @tombarrett, which highlights the differences in local education authorities. Sites deemed ok by one area aren’t ok in another. Some schools will be teaching e-safety in great detail, but others will rely on filtering and blocking rather than educating their pupils with the skills they will need when accessing the internet in places without those filters/blocks. Is it lack of confidence in the ability to teach e-safety? Lack of confidence in the available materials? Lack of confidence when managing numbers of children online at the same time? Lack of confidence in the pupils to behave appropriately? Lack of a resource within school to take screenshots of inappropriate use so that pupils can be educated or admonished as necessary?
Every time I show my class something new, it’s virtually guaranteed that someone will go home and have another go! The jamstudio online tool we used on Friday in class was accessed by at least 5 pupils over the weekend and now they can show me more than I knew in the first place when I introduced it! They are able to take the learning experience and extend it still further under their own steam. But as they do this, they need the skills to know when to just navigate away from inappropriate pages that come up inadvertently, they need to know what information to share and what not to share, how to flag up or block inappropriate behaviour.
We’re in danger of educating 2 different generations of pupils – one group will be e-literate, e-confident and have the skills to choose and use appropriately. The second group will not have access to the same tools – as our pedagogy throughout the curriculum develops to include e.g. Web 2.0 tools and online collaboration, then they will be at a disadvantage as they move from primary to secondary education and onwards into the real world, unable to take effective advantage of the wealth of extended learning opportunities, both in and out of school. And teaching e-safety is ESSENTIAL if we are to make the best use of online teaching opportunities. It’s not just about what tools are available in school, it’s about how WE use the tools, how we teach the children to use the tools and how we EMPOWER them to make their own decisions about using the tools.
