Online safety goes from strength to strength with some great initiatives coming out. One of these initiatives was launched on 7th Feb 2012, Safer Internet Day, known as the eSafety Label.
This is an online safety support and accreditation system for schools throughout Europe.
The idea behind this is great, and has been a long time in coming: with young people carrying around ever more powerful devices in their pockets we cannot get into the rut which is block and restrict. By doing so, those same young people will find ways round the restrictions.
The eSafety Label, which is currently being developed, is going to standardise the accreditation and support. Schools will be able to compare policies and practices against internationally agreed standards and after providing evidence will be an e-Safety accredited school. Furthermore, resources will be made available to schools: lesson plans; policies etc.
BRILLIANT……..BUT………..
I have a concern, it may be a misguided concern as the eSafety Label is only in the developmental stage, but here it is anyway:
The action plan and advice schools will receive is computer generated based on a response to questions. I’m not a fan of the computer generated answer, there are way too many variables. I create e-safety action plans and reports for schools manually. The reason I do this is because each report is different, and the personal touch taking into account the school’s unique situation individually is important to most schools.
e-Safety is not just about teaching children to stay safe online, it’s the most important part, but not the only part. There are social aspects, safeguarding aspects, technical aspects, legal aspects to name a few. No computer generated answer can take all of these variables into account. My feeling is that any certificate on the wall to say “we are e-safety accredited” will lull the school into a false sense of security.
I am a great fan of standardisation: it cuts costs, cuts confusion, allows comparisons and improvements. But standardisation doesn’t fit every situation, particularly when it comes to safeguarding our children.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the development pans out, and I hope that my concern turns out to be false.