Updated 24th August 2012
As of this new curriculum year Ofsted have put a much greater emphasis on e-safety which puts greater pressure on schools (as if you needed more pressure!). You can find their full list of new inspections HERE which includes e-safety.
Generally speaking, it is “the school’s ability to protect and educate pupils and staff in their use of technology and to have the appropriate mechanisms to intervene and support any incident where appropriate.” Interestingly, the guidance also recommends engagement with parents through newsletters. If you don’t have your own e-safety newsletter and don’t have the time, you can sign up to my free one HERE which is completely free.
Whenever something like this comes out, it is usually a case of “how do you know what you don’t know?”
- It isn’t blocking or filtering.
- It isn’t about banning mobile/smartphone use, whether in the classroom or outside.
- It isn’t about constant monitoring.
- It isn’t about raising awareness.
- It isn’t about education and empowering staff and children.
- It isn’t about risk assessing.
- It isn’t about having great policies and intervention procedures in place.
- Internet filtering – used primarily to block any access to illegal sites. However left as an unmanaged tool it can be frustrating because overly-exuberant blocking.
- Teacher knowledge – used to empower the children whenever using ICT, but also be able to identify risky behaviour in or out of school and use the correct reporting procedures.
- Policy – used to set the school boundaries by the Headteacher and governing body. This limits liability to the school by identifying safe and appropriate use of ICT inside and outside of school.
- and much more.
Policies take time to write or review, procedures are difficult to put in place if there is no “expert” on site. Consultancy can be expensive in terms of staff having to take time out of lessons and for the cost of the consultant. But, it doesn’t have to be this way – here is what I think needs to be in the e-safety governance toolkit:
Acceptable Use Policy
There are many variants in schools, including names, e.g. AUP, ICT Policy, Internet Policy and others. Some schools separate out these policies, some combine all ICT related policies together. Unlike most other school policies the AUP and other IT related policies must be reviewed annually; this is due to the fast-moving nature of ICT including new internet/sharing related services like social networking. Exposure of these policies must be to all staff, children and parents; written in a way that is easily understood and not just bullet points of “do’s and don’ts”. Elements of policy must cross-relate to other policies, e.g. behaviour and disciplinary (for both staff and students).
E-safety Action Plan
Where is your school on it’s e-safety journey? Are all your staff trained, have you empowered all your children, are parents aware of e-safety? What about the technology: do you “manage” your internet filter or just block, do you know or do you leave it to your IT provider/LA?; do you review filtering reports for inappropriate or attempted illegal use? Are you and your governing body aware of the liabilities to the school of inappropriate use? Do you allow staff and/or students to use their own devices (laptops, mobile phones etc.) on the school network, if so are you aware of the liabilities to the school? Have you drawn up a risk register in order to mitigate all the risks?
All of the above and more is an e-Safety Action Plan where you essentially identify the gaps in governance and have a plan to fill those gaps as part of the school strategic plan, including CPD.
This can be really time consuming for any school, particularly if you don’t have the in-house expertise. It is also expensive to have a consultant on-site. Technology changes quickly; services such as social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Blogging) have introduced some fantastic ways for schools to work collaboratively but this again introduces risk. Again, if you don’t understand the risk or the gaps, many schools will shy from such innovation thinking that the risk is too great.
If you think an e-Safety Action Plan might help your school have a look HERE or send me an email for further details (alan@esafety-adviser.com).
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