Online Safety Briefing: Term 2

This is the 2018-19 Term 2 (November-December) edition of the Kent Education Safeguarding Team’s Online Safety briefings, which aim to help Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) in educational settings keep up to date with emerging online safety issues, as well as resources and research.

The following links are not endorsed, controlled or promoted by The Education People. This briefing should not be shared or forwarded directly to children, young people or parents due to the sensitive and potentially distressing nature of some content.

Before sharing content that name specific apps or websites, we recommend DSLs access the following links:

• Online Safety Alert: Think before you scare
• Engaging parents in children’s use of apps

General Content

• LGfL: Parents – scare or prepare?
• The Guardian:
  • What is the internet? 13 key questions answered
  • Criminal law not keeping pace with digital world – report
• Huffington Post: Is using your phone all the time impacting your dexterity?
• BBC: 'Video games made me a better surgeon'
• TES: 'Student crazes? Show interest, even if you're clueless'

 ‘Addiction’, Screen time and Mental Health 

• TES:
  • Suicide prompts school internet search warning
  • The truth about screen time, tech and young people
  • Pupils with mental health disorders spend more time online
• The New York Times: The Big Myth About Teenage Anxiety
• iNews: Screen time may not have any affect children’s sleep, new study finds
• Huffington Post: Retouched Beauty Images Can Trigger Similar Brain Response To PTSD, Blogger Warns
• BBC:
  • The gamer who spent seven years in his dressing gown
  • 'How Instagram became my support system'

Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

• The Guardian: Facebook secret software reveals 8.7m child abuse images on its platform

Cyberbullying

• Anti-Bullying Alliance: Children want adults to show more respect for each other ahead of Anti-Bullying Week
• TES: Calls to tackle cyberbullying following teen suicide

Cybercrime

• SWGfL:
  • What to do when you've been hacked
  • The latest email scam: sextortion
• BBC:
  • How can we stop being cyber idiots?
  • What happened when sextortion scammers targeted a BBC Trending reporter?
• Sky News: Watford teen hacker jailed for three years over bomb threats to schools and airline

Gaming and Gambling

• Dr Mark Griffiths: Myth world: A brief look at some myths about Gaming Disorder
• The Guardian: Video games becoming more popular among teenage girls

Information Governance, Privacy and Data

• BBC:
  • Android's under-5s apps have 'unfair and deceptive' ads
  • Children are being 'datafied from birth'
  • Boy 'stole pupils' data from school laptop'
• ICO: Former headteacher prosecuted for unlawfully obtaining school children’s personal information

Professional Conduct

• TES:
  • Teacher who sent topless picture to pupil banned
  • Head who failed to report rape claim escapes ban
  • A social media charter would fix teacher-to-teacher conduct
  • ‘The day everyone believed I was the worst head in the world’
  • Banned: Teacher who sent sexual email to former pupil
• The Guardian: What is #schoolshaming?

 ‘Sexting’, Sexual Harassment and Violence

• BBC: Teen loses High Court bid to have 'sexting' record wiped

Social Media and Technology

• Childnet: What is TikTok? Looking at the latest lip-syncing app
• The Guardian:
  • Make social media accounts private, says survey of young
  • Don’t demonise social media, it can be a blessing for teens with problems
• Huffington Post: This 7-year-old youtuber, Ryan, is already richer than we will ever be
• The Daily Mail: Mother sues day care for posting video of her two-year-daughter being terrified by the Easter bunny on Snapchat before it went viral

Trust and Reliability

• Mashable: The skills kids need to avoid getting fooled by fake news
• BBC:
  • What is fake news and how can you identify it?
  • Fake News Collection

Educational Content

Teaching Materials, Tools and Videos

• BBC Own it: (KS2/3)
  • "Someone posted my image on an inappropriate website!"
  • Does being anonymous make it easier to be mean?
  • Why does the internet behave badly?
  • Always being 'on' - does it affect our friendships?
  • Quiz: Is what you're posting online mean?
• BBC:
  • What is fake news and how can you identify it? (KS3/4)
  • Fake News Collection (KS3/4)
  • Loneliness: Does being online help or make it worse? (KS2/3)
• Beano and Young Minds: Mandi Mobile (KS2/3)
• Think U Know: How you can keep young people safer online over the Christmas period ... and beyond!

Think U Know Harmful Sexual Behaviour survey

In the new year, CEOP will be developing a new Thinkuknow resource to help prevent negative sexual behaviour amongst young people. This can occur on a continuum, from ‘inappropriate’ to ‘problematic’ to ‘abusive’. It can occur in relationships and also within peer groups and is also known as ‘Harmful Sexual Behaviour’ (HSB).

CEOP are looking for professionals to share their experiences related to this issue by completing a short survey to help them to understand what types of HSB are most prevalent, what is currently being done to tackle it and what professionals think will help prevent it.  Click here to complete the survey

Articles for Parent/Carers

• SWGfL:
  • Parental Controls and Christmas gifts – what should I do?
  • Gaming Disorder
• Huffington Post:
  • Simple alternatives to solitary screen time for device-hungry kids and busy parents
  • ‘I was on Instagram. The baby fell down the stairs’: is your phone use harming your child?
• CNN: What to ask when your child wants to use social media
• Internet Matters:
  • In the age of social media, how can I help my child maintain a positive body image?
  • What is the dark web? – Advice for parents
• Think U Know: Keeping your under 5 safe online

Resources for parents/carers

• Childnet: Digital wellbeing – Guidance for parents