Government launches call for evidence on relationships and sex education

The government is asking parents, teachers and young people from across England to help shape a new relationships and sex education curriculum that will help them stay safe and face the challenges of the modern world.

The Government has highlighted how the current statutory guidance for teaching Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) was introduced in 2000 and currently fails to address risks to children which have grown in prevalence in recent years, including online pornography, sexting and staying safe online.

The guidance is being updated after legislation was passed by Parliament earlier this year to make relationships education compulsory in all primary schools and relationships and sex education compulsory in all secondary schools.

As part of that process, an eight week call for evidence will invite views on age-appropriate content on mental wellbeing, staying safe online and LGBT issues in the updated subjects.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said:

“It is unacceptable that Relationships and Sex Education guidance has not been updated for almost 20 years especially given the online risks, such as sexting and cyber bullying, our children and young people face. Young people must have an education that teaches them the importance of healthy and stable relationships.”

“This call for evidence is about giving teachers, parents and especially young people a chance to help shape that new approach and I’d urge them to take part.”

The ‘call for evidence’ aims to gather views from people across England from all backgrounds on the content of this subject. It will look to establish:

• what teachers think they should be teaching their pupils to help them navigate the modern world they are growing up in;
• how parents expect their children to be taught this topic in a safe and age-appropriate way; and
• what children themselves think they would benefit from understanding the most, and the online risks they are concerned with.

Find out more and have your say.

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Keeping Children Safe in Education: our response to the proposed changes

The Department for Education published a consultation on December 14th 2017 to obtain views on the proposed changes to the statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ for schools and colleges in England. The proposed changes are due to be introduced for September 2018 and include changes and clarification points with regards online safety.

Online Safety was one of the major updates when the current version of the guidance was introduced in September 2016, including a series of considerations and expectations for schools regarding the risks posed by the internet and technology to children.

Whilst the majority of the proposed changes are focused on Part 3 (Safer Recruitment) and Part 4 (Allegations of abuse made against teachers and other staff), the following proposed changes relate to online safety:

• Paragraph 78 has been made clearer, confirming that “proprietors should ensure that children are taught about safeguarding, including online safety”, making it clear that “safeguarding” in this context includes “online safety”
   
• Additionally Annex B now includes confirmation that online safety should be considered when training designated safeguarding leads, reflecting the importance of as set out in Part 2 of the guidance.

The consultation can be found online at https://consult.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-in-schools-team/keeping-ch…

The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 18 February 2018

UK Safer Internet Centre Response

The UK Safer Internet Centre welcomes the advice for schools and colleges on how to prevent and respond to reports of sexual violence and harassment between children. We have also welcomed the introduction of online safety into the statutory guidance over recent years and supports these proposed changes. In response the UK Safer Internet Centre will also recommend that governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that an annual online safety risk assessment is completed.  It will also highlight the safeguarding support offered by its Helpline in supporting the childrens workforce with online safety issues.

Why an Annual Online Safety Risk Assessment?

Evidenced by many of the 12,000 schools using the 360 degree safe self assessment tool (www.360safe.org.uk), there are some great examples of schools already undertaking annual risk assessments. Given the changing nature of threats posed to children by the internet coupled with the rich diversity of technological adoption and context across the UK, UK Safer Internet Centre recognises this is best practice and should now be systematically introduced. 

For schools and colleges to discuss these issues and risks at least annually will mean that their online safety policy and provision will be more effective at preventing harm. Mitigation measures and safeguards will be systematically assessed and amended to manage the identified risks in their context.  It will also mean that the school or college will be better placed to articulate and evidence its online safety policy and provision when challenged.  

UK Safer Internet Centre Helpline

Schools and Colleges are at the vanguard of online safety issues with the majority of safeguarding issues having a digital dimension. Given the extent of this technological use, it can be enormously challenging for schools and colleges to understand and navigate.

The UK Safer Internet Centre Helpline was established to support those working with children by removing the technological challenge through advice and guidance, leaving schools and colleges to concentrate on safeguarding. The Helpline has developed a significant capability, via its operational connection to the majority of social media providers and understanding of their policies, platforms and processes, in removal of harmful content.  

DfE

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Safer Internet Day 2018 Education Packs and SID TV videos launched!

The Safer Internet Day 2018 Education Packs and SID TV videos are now available!

Created for educators across the UK, the packs provide free resources to help educate students aged 3-18 about online safety issues. The SID TV video content is a series of educational videos that complement the messaging of the education packs, and can be used in conjunction to the lessons or on their own.

Safer Internet Day Education Packs

Tailored for each key stage, the Education Packs include lesson plans, assemblies, posters, and other quick activities.  Each of the education packs also has an accompanying SID TV educational film, which is designed to complement the lessons and learning objective in each pack.

There are 6 education packs (available in English and Welsh), each with their own age appropriate content and theme:

A pack for 3- 7 year olds

This pack focusses on ways in which children can be kind to others as well as different ways they can keep themselves safe online.

A pack for 7- 11 year olds

This pack explores what constitutes positive and negative behaviour online, how online behaviours can impact on the feelings of others and also develops their online conflict management.

A pack for 11 - 14 year olds

For 11-14 year olds the education pack looks at how the online world can influence and put pressure on young people. This is followed by exploring possible responses to online pressures and also looking at online connections and respect online.

A pack for 14 - 18 year olds

This pack explores how people conduct themselves positively online and promote change, evaluate how well we are using the internet to connect with each other, and suggest ways to help all young people create, connect and share respect online.

A pack for parents and carers

The pack for parents and carers includes ideas, information and activities to help parents and carers talk to their children about how to use the internet and technology positively and safely.

View the Safer Internet Day Education packs 

The creation of the education packs was supported by Oath, and the translation of the packs was completed with support from the Welsh Government.

Information for educators delivering Safer Internet Day activities

We have also created a pack for the people delivering the Safer Internet Day messages in your school.
This pack is designed to help you make sure your Safer Internet Day activities are the best they can be! This pack includes:

• A guide to celebrating SID in your education setting
• Information about handling disclosures and sensitive topics
• Advice for talking to the press about your SID activities
• Information about how you can spread the word of SID even further.

SID TV educational videos

The UK Safer Internet Centre also provides ‘SID TV’, a series of education films to complement the Education Packs. These films help to start a conversation with young people about healthy relationships online and digital empathy. The SID TV films look at how children and young people of different ages consider how they and how others feel online, and ways to respond or take a minute to manage their feelings. The videos are a great starting point to spark discussions in schools, youth groups, with friends and at home.

From Edinburgh to Cardiff the SID TV content was filmed right across the UK to ensure that our engaging films will explore a range of issues about the safe and positive use of technology, and will showcase a variety of voices and opinions.

Safer Internet Day on Social Media

Make the internet a better place this Safer Internet Day by taking positive action online. This Safer Internet Day post online using #SID2018 and join the #ItStartsWithUs social media campaign by sharing what positive actions you and the young people you work with are doing to celebrate!

Find out more about how you and your school can get involved in the Safer Internet Day Social Media Campaign.

What is Safer Internet Day?

Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, Safer Internet Day sees thousands of people across the UK get involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. 

The UK Safer Internet Centre is a partnership of three leading organisations: Childnet International, the Internet Watch Foundation and the South West Grid for Learning, with one mission - to promote the safe and responsible use of technology for young people

Over 1,600 organisations supported Safer Internet Day 2017, collectively reaching millions of children across the UK. With your help we can make this Safer Internet Day even bigger.

Safer Internet Day 2018 will be celebrated globally on Tuesday 6th February 2018 with the slogan “Create, Connect and Share Respect: A better internet starts with you”.

Join hundreds of schools, youth groups, companies, charities, police services and wider to help inspire a better internet this Safer Internet Day.

You can help make Safer Internet Day 2018 the biggest yet!

Visit www.saferinternetday.org.uk where you will be able to:

• Register your school/organisation as a Safer Internet Day supporter
• Download the campaign toolkit to show your schools support
• Download the Safer Internet Day Education Packs and view the SID TV films

To find out the latest Safer Internet Day news:

Follow the UK Safer Internet Centre on Twitter @UK_SIC
Follow UK Safer Internet Centre on Instagram @UK_SIC

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Department for Education publishes guidance on sexual harassment

The Department for Education has published advice for schools and colleges on how to prevent and respond to reports of sexual violence and harassment between children. It is also seeking views on this and proposed revisions to Keeping Children Safe in Education.

The guidance includes:

• what sexual violence and harassment is
• schools’ and colleges’ legal responsibilities
• a whole school or college approach to safeguarding and child protection
• how to respond to reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment

The guidance defines sexual harassment as ‘unwanted conduct of a sexual nature’ and it sets out how this can occur both online and offline.

Online sexual harassment

The guidance explains how online sexual harassment can include non-consensual sharing of sexual images and videos; inappropriate sexual comments on social media; exploitation; coercion and threats.

The guidance refers to Project deSHAME, a Europe-wide collaboration that Childnet – a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre – is delivering around online sexual harassment. Last week, we published research into this issue. The survey of 1,559 UK teens found that that in the last year almost a third of girls aged 13-17 years (31%) have received unwanted sexual messages online from their peers (compared to 11% of boys), while 1 in 10 UK youth have been targeted online by their peers with sexual threats such as rape threats. Over half of UK teens have witnessed their peers circulating nude or nearly nude images of someone they know.

You can join the Project deSHAME network to receive updates about this topic and you can explore our full definition of online sexual harassment.

Have your say: respond to the Department for Education consultation

The Department for Education has opened a consultation into this new advice, as well as proposed revisions to the statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Following this consultation, the government proposes to update and replace the current statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education 2016’. The government will also consider revising the advice on sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The consultation closes on 18 February 2018 and you can respond online. 

sexual harassment

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Latest research shows young people feel pressured into sharing nudes

SWGfL - as part of its work in the UK Safer Internet Centre - with Plymouth University, The Office of the eSafety Commissioner (Australia), and Netsafe (New Zealand) have collaborated on a research programme on young people’s experience of sending and sharing nude and nearly nude images, otherwise known as sexting.

This work builds on jointly presented research by these agencies at the inaugural Online Safety on the Edge conference in Sydney on 3 November 2017 which was co-hosted by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner and Netsafe New Zealand. The purpose of this shared research programme is to better understand the:

• prevalence of sending and sharing of both solicited and unsolicited nude or nearly nude images or videos, and
• young people’s influences and motivations for this behavior.
• Experience and ability of schools to respond to instances of sexting

An introductory discussion paper was drafted to coincide with the inaugural conference in November 2016. The report being published today is a further publication in this research programme and concludes that the practice is more common among young people in the UK than in the other two countries, with around 1 in 2 of those who took part in the UK survey saying that they know someone that shared, received or had been asked for nude pictures or videos in the last 12 months, compared to around 1 in 5 in Australia.
 
Around 60 - 70% in the UK knew the practice could be illegal, however, discussions with focus groups of young people highlighted that while they are generally aware of the legalities, they did not believe that is enough to prevent someone from sending a nude.

David Wright, Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre and SWGfL said:

“Technology is a part of young people’s everyday lives, and while it brings with it many benefits, it also exposes them to a number of potential risks and harmful behaviours. The sharing of intimate images is one behaviour that we believe is particularly important for us to understand.

“The purpose of this research was to explore the prevalence among young people of sharing intimate images, and moreover, what drives this. The UK Safer Internet Centre is committed to understanding and responding to this issue and our Professionals Online Safety Helpline is on hand to provide members of the children’s workforce with advice and support on the matter.”

Andy Phippen, Professor of Social Responsibility in IT at Plymouth University said:

“This research shows how important it is to include a youth voice in this area – we have listened to what young people are telling us, and they are telling us they need better education, and support not criminalization when they are pressured into sending these images.”

About the Research Programme

 The UK research, conducted by Prof Andy Phippen adopted a mixed methods approach, incorporating a quantitative survey based element and a qualitative discursive element, the aim being to bring the most effective value from the different approaches. This report is the latest of a series of planned publications.

Read the full report

Read the summary document

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BBC journalists will educate young people about fake news

The BBC is launching a new programme supporting secondary school pupils to identify real news and filter out fake or false information.

From March 2018, up to 1,000 schools will be offered mentoring in class, online, or at events from BBC journalists. The initiative will be delivered by the BBC’s media literacy project School Report – a collaboration between BBC Academy and BBC News.

Free resources for UK schools

All UK schools will have access to free online materials looking at fake news, these include: classroom activities; video tutorials; and an interactive game (developed by Aardman studio) where the player experiences being a BBC journalist in the heart of the newsroom.

A ‘Reality Check Roadshow’ will tour the country and local schools will be able to nominate their own ‘Reality Checker’ pupils to attend one of a dozen regional events. Some will be invited to present their own Reality Check reports on BBC School Report News Day in March 2018.

Find out more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/84e0f9a4-e82d-449f-b095-9…

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New research into sexual harassment of young people on the internet

Today Childnet, a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, published the findings from their Europe-wide project deSHAME. These findings show that young people across the UK are being targeted by their peers with online sexual harassment across a range of digital platforms.

Project deSHAME is a collaboration between Childnet (UK), Kek Vonal (Hungary), Save the Children (Denmark) and UCLan (UK), co-financed by the EU. It aims to increase reporting of online sexual harassment among minors and improve multi-sector cooperation in preventing and responding to this behaviour. 

More information and the full report can be found at www.deshame.eu

Read the full press release:

UK youth targeted with sexual harassment on the internet

[6th December 2017] Research published today by children’s charity Childnet as part of a Europe-wide project reveals that young people across the UK are being targeted by their peers with online sexual harassment, defined as unwanted sexual conduct, across a range of digital platforms.

The survey of 1,559 UK teens found that in the last year almost a third of girls aged 13-17 years (31%) have received unwanted sexual messages online from their peers (compared to 11% of boys), while 1 in 10 UK youth have been targeted online by their peers with sexual threats such as rape threats. Over half of UK teens have witnessed their peers circulating nude or nearly nude images of someone they know.

Launching at the Children’s Global Media Summit in Manchester, the report comes amidst growing concerns of the prevalence of sexual harassment in schools and the upcoming publication of advice for schools from the Department for Education.

Will Gardner, CEO of Childnet, and coordinator of Project deSHAME said:

“Digital technology plays a central role in young people’s lives but it has opened the door for a range of new forms of sexual harassment, making societal discussions about these issues more pertinent than ever. It is evidently something that as a society we can no longer ignore.”

“Throughout the development of this report we have listened to the stories of young people who are navigating the complexities of relationships in a digital age and in some cases are facing the worst forms of peer-to-peer victimisation and online sexual harassment.”

“We believe that all young people have a right to be safe and free to express themselves in digital spaces. This report underlines how essential it is that we all work together to ensure that online sexual harassment is not an inevitable part of growing up.”

Key findings with UK teens

For most young people the internet plays an essential role in their friendships and relationships, providing positive opportunities for communication, connection and self-expression.

However, for many young people, online sexual harassment is embedded in their digital lives and to some extent expected. It emerges as part of the wider dynamic of their peer group and intimate relationships, and exists within a societal context where a pervasive culture of sexualisation, misogyny and homophobia is often left unchallenged.

In the report online sexual harassment has been categorised in four main types. These different behaviours are often experienced simultaneously and can overlap with offline experiences of sexual harassment.

Non-consensual sharing of intimate images and videos

• Over half of UK respondents aged 13-17 years (51%) said they have witnessed people their age circulating nude or nearly nude images of someone they know, also referred to as ‘revenge porn’, while 6% have been the target of this behaviour.
• Almost a quarter of UK teens (23%) have witnessed young people secretly taking sexual images of someone and sharing them online, also referred to as ‘creep shots’ or ‘upskirting’, while 8% admitted they had done this in the last year.

Exploitation, coercion and threats

• 1 in 10 of UK respondents aged 13-17 years (10%) have received sexual threats online, including rape threats, from people their age in the last year, while 31% have witnessed this happening.
• 12% of UK teens said their boyfriend or girlfriend had pressured them to share nude images in the last year, with girls being more likely to report this (14%) than boys (7%).

Sexualised bullying

• 26% of UK respondents aged 13-17 years have had rumours about their sexual behaviour shared online in the last year, with almost two-thirds of respondents (65%) saying that girls are judged more harshly for this than boys.
• Almost a third of UK teens (31%) had seen people their age creating fake profiles of someone to share sexual images, comments or messages in the last year, while almost half (47%) witnessed ‘doxing’ where other young people share personal details of someone who is seen as ‘easy’.

Unwanted sexualisation

• 23% of UK respondents aged 13-17 years have received unwanted sexual messages and images in the last year, with girls being significantly more likely to experience this (31%) compared to boys (11%).
• Over a quarter of UK teens (26%) reported that they had received sexual comments on a photo they posted of themselves in the last year, with girls being significantly more likely to experience this (33%) compared to boys (14%).

Empowering young people to speak up about online sexual harassment

The research revealed that young people face many barriers that can prevent them from speaking up about online sexual harassment.

Young people in the UK are more likely to turn to their friends if they experienced online sexual harassment (68%), compared to their parent or carer (39%), the police (18%) or a teacher (15%). While the majority of UK teens (81%) said they would block the person on social media, just 38% said they would report them.

Over half of UK teens (53%) said they would just ignore it, with young people reporting a range of barriers that would prevent them from speaking up.

• 56% said they would be too embarrassed
• 49% said they would be worried their parents/carers would stop them using the internet
• 48% said they would be worried that they were to blame
• 47% said they would be worried about what would happen next

To help young people overcome these barriers, Project deSHAME, coordinated by Childnet, will now begin to develop educational resources to equip schools to effectively prevent and respond to online sexual harassment among young people and empower them to speak up.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

Media contacts

For media enquiries, please contact Hannah Broadbent, Deputy CEO of Childnet:

hannah@childnet.com

0207 639 6967

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YouTube unveils new measures to tackle abuse of platform

Today YouTube has announced it is taking a number of steps to help tackle abuse of the platform and to make it harder for content that violates its policies to surface or remain on the site.

The proposals include:

• Increase the number of people reviewing content to more than 10,000 in 2018
• Utilise its machine-learning technology more widely to help flag content that breaches guidelines
• Greater transparency around actions taken to remove content
• Greater protection for advertisers to ensure their ads run alongside content that reflects their brand’s values

A welcome step

Laura Higgins, Online Safety Operations Manager for SWGfL and the UK Safer Internet Centre said:

“The UK Safer Internet Centre Helpline has worked with YouTube for many years and is part of their Trusted Flagger programme. We are delighted to hear about the improvements being made to the platform, more transparency and feedback for users, an increase in staff to manage reports and  faster remedial action when things go wrong are essential in providing a safer environment for users.

“We welcome these steps, and most importantly the clear message from YouTube that it will continue to develop its tools to keep in step with new threats. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with YouTube and Google, to ensure a safer internet for everyone”. 

YouTube

social media

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Top tips for staying safe online at Christmas

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, excitable children and time to relax with family and friends. And of course, there are new toys to play with.

With a huge increase in sales of devices (around 13 million people receive smartphones for Christmas each year) it is important to ensure that you and your children are safe when playing with new kit. To help, we’ve set out a few top tips to help keep your household safe online over the holidays.

The Tech:

Learn your way around

Most devices have controls to ensure that kids can’t access content you don’t want them to. Make sure your “in-app” purchases are disabled to avoid a nightmare surprise in the new year.

Tablets

Tablets are really popular with younger children, and the market has several which are geared towards child friendly content. When it comes to using them, start slowly; only download games and apps you have checked out carefully (sites such as www.net-aware.org.uk, or www.commonsensemedia.org provide useful advice!) and steer them towards age targeted content such as www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbeebies/features/iplayer-kids or YouTube Kids.

Mobile devices

If you have older children, and are thinking about getting them a new phone for Christmas, this can pose its own challenges:

The old online safety message about having your home computer in a communal place becomes defunct, because phones are literally mobile computers and have the power of most traditional desktop PCs.

Set boundaries

Our advice is to set some ground rules, and ensure they understand them. For example:

Screen Time

Agree a time limit or number of games beforehand, to avoid repeated disagreements around how long they can spend online.

Sleep comes first

It is advisable that the phone stays out of the bedroom to avoid those night time interruptions.

Ask for access 

If you’re genuinely concerned about them, ask them to allow you access to the phone.

Monitoring vs having a conversation

It is possible to install software onto devices that monitors online activity, alerts you to inappropriate behaviour, and can block access to certain content. This type of software is becoming increasingly popular, but while this might sound tempting, it does pose a number of issues around your child’s right to privacy & could have an impact upon your relationship with them. SWGfL published this blog earlier this year, which covers the subject in some detail and raises some interesting points.

The best advice we can give is to talk to your child regularly and openly about behaviour and risk, so that they know they can come to you if something goes wrong.

SWGfL also covered this in its Parenting in a Digital Age series earlier this year, in the blog: ‘It’s good to talk’.

Whole home approach

Consider setting parental controls on your Wi-Fi – you can block access to inappropriate or adult content, and set time limits which may help rein in those excessive Minecraft sessions. The UK Safer Internet Centre has advice on this here.

Gaming

Finally a word about games. This year there are so many exciting  games and consoles around, there is a good chance you might have one in your house. Whether a DS, Nintendo Switch or PS4, there is something for everyone, and every age.

Consider whether your child is mature enough to join an online community, and whether the games they are playing are appropriate. For more advice on this visit www.pegi.info or www.askaboutgames.com. Our blog from earlier this year, ‘The real cost of online gaming’ also gives an insight into the type of things to be aware of when it comes to gaming.

Finally, make sure you enjoy your tech together, it’s the perfect time of year!

technology

Christmas

gaming

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