This week Childnet international made its submission to the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Agency’s Review of the Secondary curriculum, calling for greater emphasis on E-Safety.
In the submission Childnet welcomed the revised curriculum’s emphasis on the need to promote the use of technology for responsible social engagement across the curriculum. However, Childnet believes that the review should include stronger reference to the need to equip students with the necessary skills to understand and prevent the risks associated with the internet and digital communication. This includes the importance of critical evaluation and information skills, the significance of keeping personal information secure, understanding the impact and consequences of antisocial online behaviour (including cyberbullying), and the issues relating to ownership, copyright, plagiarism, and privacy of information.
For the purposes of this submission the Childnet team restricted their comments in this review to focus primarily on three main areas of:
1. Organising the curriculum, in particular “personalising” and inclusion
2. Functional skills in the revised programme of study for ICT at level 1 and 2,
3. The programme of study for ICT at key stage 3 and 4.
In addition Childnet was able to include a summary of the recent research programme Childnet undertook with the UK Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA) which assessed how and where the subject of E-safety could be integrated into initial Teacher Training. This work which involved over 400 trainee teachers will be published soon.
Stephen Carrick-Davies CEO of Childnet says,
“We strongly believe that the proposed ICT curriculum represents a significant and necessary improvements to the educational landscape. With Every Child Matters highlighting the importance of keeping children safe, and at a time when the explosion of internet and mobile technologies means that children are now vulnerable from far greater exposure to inappropriate content, contact and commercialism, it is vital that any review of the Curriculum includes greater reference to the new “life skills” of digital literacy and e-safety which children need to possess”
To discuss Childnet’s submission contact
Josie Fraser