UK Kids Online – What you ought to know about your pupils’ online behaviour

Written by Melanie Strickland

Last month the UK report of the EU Kids Online project was published. The results are illuminating and should be of great interest to the teaching sector. Overall, the UK study found that excessive use of the internet was much more common for UK children than their European peers, but UK children are, in general, among the most web savvy, and understand how to minimise risks online. Consequently, the project classifies the UK as a high use but low risk country (previously the UK was rated high in both categories). This is encouraging, but there is no room for complacency – uses of the internet are constantly diversifying, and new risks are emerging.

Excessive use – key findings (11-16 year olds) 

• 53% felt that they spent less time with family and friends than they should because they were on the internet (European average was 34%)
• 37% said that they have unsuccessfully tried to spend less time on the internet
• 20% said that they have gone without eating or sleeping because of the internet

If this is surprising, it may suggest you need to pay more attention to your pupils’ online behaviour. If young people are spending so much time on the internet that they are falling behind in their schoolwork, that is an issue that schools must address. It’s not all negative though – the vast majority of children aged 9 – 16 use the internet for schoolwork – and many of those children will use the internet appropriately for this purpose. This affirms the importance of embedding online learning skills into the curriculum.

The report did not express a view on whether it was possible to have an ‘internet addition’. However, there are medical professionals in the UK that do believe that young people are increasingly developing internet addictions, and the private Capio Nightingale Hospital, based in London, has a Young Person Technology Addiction Service. For more on addiction, have a look at the ‘Machine Heads’ feature in TES.

Vulnerable groups

Whilst on the whole the report found that UK children are web savvy, it did highlight vulnerable groups. Younger children in particular lack certain key digital and safety skills. For example, more than a third of 11-12 year olds cannot block messages from people that they don’t want to hear from.

The report does not highlight SEN groups, but clearly schools will recognise that SEN pupils may be at greater risk when engaging with online communities, for example in a social networking forum. Would an autistic pupil necessarily realise that it’s not a good idea to acquiesce to a request to send an image of themselves in their birthday suit, for example? It is imperative that schools teach online safety, and start early. This is especially important for primary schools. Being digitally literate is just as fundamental in the 21st century as being able to read and write. Make sure your pupils: a) know how to keep their personal information private, b) can block those they don’t want to hear from, and c) know how to report those who may seek to harm them.

Parental/ teacher engagement

The study also involved interviewing parents. Compared with our European neighbours, UK parents are very good at actively mediating their children’s use of the internet, for example by talking to them about what they do on there. Parents do more mediation with younger children, including staying nearby and explaining why websites are good or bad.

Teacher mediation is strong in the UK too, with over 92% of children reporting that their teachers had done one of the forms of active mediation asked about. This shows that efforts to promote online safety are working.

But: there are still a minority of children who are not skilled in online safety and are not getting guidance from school or their parents. Also, with the diversification of platforms to access the internet (handheld devices, more use in bedrooms) and the proliferation of harmful websites (anorexia and cyberbullying chatrooms, suicide sites), it is vital that schools continue in their efforts to promote online safety and continually raise their game to stay on top of online developments.

ISC’s ICT Strategy conference on 25 January 2011 will discuss some of these issues.

EU Kids Online is funded by the EC Safer Internet Programme. The UK study interviewed a sample of 1,032 young people aged between 9 and 16 during May/ June 2010, along with one of their parents or carers. It was part of a wider cross-Europe survey, which looked at the experiences of 23,000 children in 25 European countries.

All the reports of the EU Kids Online project are available at www.eukidsonline.net

More Blogs on Cyber Issues

 

Related posts:

• Online safety – ClickCEOP application launched on Facebook
• Safer Internet Day – 8 February 2011
• LittleGossip – “Facebook’s bitchy little sister”
• Cyberspace: facing up to reality (Part 2)
• ISC Bulletin now online

This entry was posted on Friday, December 10th, 2010 at 5:35 pm by Melanie Strickland and is filed under Child Health, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.