Here are some of the resources we've produced around managing your online identity and guidance for adults who work with young people.

There are some key messages to consider for us to reflect upon:

Can I say and do what I like online?

Can our bosses, organisations, wider society, dictate how we behave online?

What are the implications for our colleagues within our organisation and beyond if our behaviour is considered to be inappropriate?

The resources here are created and shared to help you and your colleagues think about the issues around our personal, private and professional profiles, they are not a set of rules that you must follow.

Ultimately we need to develop a greater empathy with our fellow citizens and this means showing tolerance and aspiring to be role models for young people and members of wider society.

Excellent social media guidance for adults who work with young people prepared by our colleagues at Kent LA can be downloaded here

The perils of saying what you think

This short video looks at what happens when a teacher publishes inappropriate content on social media.

 How to Lose Your Job

An audio slideshow which outlines how individuals need to ensure they follow procedures and policies within school. A simple and perhaps innocent error of judgement can have serious implications for the adult concerned

How to Lose Your Job 

One hour video of a recent workshop on the same theme

The Importance of Acceptable Use Policies Created by the People Who Are Expected to Use Them

3 minute overview of the role of AUPs in managing a safe workplace.

Use of Social Media and Mobile Devices in Schools

There are challenges in managing connectivity to protect young people and the physical infrastructure of the school

New Teachers and Their Use of Social Media at Work

3 minute video outlining the importance of recognising that young adults may join our organisation with an expectation that they will use socialmedia for professional and personal reasons during the schools day

If We as Adults Model What We Consider to be Innapropriate Behaviour Then We Cannot Be Surprised if Our Young People Copy Us.

A montage of images and and words to demonstrate that popular culture models innapropriate behavior that we as society appear to suggest is acceptable.. 

Let us know if you found any of the above useful. We'd really like to hear from you.

Simon

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Esafety Ideas For Teaching Esafety to Primary School Learners

A local primary school contacted Northern Grid and asked for a session on resources for teaching esafety to their pupils, and it was agreed that I would deliver a session during their weekly staff meeting.

This is an interesting area for staff development and on one level is a fairly basic task in identifying (often online) activities for children to try. There are many useful and accessible online activities available on websites across the world and for local examples we need look no further than and www.childnet.com and CEOP's www.thinkuknow.co.uk. 

Whilst these activities and associated resources will provide some support for the young people in our care I feel that esafety and safeguarding support needs to move beyond specific focused and sometimes isolated activities at the computer in the ICT suite. Our challenge is to ensure that we help our youngsters become confident, safe and considerate digital citizens, unlike many of the adults online across the world, who currently model inappropriate and irresponsible behaviour for our youngsters to emulate.

We can see the most inappropriate and unsafe online behaviour by adults of all ages on forums, newspaper and media websites and across social media including Twitter and Facebook. If the children in our primary schools are to mature to become responsible, thoughtful and valued digital citizens then our esafety support must extend through all our teaching and not be seen as something that is only addressed in the ICT lesson.

We need teachers to:

• Model
• Engage
• Embed

in the same way that the dedicated professional teacher has always modelled appropriate language and behaviour in school and beyond the school gates. It is only by making online behaviour the same as, and as normal as, traditional life skills that we can hope to nurture a new generation of responsible and supportive digital citizens.

If you would like to benefit from Northern Grid support, email support@northerngrid.org

Simon 

Click image for higher resolution or download PDF below.

Download this poster as a PDF

International Collaboration on Esafety

On Friday 21 October 2011 at 15.45 I Skyped with TeachMeet Kentucky at the National Corvette Museum where around 300 delegates had assembled to share and learn from each other.

Although my Friday was drawing to a close, simultaneously in Kentucky teachers were settling down at 9.45am to hear me speak about the challenges of communication technologies for adults who works with young people.  The feedback from the session was positive and I enjoyed the experience although presenting via Skype is more challenging than face to face. I can't see or hear my audience and I realise that it is the visual feedback as I'm speaking, that helps define the session and how to select themes to emphasise and expand. I think in future I may try to lose the slides and speak directly to web camera and see if that is a way to engage more fully with my audience.

Thanks very much to all who helped make Teachmeet Kentucky happen and for inviting Northern grid to particpate in an outstanding day of learning and fun.

 If you would like Northern Grid to support you then email support@northerngrid.org

Simon

3 October 2011

Yesterday I delivered an after school esafety session for the staff at Southridge First School in North Tyneside. Their thoughtful and perceptive contributions showed that they understand the importance of this area of safeguarding and are ready to work together to develop policies to support all elements of teaching and learning in a safe and supportive environment.

Much of what I talk about during these sessions centres on how sharing of personal information and opinions is ‘normal’, and we shouldn’t be surprised if our learners and colleagues, on occasions, behave in ways that we would consider inappropriate. I have long maintained that the only way we will see a decline in inappropriate and bullying behaviour in the (social) media is by modelling positive behaviour for our very young children to learn and adopt.

If we can instil in our young children an understanding and ownership of privacy, personal information and appropriate communication of opinions, then we stand a much better chance of them growing up to be more responsible and empathetic participants in online (and offline) interactions. It is perhaps only then that we will see some secondary schools demonstrate the confidence to adopt more open polices relating to filtering and the use of personal and handheld devices for learning and recreation during the school day.

There is much work still to be done, and we need patience and commitment if we are to help our young people become responsible and considerate members of our increasingly sophisticated social networking opportunities.

Simon 

If you would like further information about Northern Grid's support for schools email support@northerngrid.org

North Tyneside LSCB Childminder Network

September 13 2011

Working with children has many rewards and also presents a range of safeguarding challenges.

An interesting area of my esafety and safeguarding work involves supporting childminders, and the challenges they face are much more complex than we may at first expect.

Childminders work at home and the benefits of this are clear, yet the blurring of work and personal boundaries can lead to problems. We may occasionally be more flexible in our understanding of ‘acceptable’ in our own home than perhaps if we were working in an open plan office or alongside colleagues all day.

The group of childminders I met, in the evening, this week had a huge range of experience, and one childminder had almost 30 years’ experience in working with young children. If we consider the changes in technology over the last 30 years we can begin to imagine how the risks to both the children and the childminder have increased at a seemingly alarming rate. A childminder must ensure that they have the confidence and skills to manage the risks facing children who use common internet technologies including games consoles, phones and computers.

In addition to the challenges of working at home and the lack of day to day contact with colleagues who could provide important support and advice, childminders also face the challenge of informal relationships with their clients or customers. Where other self-employed people will have clearly defined parameters to relationships with their clients, childminders may have close friendships with the parents of the children in their care. We discussed this during the session and where the childminder and the parent of the children share a mutual trust and understanding then friendships and working relationships can be managed very effectively. This may mean the general guidance we offer in managing Facebook privacy settings is often much harder for childminders, and those who work at home, to put into effect. Unfortunately this can lead to potential areas of difficulty if parents of children express a view on the childminder’s suitability based on pictures and information they have viewed on the childminder’s Facebook page.

It’s clear that this is an area where further training and support would be welcomed by the members of the North Tyneside Children Come First Network. Bespoke training and support is available  for the network and Northern Grid is able to contribute to the training programme at a time that is convenient for the childminders.

It is by delivering training and support for all areas of the Local Authority that Northern Grid can support North Tyneside local authority to ensure that all children, young people and employees are able to embrace communication technology safely,wherever they are.

For information on how we can help you and your organisation email support@northerngrid.org

Simon

Click image for higher resolution or download PDF below.

Download this poster as a PDF

Click image for higher resolution or download PDF below.

Download this poster as a PDF

Download this poster as a PDF

This section contains the eSafety Audit Tool, developed in-house by Northern Grid! The Audit Tool is an interactive quiz for testing how eSafe your school is - it then offers customised feedback and support based on your answers.

If you're looking for resources but are having trouble narrowing down the vast amount of them available on the internet, then check out the Content Matrix - a much easier way of finding what you're looking for.

If you're searching for an event you can attend to improve your eSafety status or have already attended one of our sessions and would like to access the materials, go to the Events section.

Finally, if you just want to view all of the eSafety resources, including the latest news, guidance and tools, then go to the eSafety Resources section

NEN eSafeguarding Audit Tool

Ensure that ICT is used safely and responsibly and that risks related to ICT use are properly managed

NEN eSafety Audit Tool

Check the eSafety status of your school and get advice and support

E-Security: A Practitioner's Toolkit

Clear and relevant practical advice for schools to ensure the safety of network users and protection for the network itself

NEN eSafety Content Matrix

Wide-ranging, interactive list of eSafety documents and resources from around the world