School communities will have powerful new resources to keep their students safer online with the release of the eSafety Toolkit for Schools, launched today at the SMH Schools Summit in Sydney.
“Technology has become an integral part of the life of every school community, and this creates significant new challenges for protecting student wellbeing and safety,” says eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
“From bullying to ‘stranger danger,’ it’s hard to think of a school safety issue that is not complicated in some way by the internet. These are risks that need to be managed by teachers and administrators, but the good news is that help has arrived.”
The Toolkit includes more than 25 individual resources to help schools prevent online safety incidents and respond effectively when issues do arise. The resources also reinforce a consistent, national approach to online safety issues as they affect school communities.
The Toolkit was developed in response both to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and the Bullying and Cyberbullying Senior Officials Working Group, which highlighted technology’s significant role in many contemporary child safety issues.
The resources in the Toolkit are categorised into four elements — Prepare, Engage, Educate and Respond — and offer advice on topics such as using social media, responding to serious incidents and engaging the whole school community in online safety.
Schools can use the Toolkit in its entirety or select the specific resource they need right now. Whether the resources from each element are used on their own or collectively, each contributes to creating safer online environments for school communities.
The Toolkit is freely available for download at esafety.gov.au/toolkit-schools.