Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is teaming up with Play School favourites Big Ted, Humpty and Kiya, to help teach pre-schoolers to be safe and kind online and encourage them to ask for help from an adult if they get into trouble.
The powerful partnership will kick off with the airing of a special online safety-themed Play School episode this morning, and will be backed up by the release of a series of professional learning modules developed in cooperation with Early Childhood Australia.
“Just like the Play School we all know and love, this special episode will feature ‘people with games and stories to tell’ to help teach young kids about being safe and kind online,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said. “It’s also important they know they can ask an adult for help if they get into trouble online because we know not every ‘bear in there’ is a friend.
“The world most of us grew up in is very different to the one our kids are facing today, and this is especially true when it comes to the internet and the age at which our youngest Australians are now exposed to it.”
The Commissioner said a recent eSafety survey of 3,500 parents showed that 81 per cent of those with pre-schoolers said their children were already using the internet.
“Watching this Play School episode with your pre-schooler is a great opportunity to start a conversation and help establish safe online behaviours early on,” Ms Inman Grant said.
The special Play School episode will feature Kiya and her Play School friends going online with presenters Teo and Leah to make the arrangements for her upcoming birthday party.
“With so many pre-schoolers viewing, listening, communicating and playing online, ABC Children felt it crucial to tackle the area of internet safety,” ABC Head of Children’s Programming Libbie Doherty said.
The episode will be closely followed by the release of four professional learning modules specifically designed for early childhood educators and service managers and featuring excerpts from the program to reinforce the online safety lessons and messages.
“Our collaboration with the eSafety Commissioner and Early Childhood Australia has resulted in a very special episode that will assist children and caregivers and educators achieve and learn the best practice in this fast-evolving digital age,” Ms Doherty said.
The modules, which form part of eSafety’s Early Years program for children aged 0-5, will reinforce positive online safety messages for children to Be safe, Be kind, Ask for help, and Make good choices.
All four modules will be available for use by early childhood educators and service managers via Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub, which currently has over 30,000 users and is one of the largest online professional development platforms for the early childhood sector in Australia.
"Early Childhood Australia recognises that many children are online with some studies indicating that up to 94 per cent of four-year-olds have used the internet in some way," ECA's General Manager, Professional Learning and Research Translation Dr Kate Highfield said.
"As adults we need to help children as they grown up in this digital playground, and help families that choose to use digital devices to do it safely. This can be done in conjunction with enabling children to be more than just consumers of content, but to also be effective and creative digital citizens."
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said “Parents and carers can help children understand and practise safe online behaviours from an early age.
“I am pleased the eSafety Commissioner is teaming up with Play School for a special episode about staying safe online. I encourage parents and carers to tune into Play School tomorrow morning with their children and to take advantage of the Early Years learning modules at eSafety.gov.au.”