A report by Ofstead has revealed that students given a greater degree of freedom to surf the internet at school are less vulnerable to online dangers in the long-term. The report stated that ‘managed’ online systems were more successful than ‘locked’ ones at safeguarding pupils online.

Ofstead has said that the area most in need of improvement was the online safety training for teachers. The report was published in E-safety Week, commissioned in response to Dr Tanya Byron’s investigation into the risks children face when using the internet and video games.

Ofsted inspectors visited 33 primary and secondary schools, a special school and a pupil referral unit and found e-safety was outstanding in five, good in 16, satisfactory in 13 and inadequate in one.

The five schools judged outstanding for online safety all used managed systems to help pupils become responsible users of technology. These systems have fewer inaccessible sites than locked down systems and so “require pupils to take responsibility for themselves”.

Inspectors said that while the 13 schools using locked down systems kept pupils safe while in school, these systems were less effective in helping them learn how to use technology safely.

The report praised one local authority where schools had adopted a “think before you click” policy, encouraging pupils to ask themselves questions such as “can I be sure people are who they say they are?” and “what information about myself should I not give?”

The inspectors said their main concern was poor levels of staff training in online safety. The Ofsted report called on the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Becta (the government’s agency for promoting ICT) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) to do more to help schools improve e-safety.

Access the original article online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8505914.stm

We also found this useful video on Telegraph TV, which provides more information about the Zip it, Block it, Flag it campaign, designed to help protect children online.

Some key technology journalists have also expressed their views on Safer Internet Day:

Click here to read why Ian Douglas of The Telegraph believes that the campaign is pitched at children too young.

Rory Cellan-Jones runs a technology blog for the BBC – click here to read his opinion on the Microsoft / CEOP internet browser designed to help children when surfing the web.

Also on the BBC, technology correspondent Mark Ward discusses what really happens with online bullying - click here to find out.