Ofsted require primary schools to have individual computer accounts and tracking?????

[abillybob]

I couldn't agree more. Better still, it's cheap... only £20, so a school can afford to put lots of people on it!

 

Keeping children safe online | An online learning course for anyone working with children | NSPCC

 

Is this an official recognise qualification as such. At the moment our school is looking deep into esafety and I really think if I could take this course it would benefit the school as I'd know a bit more about the whole subject?

[russdev]

Obviously vested interest etc but takling general here not just about one product or company...

 

The thing about safe guarding is that not just about stopping young people looking at porn on the internet but about bigger issue of safe guarding so it includes things like helping students with eating disorders looking at pro-ana websites , abuse, self harm.

 

Also again not about blocking (in survey 75.37% of students had accessed restricted sites even through school blocked it) but monitoring and education of students. The benefit of systems such as Impero (Other systems may be available) is that help pick up on non-website based activity such as bullying via writing things in powerpoint as well as online activity.

 

Russ

[elsiegee40]

Is this an official recognise qualification as such. At the moment our school is looking deep into esafety and I really think if I could take this course it would benefit the school as I'd know a bit more about the whole subject?

@abillybob it is endorsed by CEOP

 

It is definitely recommended as a first step to understanding eSafety issues

[matt40k]

@russdev is Impero used alot in primaries? I see it as many a secondary school product.

 

Also interested in the monitoring of staff - that's a interesting can of worms to open up. Not sure how the teacher unions would react if they found out they don't trust them. Surely you'd have to have reasonable suspicion first?

[elsiegee40]

@russdev is Impero used alot in primaries? I see it as many a secondary school product.

 

Also interested in the monitoring of staff - that's a interesting can of worms to open up. Not sure how the teacher unions would react if they found out they don't trust them. Surely you'd have to have reasonable suspicion first?

 

Our AUP for staff states that users of the school IT network must be aware that all their activity is monitored and logged. It's the same at my governor school... and the same at Mr gee40's financial services employer.... It is expected these days. No union objection anywhere.

 

If you don't want what your are doing to be tracked by your rmployer then use your smart phone.

[russdev]

@russdev is Impero used alot in primaries? I see it as many a secondary school product.

 

Also interested in the monitoring of staff - that's a interesting can of worms to open up. Not sure how the teacher unions would react if they found out they don't trust them. Surely you'd have to have reasonable suspicion first?

 

Got a number of primary schools that use Impero however you are right in some ways hence why we are releasing Impero Learning Manager which aimed at primary market but also those who want classroom management and e-safety elements but not the other parts of education pro.

Edited April 12, 2014 by russdev

[esafety_officer]

Apologies for a late response from me.

 

The Ofsted section five briefing lists the following points regarding filtering and monitoring.

 

Indicators of Good and Outstanding practice: "Recognised Internet Service Provider (ISP) or Regional Broadband Consortium (RBC) together with age-related filtering that is actively monitored."

 

Indicator of inadequate practice: "Security of passwords is ineffective, for example passwords are shared or common with all but the youngest children." and "There is no internet filtering or monitoring."

 

Personally I advise schools against using any shared logins (e.g. class accounts, shared staff logins) except for children with severe SEN (who must be directly supervised by a member of staff) or for early years and foundation stage settings. However I have worked with 4 year olds who have their own iTunes, XBox, Moshi Monster and Facebook accounts and they can remember those passwords then I'm sure they can cope with a school login if they are taught how! I tend to find the biggest issue with this is actually due to a lack of confidence in teaching primary children about password safety by staff, rather than the children's ability to remember passwords. It is not only poor practice for later years (e.g. children think it's acceptable to share their passwords and login details) but it can also be a nightmare for tracing security and filtering breaches or identifying behaviour concerns (by both pupils and staff) so schools can take appropriate safeguarding and/or disciplinary action. These means that schools may leave themselves vulnerable to concerns or allegations about failure to take appropriate action to prevent harm and safeguard the school community.

 

I would echo Skunks point, Ofsted are unlikely to drill into the specific technologies used to achieve this, but it is likely that they will discuss school e-Safety practice and policy with staff and pupils - I am aware of them speaking to reception pupils about what to do if they saw something online that made them feel worried etc. This is why a whole school approach (with clear SLT oversight) with appropriate whole staff training, embedded and progressive pupil education, strong and up-to-date Acceptable Use Policies and evidence of appropriate risk assessments etc is essential. Ultimately it will be up to individual schools to decide how they choose to meet these recommendations but the school SLT and Governing Body will need to be able to explain and justify any decisions made.