Ecclesiastical launches free Cyber Ready toolkit to help teachers deliver online safety lessons
- Schools can download the Cyber Ready toolkit for free
- 56% of teachers believe it is difficult to engage pupils in online safety
- New toolkit will help teachers deliver online safety lessons
Ecclesiastical has launched Cyber Ready, a new toolkit to help teachers engage children between the ages of nine and 13 in cyber safety lessons.
According to research1 undertaken by the specialist insurer, 56% of teachers believe it is difficult to engage pupils in online safety lessons because pupils are often more tech savvy than the teacher. Half said it is difficult to keep up with the latest trends and 35% said resources become out of date too quickly or that current resources are very dull (22%).
In order to address this, teachers would like to see online or interactive resources that are updated regularly and provide real life examples that the children can relate to, alongside support from external parties like the police and content that is delivered from the child’s point of view.
The Cyber Ready Toolkit was developed to help teachers combat the barriers to teaching online safety and support them in the classroom. The free resource can be downloaded from the Ecclesiastical website: https://www.ecclesiastical.com/risk-management/cyber-ready/
Aimed at children between the ages of nine and 13, the Cyber Ready toolkit combines visual aids, scenarios that children can relate to and a creative approach that enables teachers to explore a range of cyber safety issues with their class. It helps raise awareness of cyber issues and empower children to come up with their own solutions to cyber safety.
The toolkit features five real life scenarios for the class to work through, each addressing a cyber risk for children, including cyber bullying, spending too much time on line and sharing personal information with others. It uses a range of characters, emojis, social media platforms and locations to help children bring the scenarios to life.
Teachers surveyed in Ecclesiastical’s Education Barometer, an in-depth study exploring the immediate and emerging risks facing schools, named cyber bullying as one of the biggest risks facing their schools.
Faith Kitchen, education director at Ecclesiastical, said: “As a specialist insurer we believe that we can provide real insight and knowledge of the sectors in which we operate. We know from our own research that engaging children in online safety lessons can be difficult for teachers. The online world moves at a phenomenal pace and resources can become outdated very quickly. Cyber ready comes with five initial scenarios to work through but can be adapted easily to discuss other or new issues as they emerge. The new toolkit is designed to provide real life scenarios in a fun and interactive way to get children to think differently about online safely, which we hope will help keep them engaged throughout the lessons.”
