Safeguarding and education device 1:1 schemes: creating a safety net for students exploring the digital space
According to the Online Safety Data Initiative, 80% of children (aged 12-15) have experienced potentially harmful experiences online whilst the Office for National Statistics found that one in six children aged 10-15 spoke with someone online that they had never met before. Cyber-bullying, online grooming, political and religious radicalisation - there are a wave of threats facing youngsters in the digital space. While we trust that school-owned technology has the necessary security and safeguarding protocols to keep students safe in the classroom, how does this work with 1:1 device schemes when the devices are independent of the school?
How can 1:1 devices ensure that students are kept safe online?
Whilst most devices purchased on the high street will have some base level of protection, the likelihood is that devices provided through a 1:1 scheme will offer students a much higher degree of protection. This is because both the school and provider will offer systems that come with software to protect against viruses, malware, phishing, and inappropriate content.
Schools continue to invest heavily in filtering and firewall platforms and online protection suites that offer image and keyword detection for inappropriate websites and mobile device management (MDM) platforms that can monitor chatrooms. Devices used in 1:1 schemes can work in tandem with a school’s IT infrastructure, either connected in the classroom through ethernet of WiFi connections or remotely through cloud-powered technology, ensuring that the highest level of protection is available for students at all times, whatever their location.
Ensuring that 1:1 devices and schools’ IT infrastructure offer all the necessary software and barriers to keep students safe is one step to meet the necessary safeguarding requirements, but it is imperative that educational institutions and governing bodies underpin this with robust training programmes and procedures. Staff who directly work with children need to be fully fluent with the Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. Governing bodies also need to ensure that mechanisms are in place to help staff to understand and deliver their various roles and responsibilities.
Stone’s proactive approach to safeguarding students
Often, devices used in 1:1 schemes come with pre-installed software to ensure students can surf the web and engage in the digital space safely and securely. At Stone, we work in partnership with participating schools to help supply safeguarding management systems such as Senso, which monitors students’ keywords in browsers and Microsoft Teams. Using cloud-powered technology, Senso proactively identifies and protects users who may be vulnerable or at risk, as well as users who may pose a risk to others through inappropriate or harmful behaviour.
By working with schools on a case-by-case basis, we can ensure that students are offered the highest level of protection for their online activity right from the offset, ensuring they’re are effectively safeguarded both in the classroom and at home.
If you want to know more about Stone’s GetYourTech4School scheme, get in touch with one of our experts today.
