Federal Budget to allow for three years of e-safety student learning

Digital safety programs will be rolled out to every Australian school through a $6 million federal government investment to better protect children from harms in the online world.

Tools to improve digital literacy*, online safety awareness and technological skills for students ranging from five to 16-years-old will be free for all schools to access, with funding over three years to be included in the 2022-23 Budget, released on Tuesday night.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said children were “particularly vulnerable*” to cyber-bullying*, online abuse* and exposure* to harmful online content.

“Ensuring we have the resources in place – and the expertise available to deliver them – will empower* children to interact safely online,” Ms Rowland said.

A suite* of optional eLearning tools will be delivered by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation* and include an eSmart digital licence for students aged 10 to 14, as well as a junior digital licence for five to 9-year-olds.

These licences can be voluntarily* adopted by schools to ensure students are equipped with basic skills and understanding about the risks and dangers online. The funding will also cover a media literacy lab for secondary school students aged 12 to 16.

Alannah and Madeline Foundation chief executive Sarah Davies said the funding would ensure Australian students had access to curriculum*-aligned* programs that aimed to “develop essential skills and competencies* children and young people need to successfully navigate* the digital world”.

TV presenter Erin Molan has become an advocate* for e-safety initiatives and better protections from online harms.

Earlier this year, Ms Molan spoke about the damage anonymous* online trolling* could cause during a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.

“We’ve seen many lives ruined by this kind of behaviour,” she said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer* Commission* has recommended improving digital media literacy education in Australian schools, to help children to critically* assess the news and content they see online.

By 2025 it is estimated more than 9000 primary and secondary schools will have had the opportunity to engage with the safety products funded by the government.

GLOSSARY

• literacy: having competence or knowledge in a specific area
• vulnerable: weak and unprotected, easily hurt or harmed physically or emotionally
• cyber-bullying: using technology to send, post or share false or mean content about others
• online abuse: any type of abuse that happens on the internet
• exposure: seeing something, view something or being made to know something
• empower: encourage and support the ability to do something
• Alannah and Madeline Foundation: national not-for-profit with a mission to protect children from harm and trauma
• suite: group of things forming a whole or a collection
• voluntarily: done, made, or given willingly, without being made or paid to do it
• curriculum: subjects studied and what each one includes
• aligned: co-ordinated, lined up, matched appropriately
• competencies: important skills needed to do something well
• navigate: find a way through something, create a path
• advocate: publicly support or suggest an idea, development or way of doing something
• anonymous: made or done by someone whose name is not known
• consumer: people who buys goods and services for their own use
• commission: formal group with authority to address a problem or perform other special duties
• critically: using careful analysis and judgement

EXTRA READING

Australia ranks second for child cyber-bullying

Bully laws beefed up for better online safety

Bullied by a friend? It’s still bullying

QUICK QUIZ

1. How much investment will be made in digital safety in the new federal budget?
2. Which organisation will deliver eLearning resources?
3. The Communications Minister said children were especially vulnerable to what?
4. What age group will be eligible to qualify for the eSmart digital licence?
5. How many schools are estimated to get access these online safety products by 2025?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. eSmart licence
If you had to design up to eight modules to complete and be ticked off for young people to obtain their eSmart digital licence, what would they be?

Work with a partner to brainstorm the most important topics and safety concerns for young people to learn about in order to obtain their licence.

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Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Digital Technologies; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Design what the eSmart digital licence might look like and what information it includes. One licence for five to 9-year-olds and one for 10 to 14-year-olds.

Would you like to complete the learning to obtain your digital licence when the program is rolled out to all schools? Explain why or why not.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Digital Technologies; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Wow word recycle
There are plenty of wow words (ambitious pieces of vocabulary) being used in the article. Some are in the glossary, but there might be extra ones from the article that you think are exceptional as well.

Identify all the words in the article that you think are not common words, and particularly good choices for the writer to have chosen.

Select three words you have highlighted to recycle into your own sentences.

If any of the words you identified are not in the glossary, write up your own glossary for them.