All teachers should be trained to use classroom technology safely, and e-safety education and digital literacy should be reflected in the national curriculum, maintains a new English government report.
Those are among the recommendations of a study commissioned by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, within the United Kingdom’s Department for Education and Skills. The University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, conducted the research.
“Safeguarding Children in a Digital World” is available from the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
Intentional viewing of pornography online spiked, the study found, among students in years 6, 12, and 13—the U.S. equivalent of the 6th, 11th, and 12th grades, respectively. In addition, plagiarism skyrocketed in the upper grades of primary and secondary schools as a result of using the Internet and other technology.
The research was based on 444 schools, 61 teachers, and 25 local education agencies surveyed in 2005. The report supports the national Every Child Matters agenda, which seeks to improve access to education and health and the academic performance of English 5- to 13-year-olds in poor, high-crime neighborhoods.
“[The report] provides those with a duty to protect children with an up-to-date picture of the challenges faced by schools as they seek to integrate [technology] as a teaching and learning tool,” Charlotte Barrow, the lead researcher and a lecturer in the education and social-science department of the University of Central Lancashire, said in a statement.
