Schools Internet Policy 2002
A Template for Schools to Modify
Wiltshire LEA believes in the educational benefits of curriculum Internet use. Good planning and management that recognises the risks, will help to ensure appropriate, effective and safe pupil use. Each school is unique and needs to write and maintain its own policy for Internet use.
Internet Policy Template
This template, revised annually by teachers and officers, will help schools to write their own Internet policy. Issues are presented as questions, with discussion and a range of responses.
The school’s policy writing team can select or edit the most appropriate statements or they can write their own.
As the safety of pupils is paramount, the Headteacher and governors should plan to update the policy regularly.
Contents
Contents
Introduction
Core Principles of Internet Safety
Common questions
Who will write and review the policy?
Why is Internet use important?
How does the Internet benefit education?
How will Internet use enhance learning?
How will pupils learn to evaluate Internet content?
How will e-mail be managed?......
How should Web site content be managed?
Are newsgroups and chat safe?
How can emerging Internet uses be managed?
How will Internet access be authorised?
How will the risks be assessed?
How will filtering be managed?
How will the policy be introduced to pupils?
How will staff be consulted?
How will ICT system security be maintained?
How will complaints regarding Internet use be handled?
How will parents’ support be enlisted?
How is Internet used across the community?
Sample Consent Form
Pupil’s Agreement
Parent’s Consent for Internet Access
Parent’s Consent for Web Publication of Work and Photographs
References
Particularly for Parents
Particularly for Schools
Notes on the legal framework
Data Protection Act 1998
Protection of Children Act 1978
Wiltshire National Grid for Learning
Schools Internet Policy 2002
First Edition, January 2002
The statutory curriculum requires pupils to learn how to locate, retrieve and exchange information using ICT. In delivering the curriculum, teachers need to plan to integrate the use of communications technology such as web-based resources and email. Computer skills are vital to access life-long learning and employment; indeed we must consider ICT a life-skill.
Most technologies present risks as well as benefits. Internet use for home, social and leisure activities is expanding and being used by all sectors of society. This brings young people into contact with a wide variety of influences, some of which could be unsuitable. It is important that schools, libraries and youth clubs, as well as parents, adopt strategies for the responsible and safe use of the Internet.
Teachers and officers have produced this template to help schools write their own Internet Policy. To initiate and inform debate, the template offers a range of responses to common questions.
This document is based on the third edition of a policy produced by Kent County Council, found at Kent County Council copyright is acknowledged by Wiltshire County Council, with kind permission from the editor, Peter Banbury. Additions from Policy used within the Wiltshire County Council have also been incorporated.
Wiltshire’s recommended policy is indicated in critical sections by the letter W.
Wiltshire County Council and its employees do not accept responsibility for any loss of any kind caused to any person as a result of reliance on the content of this publication. You are advised to take independent advice on the merits of any individual course of action that you wish to undertake.
Introduction
Why write an Internet Policy?
The Internet is an open communications channel, available to all. Applications such as the Web, e-mail and chat, all transmit information over the wires and fibres of the Internet to many locations in the world at low cost. Anyone can send messages, discuss ideas and publish material with little restriction. These features of the Internet make it an invaluable resource, used by millions of people every day.
Some of the material is published for an adult audience and is unsuitable for pupils. In addition, some use the Web to publish information on weapons, crime and racism that would be more restricted elsewhere. Sadly, email and chat communication could also provide opportunities for adults to make contact with children for inappropriate reasons. In line with school policies that protect pupils from other dangers, there is a requirement to provide pupils with as safe an Internet environment as possible and a need to teach them to be aware of, and respond responsibly, to the risks.
Schools need to protect themselves from possible legal challenge. The legal system is still struggling with the application of existing decency laws to computer technology. It is clearly an offence to hold images of child pornography on computers but the possession of other obscene or offensive materials is not clearly covered. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 makes it an offence to “cause a computer to perform any function with intent to secure unauthorised access to any program or data held in any computer”. Schools can help protect themselves by making it clear to users that the use of school equipment to view or transmit inappropriate material is “unauthorised”. However, schools should be aware that a disclaimer does not protect a school from a claim of death or personal injury and the school needs to ensure that all reasonable and appropriate steps have been taken to protect pupils.
Teachers will be aware of the risks of Internet use, but may have had few opportunities for detailed discussion. Advice and training from Advisers or Child Protection Officers should be sought. Policy writing provides an opportunity for discussion and a policy agreed by staff will be easier to implement than one imposed.
How do I use the Policy Template?
The intention is to assist the writing process without bypassing the essential debate. For a staff meeting, the policy template may be printed or viewed from the Web. Subsequently, the template files may be downloaded for editing on a word processor.
When writing your policy, educational, management and technical issues will need to be considered. These are presented as questions with discussion and a range of suggested statements. The writing team should consider each question and select statements appropriate to the school context. Of course, the team may edit statements or write their own. Statements that are not relevant to your school are simply deleted.
Should I revise our School Policy?
Government guidance in areas such as e-mail, chat and websites has changed recently. Schools should obtain the DfES Superhighway Safety pack (green cover) and must note the additional guidance on the Web site:
It is essential that schools revise their policy. Internet technology and school use is changing rapidly and policies produced a year ago will be out of date in many areas. Almost every section of this template has been re-written this year.
What should Primary Schools focus on?
Separate copies of this booklet for primary and secondary schools were considered, but the issues are essentially the same, although the context is different. Teachers have raised the following points, which illustrate the primary perspective.
Supervision is the key strategy. Whatever systems are in place, something could go wrong which places pupils in an embarrassing or potentially dangerous situation. Is it sufficient for a teacher or learning support assistant to be in the area? Should Internet machines be placed in a common area between classrooms? Are there circumstances outside normal lesson time where pupils justifiably need access to the Internet?
Aimless surfing should never be allowed. It is good practice to teach pupils to use the Internet in response to an articulated need, e.g. a question arising from work in class. Children should be able to answer the question “Why are we using the Internet?”
Search engines can be difficult to use effectively and pupils can experience overload and failure if the set topic is too open-ended. Of course, the experienced teacher will choose a topic with care, select the search engine and then discuss with pupils sensible search words (which may have been tried out beforehand!). A fruitful group or class investigation may result - contrasted with possible individual frustration.
Pupils do not need a thousand Web sites on weather. A small selection may be quite enough choice for juniors. Favorites are a useful way to present this choice to pupils. If teachers’ Web site selections for various topics are put on the school Web site, access by pupils from home and by other schools is made possible.
There may even be difficulties here. One recommended site, successfully used by primary schools, suddenly changed into a pornographic site. Presumably hackers had infiltrated the site and replaced the content. Sites should always be previewed.
Off-line storage of Web resources for viewing later from the hard disk is one useful strategy. Similarly pupils publishing to a web site held on a class computer or the school network removes difficulties of pupils publishing on a publicly available Web site and could still be presented to pupils as a privilege.
Government advice on e-mail has changed. For the details please refer to the Safety Web site below. The concern is the possibility of access to pupils by adults of unknown intention, if e-mail is not controlled. Essentially individual e-mail addresses are not considered suitable and class or project e-mail addresses should be used.
In brief:
- Obtain the free DfES “Superhighway Safety” (phone: 0845 6022260).
- Check the e-mail, chat and Web site updates on .
- Discuss with pupils the ‘Rules for Responsible Internet Use, primary version.’
- Consider class e-mail addresses and check all incoming and outgoing e-mails.
- Preview all sites before use and consider off-line viewing.
- Plan the curriculum context for Internet usage to match pupils’ ability.
- Vigilance is essential and supervision the most important strategy.
Core Principles of Internet Safety
The Internet is becoming as commonplace as the telephone or TV and its effective use is an essential life-skill. Unmediated Internet access brings with it the possibility placing of pupils in embarrassing, inappropriate and even dangerous situations. A policy is required to help to ensure responsible use and the safety of pupils.
The Wiltshire NGfL Internet Policy is built on the following five core principles:
Guided educational use
Significant educational benefits should result from curriculum Internet use, including access to information from around the world and the ability to communicate widely and to publish easily. Internet use should be planned, task-orientated and educational within a regulated and managed environment. Directed and successful Internet use will also reduce the opportunities for activities of dubious worth.
Risk assessment
21st Century life presents dangers including violence, racism and exploitation from which children and young people need to be protected. At the same time, they need to learn to recognise and avoid these risks – to become “Internet Wise”. Schools need to ensure they are fully aware of the risks, perform risk assessments and implement a policy for Internet use. Pupils need to know how to cope if they come across inappropriate material.
Assessments of the risks in Internet access by young persons in Youth Clubs, Libraries, and public access points and in homes will need to be undertaken.
Responsibility
Internet safety depends on staff, schools, governors, advisers, and parents and, where appropriate, the pupils themselves, taking responsibility for the use of Internet and associated communication technologies. The balance between education for responsible use, regulation and technical solutions must be judged carefully.
Regulation
The use of a limited and expensive resource, which brings with it the possibility of misuse, must be regulated. In some cases access within schools must simply be denied, for instance unmoderated chat rooms present immediate dangers and are usually banned. Fair rules, clarified by discussion and prominently displayed will help pupils make responsible decisions.
Appropriate strategies
This document describes strategies to help to ensure responsible and safe use. They are based on limiting access, developing responsibility and on guiding pupils towards educational activities. Strategies must be selected to suit the school situation and their effectiveness monitored. There are no straightforward or totally effective solutions and staff, parents and the pupils themselves must remain vigilant.
A School Internet Policy
A template for schools to edit
Common questions
Who will write and review the policy?
The Internet Policy is part of the ICT Policy and School Development Plan and should relate to other policies including those for behaviour, for personal, social and health education (PSHE) and for citizenship. Whilst policies can be dry documents, their construction provides a method to review practice, in this case the use of a major new technology with benefits and risks. The more that staff, parents, governors and pupils are involved in deciding the policy, the more effective it will be.
Possible statement:
The school has written our Internet Policy, building on the Wiltshire NGfL policy and government guidance. It has been agreed by the senior management and approved by governors and the PTA. It will be reviewed annually.
Created by: ……………………………
Date: ……………………………
To be revised: ……………………………
Approved:……………………………
Why is Internet use important?
A statement of the reasons for Internet use will explain the expenditure on systems and use of staff time in devising sound approaches. The statements below are suggestions, please select and edit to suit your school context or replace with your own statements.
Possible statements:
- The purpose of Internet use in school is to raise educational standards, to promote pupil achievement, to support the professional work of staff and to enhance the school’s management information and business administration systems.
- Internet use is a part of the statutory curriculum and a necessary tool for staff and pupils.
- Internet access is an entitlement for students who show a responsible and mature approach to its use.
- The Internet is an essential element in 21st Century life - for education, business and social interaction. The school has a duty to provide students with quality Internet access as part of their learning experience.
How does the Internet benefit education?
The Government has set targets for networked Internet use in all schools by 2002 through the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) initiative. A number of studies and government projects have identified the benefits to be gained through the appropriate use of the Internet in education.
Possible statement:
Benefits of using the Internet in education include:
- access to world-wide educational resources, including museums and art galleries;
- inclusion in government initiatives, such as the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) and the Virtual Teacher Centre (VTC);
- educational and cultural exchanges between pupils world-wide;
- cultural, vocational, social and leisure use in libraries, clubs and at home;
- access to experts in many fields for pupils and staff;
- staff professional development, through access to national developments, educational materials and good curriculum practice;
- communication with support services, professional associations and colleagues;
- Improved access to technical support including remote management of networks;
- Exchange of curriculum and administration data with the LEA and DfES.
How will Internet use enhance learning?
Increased computer numbers or improved Internet access may be provided, but effective use and quality of learning must also be addressed. Developing good practice in Internet use as a tool for teaching and learning, is clearly essential. Librarians and teachers need to help pupils learn to distil the meaning from the mass of information provided by the Web. Often the quantity of information needs to be cut down and staff could guide pupils to appropriate Web sites, possibly by publishing lists on the school intranet or on the school Web site for use at home. Offering pupils a few good sites may be better than suggesting the whole Web is searched!
Possible statements:
WThe school Internet access will be designed expressly for pupil use and will include filtering appropriate to the age of pupils.
WPupils will be taught what is acceptable and what is not acceptable and given clear objectives for Internet use.
- Internet access will be planned to enrich and extend learning activities. Access levels will be reviewed to reflect the curriculum requirements and age of pupils.
- Staff should guide pupils in on-line activities that will support the learning outcomes planned for the pupils’ age and maturity.
- Pupils will be educated in the effective use of the Internet in research, including the skills of knowledge location and retrieval.
How will pupils learn to evaluate Internet content?
Discussion: The quality of information received via radio, newspaper and telephone is variable and everyone needs to develop skills in selection and evaluation. The spreading of malicious rumour has occurred for thousands of years and lies sometimes win over truth. Information received via the Web, e-mail or text message also requires good information handling skills. In particular it may be difficult to determine origin and accuracy, as the contextual clues present with books or TV, may be missing or difficult to read. A whole curriculum approach may be required.