Students: Social Media

(asked on 8th February 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure that students are educated on issues of privacy and personal security on social media.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 20th February 2018

The Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people stay safe online. The Department’s ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance states that schools should ensure children are taught about safeguarding, includes staying safe online.

E-safety is covered at all Key Stages in the national curriculum for computing. It is compulsory in maintained schools and can be used as a benchmark by academies and free schools. The content was developed with input from e-safety experts including Childnet, NSPCC and the UK Safer Internet Centre. The introduction of e-safety content at Key Stage 1 reflects the fact that children are increasingly using the internet and social media from a young age.

The Department is working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on any additional content on online safety that may be taught through the new subjects of Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education and potentially through compulsory Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.

The UK Council for Child Internet Safety recently published 'Education for a Connected World framework'. This Framework supports one of the key aims of the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy of supporting children to stay safe and make a positive contribution online. It includes a section on privacy and security.

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