After hosting workshops on online safety, sexting and pornography at the PSHE Association conference in London and in Leeds, Clíodhna from the Education team speaks about her experience.
The PSHE Association annual conference takes place every year and is a great way for PSHE teachers to meet up, learn about upcoming trends and discuss all matters relating to PSHE.
Joe Hayman, the PSHE Association’s CEO, welcomed delegates and briefed them on the status of PSHE in schools. He mentioned the widespread support for the call to make PSHE a requirement for schools and urged teachers not to give up the fight so that PSHE finds the space it deserves in the curriculum. Delegates then heard from the key note speaker, Jono Baggley, Head of Education from CEOP, about 21st century risks. He spoke about how, for him, the word ‘uncertainty’ characterises the risks for the 21st century for young people and called on PSHE teachers to help guide young people with the moral questions the 21st century brings about.
The 125 delegates were then split into groups and those from state schools heard about Ofsted requirements, while those from independent schools learned more about what the ISI inspection team were looking for with regards to PSHE. Before lunch, delegates split into their workshops where they could choose from an array of different topics: how to teach about mental health, online safety, character education, radicalisation and how to make the argument for PSHE in schools.
Clíodhna’s workshops focused on how to teach about sexting, pornography and online safety in PSHE classes. She mentioned the latest research from the NSPCC about the impact that sexting and pornography can have on young people, as well as highlighting the advice the PSHE Association gave her when she was writing Childnet’s PSHE Association accredited resource – ‘Crossing the Line’. It was encouraging for her to see that PSHE teachers were enthusiastic at the prospect of new videos and supporting resources coming soon to help them address the issuesof cyberbullying, sexting, peer pressure and self-esteem
After lunch, and after a second round of workshops, the conference ended on Stephen da Silva’s thoughts about how to encourage resilience, a really important aspect of PSHE education and something that underpins children’s ability to thrive online.
Overall, it was excellent to be involved in such a well organised conference which was well-pitched and practical, and it was fantastic for Childnet to be able to speak to teachers about online safety, as well as to raise awareness of our newest resource – Crossing the Line.
