Some teachers may be concerned that their school might not have the right technology to be able to run the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme. Danielle Antha, Project Manager for the programme, explains how easy it is to get involved!
What is the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme and how does it work?
The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme is a peer-to-peer online training programme to help schools and communities teach online safety. Delivered as part of Childnet’s work in the UK Safer Internet Centre, the programme is youth-led and designed to empower young people to educate their peers, parents and teachers about online safety. Once recruited, Digital Leaders complete modules on the online training platform and work through topics such as healthy relationships online, fake news and cyberbullying. The modules are engaging, fun and interactive, and consist of videos, quizzes, and plenty of helpful advice. Read our earlier blog on the role that teachers play in recruitment and guiding their Digital Leaders.
Once all the modules are complete, the young people become qualified Digital Leaders and go on to represent their school in the local community as online safety experts. There are also team activities to complete such as leading an assembly, making a poster of potential online safety risks to be displayed in the school corridors and classrooms, writing a letter home to parents to help them consider ways in which they can support their children to be safer online, such as information on gaming and social media privacy settings, and much more.
However, teachers may be concerned that their school might not have the correct technical requirements to be able to run the programme. With these concerns in mind, Childnet developed the programme so that it is accessible for schools all over the UK, regardless of their tech facilities.
What does my school need to run the programme?
All that’s needed to run the programme:
- Computers, laptops or tablets
- an internet connection
- access to printing
- for primary schools; presentation equipment such as a projector and whiteboard
- … and bundles of enthusiasm!
As an online training platform, the Digital Leaders are able to access it on a computer, laptop or tablet via the internet. There are also certificates available for teachers to print and give to the young people on successful completion of a module.
What’s the difference between the primary and secondary school programme?
The primary school programme has been developed to be more teacher-led, therefore the students and teacher will complete the platform together, using the Childnet provided presentations and workbooks alongside the online platform.
The secondary school programme has been developed to be far more autonomous for the older students. This will enable them to complete modules outside of class time for later in-depth discussion with the teacher during their Digital Leaders sessions. It would be beneficial for the secondary students to have access to a computer to complete the modules either at home or at school during break times.
And we encourage schools to be as creative as possible with their team activities – no special technology needed!
To register your interest in the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme visit our website.
