Tuesday 10^th February 2009 was the 6^th Edition of the Safer Internet Day of the European Commission, where the Council of Europe highlights its work with member states and non-European countries to tackle all forms of misuse of Internet – and make it safer for children to use.

As a member of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, the Welsh Assembly Government organised an event in partnership with the Butetown Youth Pavilion and WISE KIDS where 11 young people were given the opportunity to share their Internet practices and express their views on Internet safety to Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning.

The young people took part in a day-long preparatory training workshop with WISE KIDS, learning about new Internet technologies and exploring Internet Safety issues. They used digital media resources (pictures, video, audio and software) to record their thoughts and ideas. For European Safer Internet day, they created a presentation highlighting the positives and negatives of the Internet for young people; a few created a rap with Internet safety messages for young people (with accompanying video); and they also created a summary of key points for the Education Minister on how they felt young people could be helped to use and engage with the Internet in ways that are meaningful and relevant to their needs, and which empower them and encourage them to make informed choices.

Key messages from the day were:

the enthusiasm with which young people approach ICT and the importance to them of having access to the Internet and technology facilities for education, socialising and expressing themselves;

the skills which they develop “by themselves” using ICT beyond the classroom;

their strong wish for all young people to have access to ICT and to learn with “real life” technologies such as Amazon and Bebo;

the opportunities for using ICT – including hand held multimedia devices – to make youth services more inviting to young people;

that the ICT curriculum which they had experienced in school did not reflect what they wanted to learn or the 21^st Century skills which they needed to acquire in order to achieve their goals in life;

young people need more advice from schools on how to protect their online identities and what to do in difficult situations online – including who to contact if they are a victim of cyberbullying or viruses;

that there should be less “blanket blocking” of websites across local authorities – with young people able to use social networking sites during lunch breaks and after school, and at youth centres.

What happens next?

The Welsh Assembly Government will be reflecting the views expressed by the participants in the European Safer Internet Day event in its contribution to the strategy which is being developed by the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, set up by the Prime Minister in 2008.

PSBA Wales is currently reviewing the feasibility of developing broadband services for schools, which could include different levels of filtering at primary and secondary level.

The ICT Strategy team in DCELLS will be discussing with local authorities and others across Wales:

what further advice pupils, teachers and parents need on Internet Safety;

guidance on how schools can make safe and effective use of web 2.0 technologies (including social networking) to enhance teaching and learning;

how best to promote confident, creative and innovative uses of technology to support schools’ delivery of the revised national curriculum for ICT which is being introduced from September 2008;

how to improve ICT facilities offered by youth services;

how to incorporate the key messages from European Safer Internet Day into our planning for the One Wales laptops pilot.

Many thanks to all the participants in this excellent event!