Internet Safety Day 2010 - Speech by the Minister for Education and Science

Today we are joining with 65 countries around the world by marking Safer Internet day.

The main objective of Safer Internet Day 2010 is to bring together relevant public and private stakeholders, in as many countries as possible, to raise awareness about safe and responsible use of Internet technologies especially among children and young people.

The Department of Education has been supporting this initiative since 2004.

Participation has been steadily growing, with an increase in general awareness, stronger involvement of relevant stakeholders in the field of internet safety and a high level of media interest.

In the last five years we have seen how integral these new technologies have become to the lives of young people and how important it is that we educate ourselves about the benefits and dangers they bring.

In relation to the internet we need a shared culture of responsibility with families, schools, industry, government and others in the community all playing their part to reduce the risks of potential harm.

Technology offers new opportunities for all of society including children and young people.

Email, instant messaging, texting, and Bebo are allowing Irish children to connect with each other and engage with society in new and extraordinary ways.

We are also seeing how the anonymous, instant, and far reaching communication powers of the Internet have brought a new dimension to child protection issues such as bullying, anorexia, suicide, and sexual exploitation.

I am delighted that confident, creative and responsible young people will be involved in the awareness raising work of the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) and the policy work of the Office for Internet Safety (OIS) through the establishment of the Safer Internet Ireland Youth Advisory Panel (SIIYAP).

Involving children and young people in our initiative is crucial if we are to understand how best to keep them safe online.

Many assumptions are made about why children and young people behave in a particular way when using the internet and other communication technologies, but we need to actually talk to them and listen to what they have to say in order to really understand them and then apply what we learn to our awareness raising education programmes and the work of the Safer Internet Ireland initiative.

In schools, action is taken at a whole-school level to ensure that internet safety is mainstreamed throughout the school’s teaching, learning and other practices.

Our internet safety strategy has three components:

Using technology to reduce the potential of harm.

Implementing Acceptable Use Policies

Education Programmes

Since the development of the Schools Broadband Network we have implemented a centralised content filter managed by the NCTE.

This service allows teachers to harness the power of the Internet for teaching and learning without risking exposing their pupils to inappropriate content.

We have also ensured that all schools have Acceptable Use Policies that are regularly reviewed, monitored and agreed with parents, staff and students.

These policies address all rights, privileges, responsibilities and sanctions associated with the Internet in schools.

It identifies the school's strategy on promoting safe use of the Internet and it defines the parameters of behaviour and specifies the consequences of violating those parameters.

Webwise, the Internet safety initiative of the NCTE, is one of the leading Internet Safety programmes in Europe and involves delivery of Internet Safety Seminars for parents in schools and provision of Internet safety continuing professional development training for teachers.

Finally, I want to thank everyone on the Youth Advisory Panel for their involvement.

Its very important that we get your input into how we communicate with young people on the use of the internet and new technologies.

Thank you.