The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has launched a new online education program encouraging young people and teachers to explore online issues including cyberbullying and image-based abuse.
The program, The YeS Project aims at sparking important conversations and problem solving in students’ online and offline worlds.
eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant said that as young Australians continued to be confronted and challenged by online content there had never been a more important time to help them shape their digital practices positively and support their peers.
“Reassuringly, our research suggests that young people are able to recognise the positive outcomes that arise from negative incidents online,” Ms Inman Grant said, “like knowing how to manage these risks or helping a friend through online strife.”
“The YeS Project aims to build on these behaviours, empowering students to positively influence their online worlds – individually and as a group.”
She said the Project would also help teachers build their capacity in a space that can be uncomfortable and sometimes foreign, but which was vital to understand in order to help young people navigate the online world more safely.
She said teachers could choose from 12 standalone workshops in the program to design one that worked for their students and the school environment.
“This comprehensive and responsive approach to eSafety learning helps to facilitate positive, long-term behavioural change,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“Students will develop skills to help lead, influence, mentor and support their fellow peers.”
She said the Project was mapped against the Australian curriculum and mirrored other health education initiatives, using an ethics framework to support young people caring for themselves, their peers and their worlds.
Teachers can download The YeS Project including a free Workshop Handbook and Educator Guide and conversation starter video from the eSafety website at this PS News link.
