How can I help to ensure my students search the internet safely?
Simply by entering one word or a group of words in an internet search engine, young people can access thousands of websites that are relevant to their search topic; it's a huge library at their fingertips.
The key safety concern for your students - and you - is that they could be exposed to illegal, harmful or inappropriate material online, even if they are searching on a seemingly harmless keyword.
It's useful to start by finding out what your students might encounter when using specific search engines. Experiment by typing in some terms on the school computer they might search for in relation to their schoolwork or hobbies. What websites come up? Is there anything you wouldn't want them to see? What are the current search settings?
Fortunately, most search providers offer a 'safe search' facility that filters out potentially harmful or adult-oriented content appearing in the results of a search conducted by a young person. You can even choose to use search engines that have been designed specifically for younger internet users.
Some providers offer different levels of filtering (off, low, medium/moderate and high/strict); others simply offer an ‘on/off' option. You can usually find the filters on the search provider's website under the ‘preferences', ‘options' or ‘settings' tabs.
Check your school's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to see if it recommends using a particular safe search provider so that inappropriate content is filtered out.
Google SafeSearch screens for websites that contain explicit sexual content, for example, and deletes them from your search results. No filter is 100 percent accurate, but SafeSearch should eliminate most inappropriate material.
Furthermore, as your students create and post their own content - on social networking profiles or blogs, for example - they need to be aware that it will be available to any internet user to find online via a search engine unless they set their profile to ‘private'.
Most social networking sites automatically set a young person's profile to a private setting when they register with the site. This is one reason why you should encourage your students to be honest about their age when setting up an account. Equally they should not attempt to change the settings themselves - otherwise their content could be accessed by a public search.
It's important that you teach your students how to use tools that are available online for safer searching and that you always implement these in the classroom. You also play a vital role in helping to educate your students' parents about safe search, so that there is a consistent message at home and at school.
If, despite your best attempts at filtering and safe searching, you or your students see evidence of potentially illegal material online whilst using a school computer, report the matter to the school's e-safety co-ordinator and contact the Internet Watch Foundation.
If one of your students comes across potentially harmful or illegal material in their search results after the filter has been activated, report it to the search provider so they can investigate it. The search provider should have a prominent reporting facility on their website to help you do this.
Where can I find out more?
- Check your school's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to see if it includes guidelines on safe search for young people and speak to your school's e-safety co-ordinator or technical support staff.
- Read the Home Office guidance on safer search here .
- Take a look at Google's advice about safe searching for families.
- Click here for our tips on privacy and personal safety.
How do filters help to protect my students?
In addition, most UK schools and LEAs ensure that filtering software is in place on their school network so that children cannot access inappropriate websites.
Some argue that filters on school computers can cause problems for legitimate school activities, such as online research and collaborative project work. If this is the case, you could speak to your e-safety co-ordinator and technical support staff about changing the filters so that your students can access a particular website.
You should also be aware that some young people find ways to bypass filters by using proxy sites or servers.
Research reveals that in some schools, students are accessing thousands of websites that are normally blocked - from social networking sites to pornography and violent gaming sites - by hacking out of the school network in this way (Source: Zentek, 2008).
Schools can take action by blocking Web-based proxies but, because there are so many available, it can be difficult to keep up with them.
Filtering should be part of your school's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) - go to the School equipment and personal equipment at school section of Teachtoday for more information.
Click here for our tips on privacy and personal safety and read more about proxy servers in this BBC News article.