Engage
All members of your school community should be active participants in creating and maintaining safe online environments.
Involving your school community will help to create a shared understanding of, and responsibility for, online safety.
The Engage resources encourage the participation of the school community in creating a safe online environment.
They are useful for engaging school community members as active and valued participants and they facilitate the authentic involvement of students.
School community engagement plan
Building a positive and inclusive culture
- School community members engage with each other online in ways that are welcoming and inclusive.
Involving the school community in decision-making
- School community members are supported to share their opinions, identify issues and collaborate on responses as part of a meaningful decision-making process.
Sharing information and communicating regularly
- Schools share relevant online safety information in a variety of formats which cater to the school community.
Collaborating with families and community partners
- Schools promote online safety activities and events as part of a whole of-community response.
Developing the skills and capacity of parents/carers
- Schools empower parents/ carers to teach, encourage and model appropriate online behaviours through access to information and resources.
Activities for students to take the lead in online safety
Students can lead in online safety:
Young people have many strengths and skills that can be called on as they take the lead in online safety. It is important to consider these skills when tailoring approaches to engage with young people in the school community
To start, consider asking students the following questions:
- What are you good at online?
- What do you enjoy most about being online?
- What things make you feel unsafe online?
- How can you help your friends to stay safe online?
Students involved in online safety can be…
Planners
- Students can plan activities and lessons to ensure they know what, how and why they are learning certain concepts and skills.
Researchers
- Students can research their school community to understand shared experiences and trends in order to produce meaningful solutions.
Teachers & Mentors
- Students can teach and support others as a way to strengthen learning and help teachers to understand their perspectives.
Evaluators
- Students can undertake and deliver purposeful reflections on learning and behaviour.
Decision makers
- Students can partner with school staff to make decisions on a range of issues that affect them — from lesson content to class activities and school policies.
Advocates
- Students can raise issues and come up with solutions to affect change within communities.
This material has been adapted with permission from the Australian Government eSafety Commissioner and is licenced under a CC-BY-NC-SA licence. Permission to adapt content does not constitute endorsement of material by the eSafety Commissioner.
