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Early Years educator and technology specialist Richard Waite reflects on the importance of Online/E-Safety in the Early Years for parents and carers and EY professionals.

by Richard Waite on April 22

6 min read

 

In this article, Richard shares his experience of supporting EY settings with their e-safety, why it’s important to consider for young children, and how to introduce the concept with families.

 

During my 16 years at a large nursery group, I was a key advocate of and influence on the importance of E-Safety or Online Safety. Our Early Years Department took online safety very seriously, as part of their Safeguarding policy.

GOV.UK, UK Council for Internet Safety, published a Guidance Paper in February 2019. In the introduction to this guidance some statistics were shared which are very relevant to the reason behind me writing this article.

It started with a question:

Why does online safety matter to early years settings?

Answer:

Ofcom’s ‘Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes Report’ (2018 – released in January 2019) found that:

  • 1% of 3-4-year-olds have their own smartphone and 19% have their own tablet.
  • 52% of 3-4-year-olds go online for an average of nearly 9 hours a week.
  • 45% of 3-4-year-olds use YouTube.

It’s important that early year’s settings ensure children are learning about the world around them and how to keep themselves safe online.

This is why it is important. My core passion is Early Years Technology, and Online Safety is a vital aspect of this.

Parents and carers play a big role in supporting E-safety for their child. Here are five points to consider:

  1. Protecting from inappropriate content

The internet is filled with content that is not suitable for young children.

Parents and carers need to be vigilant to ensure that their children are not exposed to inappropriate material such as violence, explicit language, or adult content.

  1. Safety from online predators

Unfortunately, there are individuals online who may seek to harm or exploit children.

Parents and carers must monitor their children’s online activities to protect them from potential predators and teach them about E-Safety, including not sharing personal information with strangers.

  1. Managing Screen Time

Excessive screen time can have negative effects on young children’s development, including issues with attention span, sleep, and socialisation.

Parents and carers can help by setting appropriate limits on screen time and encourage a balance of online and offline activities.

Screens, be it televisions, tablets and or computers, are not bad, it is how effectively they are used to inform and educate children. You may have seen a recent mini clip on the BBC sharing this point.  An example of using screens to support children’s learning happened at my setting on World Book Day, when our children came to nursery in various costumes.  Not all the costumes were familiar to all the children or adults, so I shared various clips on our interactive display representing many of the characters the children came as.  They were thrilled that their costumes were given some context and were shared with children and teachers alike. The children’s PSED, KUW, EAD, C&L, Literacy were all supported during the activity, as well as the technology aspect of STEM, often underrepresented.

  1. Educational opportunities

While there are risks associated with the internet, it also offers many valuable educational resources for young children.

Parents and carers can help their children benefit from these resources by guiding them to age-appropriate educational websites and apps.

  1. Modelling healthy online behaviour

Children often learn by example, so it’s essential for parents and carers to model healthy online behaviour themselves. By demonstrating responsible internet use, parents can help teach their children how to navigate the online world safely and responsibly.

So far, I have discussed the ways that parents and carers can protect their children from online dangers.

However, you and I are educators, so what should we be doing to raise online safety awareness?

Online safety is a safeguarding matter and so we have a duty of care to ensure we are protecting our children from online harm, not just at nursery but also when they are at home.

The first question to answer is: does your setting have a robust online safety policy?

Secondly, do our parent-partnership practices include raising awareness of E-Safety and that failing to protect children from online harm could be a safeguarding issue?

Nurseries can play a significant role in raising awareness of online safety among parents and children.

Below are several strategies:

Parent Workshops

How about holding a workshop or information session on the importance of online safety as part of an open day or parents’ evening. This could include providing practical tips for monitoring and managing children’s online activities.

Educational Materials

Nurseries can distribute educational materials to parents such as brochures or handouts that outline risks associated with the internet and offer guidance on how to keep children safe online. I often recommend educational materials from the Mobile Phone Network Vodafone who for the last ten years have created an online and hard copy magazine called Digital Parenting Magazine. Nurseries can order hard copies to give out to parents in their settings. However, at a time where we need to limit our carbon footprint, I believe emailing the pdf version to our parents is more eco-friendly. O2 also have Keeping Kids Safe Online on their main website.

Finally, there are for me five key organisations that are the absolute experts when it comes to sharing E-Safety advice, they are the NSPCC, Internet Matters, Childnet, SWGfL, and UK Safer Internet Centre, the latter organise Safer Internet Day every year, which is celebrated across 170 countries including the UK – this year it was on the 6th February 2024. You can register with them online and get lots of resources that can be used in your nurseries to raise online safety awareness. I will share the links to these websites at the end of the article.

Include online safety activities in your setting

Many nurseries allow children access to certain online technology such as computers, tablets, and interactive displays. At the same time as using these technologies, settings need to be teaching children about the importance of not sharing personal information online and what to do if they encounter something inappropriate.

There are several resources including two stories which teach the children online safety.

The stories can be downloaded as PDF and printed to read to the children in the classroom. The two books are also available on YouTube. The two stories are Digiduck’s Big Decision and Smartie Penguin – both are aimed at Early Years. You’ll find links to these in the further reading and information section at the end of the article.

Partnerships with Experts and E-Safety Training

Nurseries can collaborate with experts in online safety, such as law enforcement agencies like CEOP, or child advocacy organisations such as the NSPCC and Barnardo’s, to provide specialised training or resources for parents and staff.

 

I hope I have helped you think about the role we play in Early Years E-safety, whether as parents and carers or as early years professionals. Being online aware with toddlers and preschool children is crucial for their safety, well-being, and healthy development in today’s digital age.

 

Further Reading:

 

 

 

Richard Waite

Richard Waite - BSc, NNEB Early Years Practitioner, Early Years Technology Specialist. Richard’s degree was in Education and Information Management and looked closely at the links between Education and Technology for young children. His dissertation was titled ‘The Effects of CD-ROMs on Children’s Learning in School’. As Richard says, that seems a far cry from where we are today, and the technology children are exposed to! His previous role was as an ICT Co-ordinator delivering technology solutions and learning to over 300 nurseries. In that role, he remotely supported and visited nurseries as far as Scotland and remotely supported a nursery in Bangalore when they needed an Interactive White Board for their setting. Before that he was a deputy manager in a nursery.

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