Primary school children to be taught web safety

Children in primary schools from London to Leeds could be taught how to use the internet safely in specially-designed lessons from 2011.

The 'Zip it, Block it, Flag it' strategy has been devised by the UK Council on Child Internet Safety and will establish a 'green cross code' of internet safety just as young children are taught how to safely cross the road.

Children will have to be taught how to identify content they find on the internet that could be inappropriate for them, while being encouraged not to give away personal information.

A spokesman for search engine giant Google told the BBC: "We're strong supporters of the 'Zip it, Block it, Flag it' educational campaign as another way to get this message out and help young people to remember how to stay safe online."

The campaign also has the support of computing giant Microsoft and social networking website Facebook.

In related news, a study from the National Literacy Trust has suggested that the majority of schoolchildren who regularly use technology such as blogs believe their writing skills are 'good' or 'very good', according to the BBC.

Posted by Tim Colman.




Published On 08/12/2009