Wales to create online safety action plan for children and young people

Efforts by Welsh schools to help young people stay safe online are to be expanded upon, under new plans for a national online safety action plan announced by the Welsh government.

The plan will provide a strategic overview of how the government can continue to work with partners to improve online safety support for children and young people, augmenting the efforts to enhance online safety practice in education over the last two-and-a-half years.

During this time, 85 per cent of all Welsh schools have taken up the Safe Cymru tool, which allows schools to check their current online safety policies and provision against national standards, while online safety training sessions have been delivered to approximately 2,300 educational professionals to prepare them to deal with issues young people may encounter online.

Additionally, an online safety zone has been established on Hwb, the digital learning platform for schools in Wales, in addition to the publication of the Online Safety Resource for Wales document, offering practical resources and lesson plans to support schools in their delivery of web safety lessons.

September 2016 also saw the release of the Digital Competence Framework, the first element of the new Welsh school curriculum, which includes a citizenship strand that focuses on developing and applying critical thinking skills and strategies, including specific elements focused on online behaviour and cyberbullying.

Education secretary Kirsty Williams said: "While we are delivering an extensive programme of online safety activities, there is always scope for more. That is why I am commissioning a national online safety action plan for children and young people.

"This will provide a strategic overview of how we will continue to enhance online safety support in Wales."