Online safety
Overview
The purpose of this curriculum connection is twofold. It is designed to:
- guide teachers to identify content in the Australian Curriculum that supports the teaching and learning of online safety
- connect teachers to a range of interdisciplinary resources that have been developed to support the teaching and learning of online safety.
Online safety is a broad concept that concerns minimising risks online from a range of negative influences including inappropriate social behaviours, abuse, harmful content, inappropriate contact, identity theft and breaches of privacy.
The eSafety Commissioner supports an approach that broadens the provision of online safety education so that it is empowering, builds resilience and effects positive culture change, while also promoting the development of respectful relationships and safe and appropriate long-term behaviours.
In an increasingly complex, connected and rapidly changing world, it is critical for every young Australian to develop the skills needed to flourish as healthy, safe, confident and digitally literate citizens.
Young people are exposed to an open and collaborative online social culture, which enables increasing access to information and opportunities to maintain critical connections with friends and family. However, young people are at a dynamic stage of development in which risk-taking behaviours and decision-making capacities can sometimes lead to negative outcomes. This is evident in the growing recognition and consequences of cyberbullying, grooming, exposure to harmful online content, image-based abuse and other negative online activities.
All young people need opportunities to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability to successfully and confidently operate in an information-rich digital world. Developing a sense of social responsibility, including empathy and respect for others, is essential for ethical and social engagement when using ICT to investigate, create, communicate and collaborate with others, and in the management and operation of ICT. Young people also need to develop fluency in digital media literacy and the social and emotional skills that will enable them to use technology to have respectful relationships and avoid harmful online contact and content.
This curriculum connection provides information and resources so that educators can create and/or support online safety teaching and learning programs tailored to address the needs of their school.
Australian Curriculum content can be viewed using the most relevant pathway:
- year level
- learning area
- general capabilities.
Five interrelated dimensions of online safety can be viewed by year level, learning area and general capabilities:
- values, rights and responsibilities
- wellbeing
- respectful relationships
- digital media literacy
- informed and safe use of information and devices.
See Dimensions tab for more detail.
An overview of online safety in learning areas
For all year levels, online safety is explicit in Health and Physical Education, Digital Technologies, English and The Arts – Media Arts. In the primary years, it is easier to address online safety holistically through planning and programming. As students move into the secondary years, the opportunities present themselves in a diverse range of learning areas such as History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business and Work Studies.
An overview of online safety in general capabilities
The online safety curriculum connection provides a framework for all young Australians to understand their digital environments and relationships and be discerning in managing challenging situations.
The curriculum connection provides rich opportunities to address aspects of a range of general capabilities, with a particular emphasis on ICT Capability, Personal and Social Capability, and Ethical Understanding. Depending on their choice of activities, teachers may find further opportunities to incorporate the explicit teaching and assessment of the general capabilities.
In the Australian Curriculum, the general capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that will help students to live and work successfully in the 21st century.
Online engagement provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with the opportunity to explore and strengthen connections between identity and the key concepts of People, Culture and Country/Place. It is critical to be aware that online technologies have the potential to be used to overstep social and cultural authority. By promoting online safety, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can use online interactions to connect with language, strengthen family/kinships, and recognise cultural diversity. By exploring how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups express their particular identities, students may develop an understanding about how group belonging can influence the perceptions of others, and how specific aspects of culture impact the use of technology.
Other website links
Know your mob https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/tailored-advice/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples
Be Deadly Online https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators/classroom-resources/be-deadly-online/student-community-home
Your online journey https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/tailored-advice/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/your-online-journey