We headed to the academies show in London to keep on top of what’s new, emerging and important in the world of Academies and MATs, here’s our roundup from the day.
Whilst most young people now are seen as digital natives this doesn’t necessarily mean they understand the digital spaces that they communicate and socialise in. The United Nations Rights for Children, enables physical rights for children but not any online rights. Legislation is slow to catch up with technological developments, and whilst it might be common sense to apply rules from our physical environment to the online world, there isn’t a current way of enforcing this.
“An average 3-year-old spends 16 hours per week online”
Technology and the internet is no longer used as a resource to enhance the learning process but as a way of living. With 1/3 of all internet users under 18, we need to ensure that the internet is built in a way that they too can safely enjoy being online. However, at the moment the internet has been designed with adults in mind and this is something that needs to be considered in safety training and web design as a whole.
It’s noted that 2010 was the turning point for smartphones and tablets to become mainstream, which was only 7 years ago. We are still in the infancy of a technological revolution, but our children are growing up in it. As technology advances at an ever-increasing rate, we too need to keep up with safeguarding children online and ensuring that they have the opportunity to become well-informed digital citizens.
At the show, we met several organisations that are trying to achieve just that, including 5 rights framework. 5rights are working to ensure that children have right online and that tech companies are aware of them.
5 rights for children online
- Right to remove
- Right to know (what’s happening with their information)
- Right to safety and support
- Right to informed and conscious choice
- Right to digital literacy
The main themes that we saw this year were safety and the changing landscape of academies and MATs. To find out what services we already offer our Academies, take a look at our Academies and cluster schools page.
