Trust Me
Emily Rogers
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Free downloadable resource developed by Childnet International helps protect pupils from online radicalisation by developing their critical thinking.
- It guides teachers through two primary and secondary sessions covering online content and contacts, and a third for secondary pupils addressing propaganda
- It has had more than 11,000 downloads since its 2016 launch
ACTION
Trust Me was created by online safety charity Childnet International in response to Islington Council's request for help in producing an assembly addressing online extremism and radicalisation.
This grew into two primary and three secondary lesson plans, developed in 2015 by Childnet education officer Kate Edwards and colleagues, in partnership with London Grid for Learning's Safeguarding Board.
The project was developed amid headlines of children being lured to Syria to support Islamic State (IS) and beheadings of IS prisoners being streamed live online and shared via social media. In July 2015, the "Prevent" duty was introduced requiring schools to protect pupils from radicalisation. The Prevent guidance highlights the risks of online radicalisation, urging schools to develop pupils' knowledge and skills to challenge extremism. "With everything that was happening, this became a key area that schools wanted and needed to explore," says Edwards. "Teachers were telling us they weren't confident talking about these things in schools and there wasn't a resource to use."
Trust Me, downloadable for free, launched in May 2016 across England. Its 45-minute sessions aim to develop pupils' critical thinking skills, which Childnet chief executive Will Gardner says are "applicable across a whole spectrum of different risks they face online". For pupils aged nine to 11, one session covers content they encounter online and a second addresses online contact with others. There is a version of these sessions for 11- to 14-year-olds, with a third addressing propaganda.
Through group activities and discussion, pupils assess the trustworthiness of online information and those contacting them, scrutinising fictional websites, tweets, posts and messages. They learn how others may try to persuade them to believe something, reflecting on the motives and agendas behind what they see online, and they learn what to do if worried, such as confiding in a trusted adult. The propaganda session develops children's skills in distinguishing between fact and opinion and spotting different propaganda techniques. Teachers are provided with lesson plans, PowerPoint material and guidance, including answers to challenging questions.
Edwards says Trust Me allows pupils "to explore content and identify risks safely and discuss strategies with support from teachers, shaping the conversation to talk about their feelings and experiences". She says this can help teachers identify those who could be vulnerable, by assessing their attitude towards the content and their ability to perceive risk.
Trust Me has proven invaluable for Mubina Asaria, preventing extremism in schools adviser at Ealing Council. "All schools have had statutory WRAP [Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent] training, helping them understand pupils' vulnerabilities [to radicalisation] and how and when to refer concerns," says Asaria, who has been seconded part-time from her e-safety co-ordinator role at Greenford High since January 2016. "But they were asking how to address this in the curriculum, through conversations about things in the news, and how to talk to parents without alienating them.
"E-safety isn't just about technology; it's a social issue, because technology evolves - apps change, social media changes. It's about behaviour; building young people's resilience and empowering them to navigate the changing digital landscape, when perpetrators are always finding new ways to exploit them."
A teacher survey Asaria conducted last year revealed demand for resources to address online extremism, and on approaching Childnet for help she discovered Trust Me. "CyberMentors" - pupils from year nine upwards whom she had trained to tackle cyberbullying as part of an e-safety project funded by John Lyon's Charity - oversaw a pilot of the programme, delivering 15-minute assemblies to different year groups.
Form tutors then used Trust Me and it has since been incorporated into Greenford High's personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum. It has also been adapted by PSHE co-ordinators across 17 Ealing schools in an anti-radicalisation in schools best-practice network Asaria established, incorporating PSHE, safeguarding and curriculum leads and religious education teachers. It has been disseminated through the Ealing Prevent Toolkit for Schools, produced by Asaria, and a Trust Me session was modelled by Childnet staff alongside CyberMentors at an Ealing online safety conference last November.
From January, the CyberMentors will be trained to build their peers' resilience to online radicalisation and extremism, and deliver presentations to parents.
IMPACT
The Trust Me materials have had more than 11,000 downloads from Childnet's website. "Teachers are always saying how useful they find it," says Asaria. "They feel it's a safe, easy way of approaching and discussing controversial issues with pupils; looking at online risks as a means of understanding the wider risks of radicalisation. It fits in really well with online child protection."
Read more from the E-Safety and Online Safeguarding special report