HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY TO
SUPPORT VULNERABLE CHILDREN
Richard Stiff
Chair of Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee
– ADCS
Deputy Chief Executive and DCS North Lincolnshire
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
OVERVIEW
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The ADCS
ICT Defining E-Safety
The On-Line Environment
Access and Safeguarding
Opportunities
Final Thoughts
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Access to technology at home benefits
learners in a range of different ways:
Improving learning and achievement
Motivating and engaging children
Encouraging independence and creativity
Connecting learning at school and at home
Helping parents and carers get more
involved.
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
The government's vision is to ensure that
all pupils aged 5-19, in state maintained
education in England, have the opportunity
to have access to computers and internet
connectivity for education at home
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Next Generation Learning @ Home
packages will be available for purchase by
all
The package will include a user device,
internet connectivity and service wrapper
Let’s think about home…..
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Foster care
Adoption
Informal arrangements
Residential care
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
TWO KEY ISSUES….
ACCESS
SAFEGUARDING
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
E-safety
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
DEFINING E-SAFETY
E-Safety refers to:
‘all fixed and mobile technologies that children
and young people may encounter, now and in the
future, which allow them access to content and
communications that could raise issues or pose
risks to their wellbeing and safety’.
‘Safeguarding Children On-Line’ BECTA
www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC6189Safegd
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Content - sexual, racist, violent unreliable/
bigoted i.e. safety of children’s minds
Commerce - scams, phishing and pharming,
downloads which steal information from users !
Contact - via interactive technologies – IM, chat,
multiplayer games
Culture – bullying, camera phones, blogging,
social networking …..
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
A key skill
for life
ICT IN CONTEXT
Wide and
flexible
range of
information
Motivational
and fun
Threat of
physical
danger or
abuse
Accessed
anywhere
anytime
Easy to
communicat
e with
friends and
family
Personalised
Learning
Presentation
Why do we and our young people
use ICT?
THE INTERNET AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES
Their space
Your space
Internet
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
Our space
www.adcs.org.uk
Mobile phones
Instant
messaging
What next
???
Social
networking
BLOGS
Music
Download
sites
E-mail
Gaming sites
Wikies
Podcasting
Chat Rooms
P2P
file-sharing
Video
broadcasting
Text
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Mobile
phones
Anytime  Anywhere
Text messages
Camera phones
Internet access
e-mail
MP3 player
Downloads
Chat and IM
Mobile TV
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Video
broadcasting
• Video sharing websites are where users
can upload, view and share video clips
• Videos can be rated and the number of times
viewed recorded
• Video recorded with mobile phones can easily
upload
• YouTube is one of the ten most popular websites
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
Social
networking
Based on the idea of networking with friends
and friends of friends
In March 2006 MySpace (Rupert Murdoch
owned) overtook the BBC website in visitor
numbers and now has 5.2 million UK users
In its first year Bebo attracted 21.4 million
registered users worldwide
US banned social networking sites within all
public institutions
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
E-SAFETY: KEY RISKS
• Content - sexual, racist, violent unreliable/ bigoted i.e.
safety of children’s minds
• Commerce - scams, phishing and pharming, downloads
which steal information from users !
• Contact - via interactive technologies – IM, chat, multiplayer
games
• Culture – bullying, camera phones, blogging, social
networking …..
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
E-mentoring in North
Lincolnshire
• Transition issues
• The Brightside Trust
• User experience
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
http://www.thebrightsidetrust.org/
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
http://www.northlincs.tv/index.php
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
FINAL THOUGHTS
The opportunities are limitless……the
only limit is our imagination
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
FINAL THOUGHTS
But……
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
‘..the risks do not merit a moral panic,
and nor do they warrant seriously
restricting children’s internet use
because this would deny them the many
benefits of the internet. Indeed, there are
real costs to lacking internet access or
sufficient skills to use it.’
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk
‘However, the risks are nonetheless
widespread, they are experienced by
many children as worrying or
problematic, and they do warrant
serious intervention by government,
educators, industry and parents.’
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services
www.adcs.org.uk