New international project launched to help safeguard children online

Research shows that children today are now spending more time online than watching TV; and are frequently experiencing content or behaviour which is questionable. Academics from the University of Northampton, in partnership with universities in Denmark, Belgium & Greece have launched a new project to support young children to understand how to be safe as they spend time online.

The Cyber Safe Generation project, which has received €266,652 funding from the Erasmus+ programme, connects academics, parents and young children across Europe to create educational resources for children, to help develop an understanding of the online universe at their fingertips.

Professor Helen Lomax, Cyber Safe Generation project lead at the University of Northampton said: “Children are increasingly using the internet for learning, playing and socialising; keeping up with the way their virtual universe is developing can be challenging. The Cyber Safe Generation project aims to work with younger children to lay the foundations of safe and responsible online activity at an early stage, so the balance of opportunity and risk in an online scenario become second nature.

“The project uniquely places young children its heart, by working with primary age children across Europe to co-design learning resources. The insights from the children connected to the project will be invaluable in our understanding of attitudes, ability and experiences of children online.”

Speaking at the first meeting of the international project group, which took place on campus last week, Dr Marianne Georgsen, from Via University College in Denmark said: “Across Europe governments, charities and education experts are becoming increasingly aware of the need to encourage young children to develop an awareness of their online safety. It will be interesting to monitor the challenges and opportunities facing children and young people across the diverse European member states as they use online resources. It is hoped this kind of early education inventions will result in a step change for some of the issues faced online now, such as cyber bulling, sexting and inappropriate content being shared.”

Cyber Safe Generation project resources will be freely available for schools, parents and children to use. The collaboration brings together experts in digital design and creative methods, linking these with children’s own knowledge in order that the resources are appropriate to meet their changing needs.