Children to learn perils of social media at school, Education Secretary announces

Children as young as four are to be taught about the perils of social media, the Education Secretary has announced.

This week the Government will launch a consultation on the draft guidance that ministers will provide schools on how to teach "age appropriate" sex and relationship education classes.

All age four to eleven-year-olds should be taught a set of rules and principles to protect themselves online, the draft guidance will say, as well as how to spot risks and harmful content.

Pupils primary school should also be taught why computer games,online gaming and social media sites have age restrictions, it will add.

Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph, Damian Hinds says that the Government must play a role in helping to protect children from the darker sides of the internet.

“Alongside parents, of course schools must still play a role in protecting children – and government also has a responsibility to help them,” he says.

“In fact, one of the most important ways of protecting children is to educate them so they can learn to recognise potential dangers for themselves.”

Mr Hinds adds that social media companies have a “moral responsibility” to protect youngsters and warns that merely saying a site is meant for adults is “not an excuse”.

The Daily Telegraph has launched the Duty of Care campaign calling on ministers to make social media and online gaming companies subject to a statutory duty to protect children from harms such as addiction, bullying and grooming when using their services.

Ministers are considering new measures to rein in the worst excesses of online tech companies amid  fears a generation of young people is being harmed by unregulated use of social media and online gaming platforms.

Mr Hinds appeared to disagree with comments made by Matt Hancock, the Culture Secretary, who last month said that children should have mobile phones confiscated at the start of the school day.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Matt Hancock suggested that more head teachers should "follow the lead" of colleagues who ban phones during school hours because the devices can have a "real impact" on academic achievement.

However, Mr Hinds says today: “In recent weeks, there have been calls for blanket bans on phones in schools to deal with these issues.

“I support any head teacher who imposes one. But I firmly believe that it is for the head teacher – the person who knows the pupils, the parents and the school – to make that decision, rather than a politician telling them to do so.”

Under Government plans, it will become a statutory requirement for all school children to be given sex and relationship education classes from September 2019.

Currently only pupils attending local-authority run secondary schools, which represent around a third of secondary schools, are offered sex and relationships education.

Mr Hinds writes: “Today children have to learn to cope in two worlds: the virtual one and the real one – and this is giving old problems a dangerous new edge.

“Take bullying for example. It’s always cruel but at least most children used to be able to escape it once they got home. Cyber-bullying never stops, even after the school bell has rung. And sadly research suggests that one in four young people have experienced it.

“Social media brings other issues into sharp relief - body image and the battering self-confidence can take in the age of the selfie; the relentless pressure to compare and share among peer groups; the vulnerability of the young to predators in chat rooms; and the addictive and often graphic violence on games.”