Abstract
This paper examines the experiences and understandings of primary (K6) school pupils with regards to managing issues of risk and safety during their everyday use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The paper is based on survey and interview data with pupils aged 7 to 11 years old in five English primary schools (n = 612). Analysis of these data shows that whilst most pupils recognised a general need to be mindful of ICT-related risks and dangers, their actual experiences of risk tended to be described in terms of operational problems encountered when using ICTs. Conversely, pupils’ understandings of potential risk were often based upon exaggerated fears deriving from a number of moral panics relating to child safety. These data suggest that official notions of ‘e-safety’ remain abstract and poorly understood concepts for many children. In considering what implications these data have for the ongoing ‘e-safety’ agenda in UK schools the paper concludes by suggesting three possible areas of change: (1) re-orientating the topic and tone of the official discourses surrounding e-safety; (2) increasing pedagogical interventions in primary schools aiming at enhancing pupils’ critical literacy skills; and (3) establishing a meaningful and sustained dialogue between pupils, teachers and parents about safety and risk when using ICTs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Becta (2006). Safeguarding children in a digital world. Coventry: British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
Becta (2008). E-safety and web 2.0. Coventry: British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.
Berson, I., Berson, M., & Ferron, J. (2002). Emerging risks of violence in the digital age. Journal of School Violence, 1(2), 51–72. doi:10.1300/J202v01n02_04.
Buckingham, D. (2007). Beyond technology: Learning in the age of digital culture. Cambridge: Policy.
Burn, A., & Willett, R. (2005). What exactly is a paedophile? Children talking about internet risk. Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik, 5, 237–254.
Byron Review (2008). Safer children in a digital world [The Byron Review]. Nottingham: Department for Children, Schools and Families, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport [www.dcsf.gov.uk/byronreview].
Crook, C., & Harrison, C. (2008). Web 2.0 technologies for learning at key stages three and four. Coventry: Becta.
Flutter, J., & Rudduck, J. (2004). Consulting pupils: What's in it for schools?. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Furedi, F. (2002). Culture of fear: Risk taking and the morality of low expectation. London: Continuum.
Harden, J. (2000). There's no place like home: the public/private distinction in children's theorizing of risk and safety. Childhood, 7(1), 43–59. doi:10.1177/0907568200007001005.
Jones, A. (2003). The monster in the room: safety, pleasure and early childhood education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 4(3), 235–250. doi:10.2304/ciec.2003.4.3.2.
Livingstone, S. (2003). Children's use of the internet: Reflections on the emerging research agenda. New Media & Society, 5(2), 147–167. doi:10.1177/1461444803005002001.
Livingstone, S. (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: Teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media & Society, 10(3), 393–411. doi:10.1177/1461444808089415.
Livingstone, S., & Haddon, L. (2008). Risky experiences for children online. Children & Society, 22, 314–323. doi:10.1111/j.1099-0860.2008.00157.x.
Mediappro (2006). The appropriation of new media by youth: End of project report. Leuven: Catholic University of Louvain. [www.mediappro.org/publications/finalreport.pdf].
O’Connell, R., Sange, S., & Barrow, C. (2002). Young people’s use of chat rooms. Preston: University of Central Lancashire. [www.fkbko.net/launch.htm].
Oswell, D. (1998). The place of ‘childhood' in internet content regulation. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 1(2), 271–291.
Piper, H., Powell, J., & Smith, H. (2006). Parents, professionals, and paranoia. Journal of Social Work, 6(2), 151–167. doi:10.1177/1468017306066742.
Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., Gunter, B., et al. (2008). The Google generation: The information behaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290–310. doi:10.1108/00012530810887953.
Selwyn, N., Potter, J., & Cranmer, S. (2009). Primary pupils’ use of information and communication technologies at school and home. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39, forthcoming.
Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Valcke, M., Schellens, T., Van Keer, H., & Gerarts, M. (2007). Primary school children’s safe and unsafe use of the internet at home and at school: an exploratory study. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(6), 2838–2850. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2006.05.008.
Wishart, J. (2004). Internet safety in emerging educational contexts. Computers and Education, 43(1–2), 193–204.
Ybarra, M., Mitchell, K., Wolak, J., & Finkelhor, D. (2006). Examining characteristics and associated distress related to internet harassment. Pediatrics, 118(4), e1169–e1177. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0815.
Acknowledgements
This paper is based on data collected as part of a research project funded by Becta. The authors would like to thank the pupils and teachers who participated in the study, as well as Diane Levine. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous referees for their comments on earlier drafts of the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cranmer, S., Selwyn, N. & Potter, J. Exploring primary pupils’ experiences and understandings of ‘e-safety’. Educ Inf Technol 14, 127–142 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-008-9083-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-008-9083-7