AVG: NZ teachers need online safety support...

Parents are relying on schools to educate their children about online safety say 76% of New Zealand teachers.

In addition, 30% of New Zealand teachers believe that parents of their pupils do not know enough about online safety themselves.

According to the results of the survey conducted by AVG Technologies, 70% of New Zealand teachers also agree that internet safety should be a dedicated part of the education syllabus.

The results of the survey, conducted in almost 1800 teachers globally, highlights the need for further discussion on who is responsible for educating students about online safety.

When it comes to using internet content in class, 93% of New Zealand teachers use online content for a wide range of subjects.

While only 18% of New Zealand teachers have had formal training to teach online safety skills (compared with 28% globally), 82% of teachers discuss online safety on a frequent or occasional basis.

“Today’s teachers are not only using the internet regularly as part of their lessons, they are increasingly having to deal with the wider issues it generates and quite often, without any formal training,” Michael McKinnon, Security Specialist, AVG Technologies, says.

“Given the degree to which the internet is now used as an education tool, many teachers said their schools have put guidelines in place to deal with the most prevalent issues.

“The gap is that the majority of teachers had not received any formal training in online safety so these guidelines alone are not sufficient. When one in four New Zealand teachers have had a child come to them with a cyberbullying issue, it is clear to see why more support is needed.”

Some further results:

Globally, two thirds of teachers (64%) agree that schools should provide better training on using the internet as an educational tool. However, only 47% of New Zealand teachers agree with this statement.

18% of New Zealand teachers have had formal training in internet safety education, with 22% teaching it regularly. Brazil has the most teachers educated formally, with 51% of teachers with formal training and 54% teaching it regularly.

Only 61% of New Zealand teachers indicated that their schools have IT classes, compared with 91% of UK teachers and 72% of teachers globally. However, only 37% of UK teachers have formal training in online safety.

Of New Zealand teachers, 47% set homework that required the internet to complete, compared with 57% of teachers globally.

32% of New Zealand teachers felt ill equipped to deal with cyber bullying.

80% of Australian schools have guidelines in place for cyberbullying issues and 70% for situations that involve students viewing inappropriate content online. 70% of New Zealand teachers said their school had guidelines in place for students viewing inappropriate content online.

One quarter of New Zealand schools have run a parent’s evening to educate about online safety.