The Early Years Online |
Children and young people inhabit a world that has both online and offline
Atkinson S, Staunton T
aspects, and so recognition must be given to the participation of children in
early years settings. Research jointly initiated by the Plymouth City Council
Early Years and Plymouth Safeguarding Children’s Board set out to gain an
accurate picture of internet use by children under 5 by surveying Early Years
settings and parents of children associated with those settings.
Parents were surveyed about their children’s use of technology, their feelings
towards the impact of technology on their child’s development, receipt of online
safety advice from Early Year’s settings and their feelings towards their own
understanding of the Internet.
Representatives of the Early Years settings were surveyed about their use of
technology within the setting, their approaches to online safety and their training
activities in relation to online safety.
72% of the children surveyed use the internet for an average of half an hour a
day. Parents reported that their children knew what they wanted to do online,
the majority going to sites such as CBeebies or playing age appropriate games
like Peppa Pig. Parents responses indicated that they were confident in their
ability to protect their children with 95% stating they had a good understanding
of the internet with 88% confident about understanding internet safety issues.
97% of the Early Years settings make use of technology with 81% having a
secure internet connection and 37% allowing children online in their setting.
There was strong agreement that online safety was everybody’s responsibility,
with 82% confident that staff in their setting use online technologies safely.
However, 51% of the settings did not have a designated person for online safety
and only half of the respondents stated they had an acceptable use policy.
The implications of the findings are both specific as well as broad. These
findings provide for a set of comparators to observe adult vigilance. They will
help to inform further research into why parental vigilance and engagement falls
away as children become older. From the broader perspective there are issues
for parents; Early Years workers and their settings; professionals from all
disciplines and agencies assessing risks to child protection.
Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing online from an early
age, to try and keep up with the technologies as they evolve and to be part of
their children’s experiences. Early Years workers and settings must build in esafety
approaches so that young children can fully embrace the benefits of
being online. Finally, there are implications for agencies and practitioners to
ensure that policies and procedures acknowledge that e-safety issues arise at
all ages from toddler and adult.