Digital Resilience in Education

With so many aspects of our lives now entwined with using technology in an online world, supporting our children and young people to be digitally resilient is fundamental. Our approach to digital resilience focuses on three key areas - online safety, cyber resilience and data protection.

What is digital resilience?

With so many aspects of our lives now entwined with using technology in an online world, supporting our children and young people to be digitally resilient is fundamental. Digital resilience encapsulates the need to develop knowledge, skills and strategies in order for children and young people to:

• manage their online experience safely and responsibly while protecting their digital identity
• identify and mitigate risks to stay safe from harm online
• understand the importance of using reliable sources and employing critical thinking skills to identify misinformation
• seek help when they need it
• learn from their experiences and recover when things go wrong
• thrive and benefit from the opportunities the internet offers.

Building digital resilience in our children and young people also depends on the resilience of our families and communities. The Hwb Programme aims to provide learners, families, education practitioners, professionals and governors with the latest resources, information and guidance to enhance their digital resilience.

Our approach to digital resilience focuses on three key areas – online safety, cyber resilience and data protection. We seek to equip our children and young people with excellent knowledge, skills and strategies in these areas and also to recognise when to access help and support and where to find it. 

Online safety

Keeping children and young people safe online is of critical importance and firmly a safeguarding matter in the twenty first century. We are committed to nurturing and promoting the safe and positive use of technology to children and young people by building a strong architecture around the child where professionals are skilled and families are aware of how to support children in their online lives. We seek to foster a protective environment for our children and young people by supporting families, practitioners, governors and other professionals creating a culture where keeping children safe online is everyone’s business.  

Our Keeping safe online area has been designed and developed to support online safety in education across Wales. It provides an extensive suite of up-to-date bilingual resources, Welsh Government guidance and links to further sources of support on a range of online safety issues.

In addition, it also hosts bilingual resources created by or developed in collaboration with key partners, such as SWGfL, NSPCC, Common Sense Media and the National Crime Agency.

Cyber security

Cyber security is the term used to describe how both individuals and organisations can reduce the risk of cyber attacks. Cyber security’s main purpose is to ensure the technology we use (devices such as computers, tablets and smartphones) and the services we access online are protected from the risk posed by cyber crime including theft for gain such as ransomware attacks and seeking competitive advantage, or malicious damage intended to disrupt an organisation’s ability to operate effectively. We store large amounts of personal and organisational information on devices and services and preventing unauthorised access to this information is critical.

The strategy of including cyber security within digital resilience includes the following activities:

• providing guidance and support to schools to adopt a robust approach to cyber security that ensures compliance with regulations and standards
• raising awareness of best practice guidance and training in cyber safety for learners and education professionals in Wales
• seeking to nurture talent and promote opportunities to develop the skills required for a career in cyber security are available for Welsh learners.

Data protection

Since 1998, any organisation processing personal data in the UK has been required to comply with data protection laws. In May 2018 the most significant change in twenty years to these laws came into force. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to all organisations processing personal data about European citizens. The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) applies to all UK organisations processing personal data about UK citizens, clarifying and adding to the GDPR.

Data protection is about demonstrating ongoing compliance with the laws and every school or setting should be regularly reviewing how they comply with the GDPR and DPA 2018 to protect the personal data they process, as well as keeping their policies and records management up to date.

Learning how to protect their personal data is a critical element in helping learners to build digital resilience. Every time we go online, whether it is to search for information, to shop, use social media or send emails, we share information about ourselves. Sharing our data helps us to access information, use services and stay connected with our family, friends and communities. However, your data belongs to you and data protection laws exist to make sure everyone’s data is used properly and legally.

Becoming digitally resilient includes understanding:

• why your data is important
• who is using your personal data and why
• how you can protect your data online
• your personal data rights under EU/UK law.