Supporting the Prevent Duty Guidance
With the increasing occurrence of extreme content on the internet, safeguarding students both proactively and reactively as they use technology is one of the most important concerns for schools worldwide. UK legislation recognises these risks and obliges schools to use filtering and monitoring technology to safeguard students’ welfare and protect them from dangers inherent online.
What is it?
The Prevent Duty Guidance sits under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The guidance was released by the UK government in March 2015 and made a legal requirement on 1st July 2015. It requires schools (and other specified bodies to put measures in place to “prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.
How does this affect my school?
Four areas have been highlighted where schools need to demonstrate appropriate action:
Staff training:
The designated Safeguarding Lead needs to undertake ‘Prevent awareness training’ (WRAP) to be able to provide advice and support to other members of staff.
Working in partnership:
Work with Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs)
who can provide advice and support to schools on
implementing the duty.
IT policies:
The need for school leaders to ensure that children are
safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing
the internet in schools.
Risk assessment:
The need to assess the risk of/identify children in danger
of being drawn into terrorism.
What to do if you have a concern
If a member of staff in a school has a concern about a particular pupil, they should follow the school’s normal safeguarding procedures – including discussing the issue with the school’s designated Safeguarding Lead and, where deemed necessary, with children’s social care services. In Prevent priority areas, the local authority will have a Prevent Lead who can also provide support.
What happens if your school doesn’t comply?
Failure to comply with the requirements may result in intervention from the Prevent Oversight Board, prompt an Ofsted inspection or incur loss of funding.
What solutions can I use to help my school comply?
NetSupport DNA’s school-wide safeguarding suite helps schools to comply with their obligation to implement internet filtering and monitoring solutions – as well as managing and supporting IT in schools.
- Keyword and phrase monitoring tool allows schools to quickly gain insights into what students are typing, searching for, or copying online – and it’s available in multiple language packs.
- Innovative word cloud helps to easily highlight trending topics across the school – while appropriate staff are alerted through email, real-time pop-ups or summary reports, prompting them to review the triggered event.
- Contextual intelligence-based Risk Index automatically flags high-risk events and vulnerable students, creating a risk index number for each event, based on sophisticated contextual intelligence risk analysis.
- ‘History of Concerns’ is available to help identify students that were flagged as vulnerable or at-risk, ensuring they have extra support.
- Report a concern allows students to reach out for support in confidence to a teacher they trust, and teachers can also add any concerns they have about a student.
- Age-appropriate Internet monitoring tools ensure students are using the Internet properly with age-appropriate profiles – creating a safer Internet with parameters to allow students the flexibility to learn about the online world in safety.
- Apps and games can also be blocked or restricted to help schools add an extra layer of security and keep students on task. The application metering reports reveal application use, helping to ensure usage complies with school policy.
NetSupport School is the market-leading and most feature-rich classroom instruction and monitoring solution, delivering seamless multi-platform support within the classroom. In addition to its extensive range of teaching tools, it contains a range of eSafety tools to protect students online.
- Authorised/restricted website and application lists can ensure students are focused and help minimise student distraction and access to inappropriate content.
- Monitor students’ current Internet use by viewing real-time thumbnails of their PCs to ensure they are on task – plus, teachers can create a record of Internet history use to be printed or saved for later reference.
- Real-time keyboard monitoring provides a simple view of each active student and their current keyboard input – a crucial aspect in detecting e-safety issues and can be used to identify inappropriate behaviour.
- Teachers can show their screen or a student’s screen to demonstrate positive digital interactions while promoting appropriate technology use, helping to create good digital citizens.
- Student feedback mode allows teachers to gauge students’ wellbeing and get insight into whether they need extra support.
- The Technician Console allows schools to apply ‘always on’ internet, application, printing policies and more.
classroom.cloud is a focused teaching and classroom management tool. Cloud-based and easy to use, it helps teachers monitor and instruct in a school classroom or with remote learners. In addition to its teaching tools, it also contains eSafety tools to help protect students online.
- ‘Allowed’ and ‘restricted’ website/application lists help teachers provide a safe learning environment by ensuring students can only access relevant websites and are shielded from unsuitable content.
- Teachers can show their screen to demonstrate positive digital interactions while promoting appropriate technology use, helping to create good digital citizens.
- Monitor students’ screens to see for example what websites they are visiting and to ensure they’re on task and remain focused on the lesson.
- Use 1:1 chat and group messaging tools in real time to help teachers quickly and easily interact with students.
- Help requests let students reach out to get assistance, making it easy for all students to get support, if needed.
- Keyword and phrase monitoring means schools can monitor the topics students are typing/searching for. It’s powered by 14,000+ phrases in multiple languages.
- The keyword cloud is populated from the words students trigger – a great way for staff to spot trending eSafety topics.
- The Risk Index uses contextual intelligence to analyse triggered events (device used, time of day, websites visited, applications used, history of alerts) and applies a risk index number to help staff determine the severity of events.
“We welcomed the opportunity to assist NetSupport as it developed this important safeguarding technology which we are sure will be welcomed by schools.”
Nicky Peachment, IWF Commercial Relationship Manager
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