The Byron Review was announced on 6 September 2007 by the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and Families, Ed Balls, and the Culture Secretary, James Purnell. Dr Tanya Byron was asked to lead the review, which explored the risk to children and young people from potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games.
The review, which was published in March 2008, set out a number of recommendations for the DCSF and its key partners including the TDA. Following on from this, a cross-government action plan was published in June 2008 which said how the recommendations of the Byron Review would be implemented.
E-safety
The Technology in Learning and Teaching team (TiLT) within the Executive Directorate for Teachers (EDfT) has been actively involved in the issue of e-safety, highlighted by the Byron Review. Childnet International, with support from the TDA, Microsoft and Becta, has developed Know IT All for Teachers (KIA), a KS3 resource which helps teachers, trainee teachers and adults working with children to understand and address the e-safety issues which affect children.
The resource is aimed at the secondary sector and builds on the success of Know IT All for Parents which, in its first six months, was distributed by schools to some one million parents. Know IT All for Teachers was officially launched on 10 December 2007.
- E-safety DVDs have been made available free of charge to all secondary schools in England. Further information on how schools can obtain copies is available from Childnet.
- E-safety leaflets can be downloaded from the KIA website.
The possibility of raising e-safety awareness in the primary sector is currently being explored. Along with the above mentioned partners, the TDA will be working closely on this project with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
