Next week, Tuesday, 11 February 2025, educators, students, and communities worldwide will come together to celebrate Safer Internet Day, a global movement dedicated to creating a safer and more positive online world. With the internet playing an ever-growing role in education, entertainment, and social connection, teaching young people how to navigate it safely is more important than ever.
What a better time than this to make some really meaningful connections to the Victorian Curriculum’s Digital Literacy Foundational Skill. The new continuum provides a structured framework for schools to develop students’ digital safety and wellbeing skills. In particular the “Practising Digital Safety and Wellbeing” element of this continuum is particularly relevant for Safer Internet Day, focusing on three essential areas:
✅ Managing Online Safety – Recognising online risks, knowing how to respond to harmful behaviour, and engaging safely online.
✅ Managing Digital Privacy and Identity – Understanding the impact of digital footprints, controlling personal data, and protecting online identities.
✅ Managing Digital Wellbeing – Developing healthy digital habits, balancing screen time, and recognising how technology affects mental and emotional wellbeing .
Building a Culture of Digital Safety in Schools
Managing Online Safety: Empowering Students to Navigate Risks
Safer Internet Day is a perfect opportunity for schools to reinforce online safety skills, ensuring students understand the risks they may encounter and how to respond effectively.
• Recognising online risks – Students must be equipped to identify inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and online scams.
• Knowing where to get help – Encouraging students to seek support from trusted adults, school policies, and online reporting tools empowers them to take action when needed.
• Building resilience online – Learning how to disengage from harmful interactions, use reporting tools, and set boundaries fosters safer online engagement.
By embedding these lessons into daily learning, schools can ensure students develop lifelong online safety habits that protect them in an increasingly digital world, this could be how they interact on schools platforms like Seesaw, Google Classroom or Teams which they use already in the classroom.
Managing Digital Privacy and Identity: Teaching Students to Take Control
Everything a student posts, shares, or engages with online contributes to their digital footprint. Teaching students to be intentional about their online presence is critical to ensuring their privacy and security.
• Understanding digital footprints – Students should be aware that their online actions are permanent and can affect future opportunities, from education to employment.
• Protecting personal information – Schools can help students develop critical decision-making skills around sharing data, from managing privacy settings to understanding targeted advertising.
• Giving and seeking consent – Just as in face-to-face interactions, students should be encouraged to ask for permission before sharing images or information about others online.
Incorporating discussions about digital privacy and identity into Safer Internet Day activities helps students take control of their online presence and make informed choices. This can be done in the classroom, asking for photo permission, being clear to others how their picture or image will be used. This can all be clear and explained in a classroom agreement of digital use.
Managing Digital Wellbeing: Finding Balance in a Hyper-Connected World
Digital wellbeing goes beyond just knowing the risks, it’s about helping students develop healthy digital habits that support mental, emotional, and social wellbeing.
• Balancing screen time – Schools can support students in recognising when technology enhances learning and when it becomes a distraction.
• Understanding digital distractions – Encouraging students to identify online behaviours (doom scrolling, notification overload) that may impact their focus, sleep, and relationships.
• Encouraging mindful technology use – Instead of banning devices, educators can help students develop strategies to self-regulate their technology use, ensuring it serves them rather than controls them.
By promoting digital wellbeing, schools help students develop positive lifelong habits, fostering a healthier relationship with technology that extends beyond the classroom. This also starts from positive modelling of digital use, as teachers, parents and trusted adults it is our responsible to model these practices too.
Beyond just one day…
Safer Internet Day is a reminder that online safety isn’t just about protecting students from risks—it’s about empowering them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to use technology responsibly. By aligning classroom discussions and activities with the Digital Literacy Foundational Skill Continuum, educators can ensure Safer Internet Day has a lasting impact beyond a single lesson.
💡 What can schools do?
✅ Use Safer Internet Day as a launchpad for ongoing conversations about digital safety and wellbeing.
✅ Encourage students to reflect on their online habits and privacy settings on a more regular basis.
✅ Incorporate practical strategies into everyday lessons that help students develop resilience, awareness, and self-regulation in the digital world.
I hope this has been helpful and provides some contextualised ways to integrate digital literacy into your lessons.
🔗 Learn more about Safer Internet Day and access classroom resources: eSafety.gov.au