Secondary schools to be offered digital safety ambassadors by Facebook

Facebook is set to offer digital safety ambassadors to every UK secondary school through a new partnership with Childnet International and The Diana Award.

The aim of the ambassadors is to provide peer-to-peer support and lead online safety initiatives in the classroom.

This could see pupils in 4,500 secondary schools trained as digital leaders or anti-bullying ambassadors for online and offline bullying.

In addition to this, Facebook, Childnet International and The Diana Award have collaborated with young people to create ‘House of Us’, a unique physical experience in London.

It offers participants the chance to immerse themselves in some of the online safety challenges young people can face – and explore the positive difference they can make when they tackle these issues together.

Its exhibits include an audio maze that evokes feelings of being bullied, an interactive light room that responds to positive sentiment and a challenge using bullying and banter scenarios to highlight the fine line between these behaviours.

New research from research agency, ResearchBods, has also revealed that 13 to 17-year-olds are more likely to confide in a peer (72 per cent) than a parent (60 per cent), or even a teacher (34 per cent) if they are experiencing online bullying.

More than half of research participants (55 per cent) said they would rather deal with the problem alone than turn to an adult.

Top reasons for turning to peers include: they are more likely to have dealt with similar experiences (40 per cent); and they don’t want to worry their parents or guardians (38 per cent).

While two thirds (64 per cent) of young people say their school has provided them with learning or support about online safety issues in the last year, 67 per cent would like their school to do more.

Sixty-three per cent would like their school to involve more young people in educating other pupils about using social media safely and positively.

Facebook’s partnership with Childnet International and The Diana Awards is expected to build on its core strengths in supporting creativity and community to amplify the impact of the existing peer-led programmes, both inside and outside of the classroom.