What is an acceptable use policy?
All schools want to create a safe ICT learning environment, but many are unsure how to begin.
Creating a safe ICT learning environment must include:
- an infrastructure of whole-school awareness, designated responsibilities, policies and procedures
- an effective range of technological tools
- a comprehensive e-safety education programme for the whole school community.
The make-up of these components will vary for each school. The needs of a school with a handful of computers are obviously far different from the needs of a complex network for over 1,000 students. Yet the necessity for the three basic components remains the same. This document deals with the first of these elements.
The first challenge in creating a safe ICT learning environment is to ensure that everyone is aware of the issues and how they impact upon the particular school environment and the pupils within that school. Awareness can be raised, in part, by a comprehensive e-safety education programme for the whole school community. This programme should be continuous, responding to specific incidents and issues, and providing information about emerging technologies as well as those already embedded within the culture of the school.
The second challenge is in establishing a clear understanding of the responsibilities of all those involved in the education of children and young people with regard to e-safety. Those involved should include the headteacher and governing body, senior managers and classroom teachers, child protection and guidance staff, librarians and parents, and the pupils themselves.
Thirdly, an infrastructure of effective policies and procedures is the backbone to effective practice. Acceptable use policies (AUPs) are documents detailing the ways in which ICT facilities can and cannot be used in school by both pupils and staff, and listing consistent sanctions, procedures and support strategies for dealing with misuse. The policies need to balance the desirability of fully exploiting the vast educational potential of new technologies with providing safeguards against risks and unacceptable material and activities. Reference to e-safety should be included within the school’s development plan also.
There are many factors to consider when developing acceptable use policies, and much will depend on local circumstances or the infrastructure of the school. In some instances it may be more appropriate to develop a number of documents as part of the acceptable use policy – for example, a management document, a staff use agreement, a pupil/parent use agreement, policies for educating staff and pupils on e-safety issues, and specific procedures for responding to any incidents of misuse. Remember though that it is as important for those involved to have understood and considered the issues as it is to have a written policy document.
An acceptable use policy must be wide-ranging. It must consider: both the fixed and mobile internet; technologies provided by the school (such as PCs, laptops, webcams and digital video equipment); and technologies owned by pupils and staff, but brought onto school premises (such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and portable media players). It should be flexible enough to deal with new and emerging technologies, but should also recognise the important educational and social benefits of such tools.
There are many sample acceptable use policies available, both online and via local authorities, which schools can use as a basis for their own policies. Schools must be aware of the local authority's role regarding e-safety issues. Remember, also, that an effective e-safety policy needs to be tailored to the individual needs of your school.
Your policy must consider the particular circumstances of your school, such as race, gender, ethnicity and religious beliefs of pupils and staff, and factors such as the digital divide and access to ICT outside school, which may all have an impact upon the ways in which children and young people use new technologies, and the types of potentially risky behaviours they engage in. It is not sufficient to merely take a template and insert your school name – the policy will lack ownership and authority, and may leave your school open to risk.
A person with the designated role of e-safety coordinator within the school will assist with creating an acceptable use policy.
To be truly effective, all school e-safety policies need to be regularly reviewed with all stakeholders and updated to take account of new and emerging technologies and changes in local circumstances.
Ideally, school e-safety policies should be embedded within a cycle of establishment, maintenance, ongoing review, modification, reporting and annual review, supported by technological solutions wherever possible. By following this process, schools can ensure that they have a rigorous and effective e-safety programme in place.
For more information see Whole-school responsibilities and acceptable use policies on this site, also the publication E-safety: Developing whole school policies to support effective practice which can be downloaded from Becta publications.
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