A better alternative to banning social media for children under 16 – older children teaching younger children how to behave safely and responsibly when they are online.

As part of the EU Daphne-CHILD programme, the Including Children Affected by Migration (ICAM) partnership has developed and successfully trialed a series of 10 workshops for all children aged 8-14 in schools in Spain. This initiative is called ICAM – Be Cyber Safe and Responsible (ICAMcsr).

The ICAMcsr programme is endorsed by the European Commission, UNHCR Europe

and two further major European agencies – Terre des Hommes and Eurochild

Our ICAMcsr, Be Cyber Safe and Responsible, programme trains older students to run peer-led workshops with younger children to raise their social and emotional confidence and resilience, so that they are enabled to behave responsibly and safely when on-line avoiding falling victims to online dangers of abuse, exploitation and grooming.

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This is a real solution to counter the current demands to ban social media access for children under 16, which will not work and which risks encouraging children to access the dark web and unsuitable websites. These workshops are delivered by older students who have been coached and assessed by ICAMcsr trained staff in their school. Consequently, rather than denying them access to a valuable resource for learning, children themselves take responsibility for their own safe use of the internet.

By developing and applying 5 Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills the programme teaches children to:

  • Always behave in ways that are safe and responsible when on-line
  • Think critically about what they see online
  • Build safe and authentic online identities
  • Recognise manipulation, bias, and emotional pressure
  • Balance online life with offline relationships and routines
  • Use the internet, including AI as a tool for empowerment rather than dependency

The programme is peer-led, risk assessed, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive, with built-in use of assistive technologies to reduce language barriers and improve learning outcomes.

Peer-led teaching for a safe and responsible online life_A better alternative to banning children from social media

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