Reversing the roles

Increasing concerns are being raised around issues such as cyberbullying, social networking and internet grooming, as well as the problem of children and young people accessing inappropriate websites.

Safe-T-Net is a pilot project designed to support parents while also raising awareness of the dangers that children may encounter when using the internet.

Practical advice for safe practice

Run by Impetro, with support from Nominet Trust, the project highlights potential pitfalls and offers practical advice for safe practice without inhibiting the young person’s natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Rather than heightening parents’ fears, the Safe-T-Net project is designed to help adults identify, understand and appreciate the potential dangers their children face when online, and give them the information and tools to competently monitor and safeguard their child’s internet usage. 

Children ‘mentor’ the grown-ups

It achieves this in an innovative way, by reversing the mentoring roles. Children and young people are often far more adept at using IT equipment than many adults. And very young children regularly access social networking online game websites.

This novel project gives children and young people the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience of the internet in a safe, non-judgemental environment. It also encourages shared teaching and learning as a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and experience by encouraging the young person to ‘mentor’ an adult in a very non-traditional scenario.

The benefits of breaking with convention

Young internet users are given the opportunity to share their IT knowledge with their ‘adult’ by guiding them through their online world. Without realising it, the young person shares information with their grown-up ‘pupil’, allowing the adult to make informed decisions about whether or not they are using the internet safely.

This project breaks with convention, allowing the young people to demonstrate their expertise and experiences on the internet – giving them both confidence and kudos – while educating and ultimately empowering the adult learners.