Education Initiative Revamped to Boost Digital Wellbeing in Schools

The Digital Wellbeing Award, which builds on the Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CR-IS) Badge, was launched by the Digital Schools Award scheme in 2019. It has been revised to place greater emphasis on digital wellbeing — the impact of using digital technology on children and young people’s social and emotional state. Cyber resilience is a key ambition of the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland, published in February 2021.

The Digital Wellbeing Awards is a response to the increased amount of time children and young people spend online, and the risks this involves, as well as the need for digital wellbeing in schools as a result of pandemic-related remote learning.

The goals of digital wellbeing are:

• providing young people with the skills and confidence required to navigate the digital world;
• supporting cyber resilience and internet safety in schools.

The award will be offered as a stand-alone badge by the Digital Schools Award Scotland, which was established in 2016, in partnership with Education Scotland, the Scottish Government Child Protection Unit, Police Scotland and HP, to support teaching digital skills in schools. National and European viewpoints have been incorporated into the plan for enhancing students' digital wellness through cyber resilience and online safety practices.

The program establishes:

• Cyber resilience and internet safety being integrated into school planning and across all subjects, with a positive and supportive digital wellbeing ethos.
• Cyber resilience and internet safety elements in teachers' lessons
• Student leaders promoting and encouraging their peers' digital well-being.

Schools can find out more here.