Digital Technologies – Responsible Use

Policy

This policy outlines requirements for schools to engage with digital technologies in a safe and responsible manner, ensuring cybersafety and supporting student learning.

Summary

Schools are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure digital technologies are used in a safe and responsible manner by staff and students. To achieve this, schools must:

• appropriately manage access to communication with individuals outside the school in online environments, including blocking access for Years F to 6 or age equivalent students, and limiting access for Years 7 to 12 or age-equivalent students
• supervise students when engaged in digital learning in the classroom
• obtain parent/carer consent for any digital technology use which is visible to the public, including the publication of student work
• ensure any use of digital technologies, including social media for student learning, has an appropriate educational purpose, mitigates privacy and child safety risks, and is consistent with community expectations and staff professional conduct requirements.

Details

Schools must ensure digital technologies are used safely and responsibly. Schools must ensure student use of digital technologies is for appropriate educational purposes and balanced with offline learning opportunities.

The Child Safe Standards, in particular Standard 9: Physical and online environments, require schools to provide physical and online environments that promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for young people to be harmed. Schools are responsible for helping to protect students from risks in online environments, in an age-appropriate way.

For information about developing and implementing Acceptable Use Agreements (AUA) for student use, refer to the Digital Learning policy.

Managing external access in online environments

Schools must implement safety measures to appropriately manage access to communication with individuals outside their school (external access) in online environments. This includes managing the use of digital tools with online collaborative features, such as:

• sending or receiving emails
• document sharing
• using chat functions
• live streaming audio or video.

Students in primary years (Prep to Year 6 or age equivalent ungraded) must not have any access to communicate with individuals outside their school in online environments. For secondary students (Years 7 to 12 or age equivalent ungraded students), schools must limit online external access to the essential needs of learning programs, with additional protection in place for vulnerable students or students with disability. For more details, refer to the Guidance tab.

Students continue to have access to external websites, with in-built content filtering to limit access to harmful content. For more information about content filtering refer to the Technologies and ICT Services policy.

Supervising students using digital technologies

Schools must ensure students are adequately supervised when using digital technologies in the classroom, and when they are engaged in online learning, consistent with their duty of care. Supervision measures may include:

• regularly moving around the room to monitor screens
• putting in place technical alerts or barriers for inappropriate behaviour, such as blocking inappropriate websites or automatic flagging of inappropriate language
• actively reinforcing learning and behavioural expectations throughout the activity.

Schools must also ensure appropriate supervision of students participating in flexible and remote learning environments while on site. Parents are responsible for the appropriate supervision of students accessing virtual classrooms from home, however, schools will monitor student attendance, safety and wellbeing.

Responding to online incidents

Schools must respond to any online incident in accordance with the department’s policy on Managing and Reporting School Incidents (Including Emergencies), as well as any other department or local school policy relevant to the type of incident, such as:

• the school’s Student Wellbeing and Engagement policy (staff login required)
• the school’s Bullying Prevention policy (staff login required)
• the department's Privacy and Information Sharing policy.

For a department-developed step-by-step guide, which provides practical steps and action to respond to online incidents of concern, refer to the Resources tab.

For information on managing cyberbullying specifically, refer to:

• Bullying Prevention and Response policy
• Bully Stoppers
• Student Engagement policy
• template school-based Bullying Prevention policy (staff login required)
• eSafety commissioner: Toolkit for Schools
• Alannah & Madeline Foundation

Obtaining parent/carer consent when using digital technologies

Schools are encouraged to use digital technologies in ways that limit or avoid student activities or work from being visible to the public online.

Schools must obtain parent/carer consent prior to:

• the publication of student work
• the release of any personally identifiable information
• the use digital technologies where student activities will be visible to the public online.

Schools must notify parents/carers about their child's intended social media use as part of their learning program and provide them the opportunity to opt out. For example:

Our school has established an Art Gallery Blog using [platform name] for students to showcase their artwork, where parents and peers can provide appropriate feedback and comments on the work undertaken in or relating to our art classes. Parents are welcome to contact [Name] if they have any questions or concerns about students participating in this forum].

Schools must comply with their obligations under the Schools' Privacy Policy when using digital technologies that capture, use or share personal information. This includes ensuring that software is appropriately assessed before being implemented, and that appropriate consent is obtained for the use of the platform. Refer to Privacy and Information Sharing: Guidance for more information.

Further information on seeking parent/carer consent can be found in the Privacy and Information Sharing policy and the Sample notice – single online service in our school (DOCX) (staff login required).

Social media use for student learning

Social media may only be used for student learning if it serves an educational purpose directly aligned with a Victorian Curriculum framework, and if it provides unique learning benefits not possible in face-to-face contexts or by using other technologies. Examples of appropriate social media use can be found in the Guidance tab.

Protocols for appropriate use must be communicated with students when a platform/application is used for the first time. Schools can embed protocols for students, staff and parents within their Student Wellbeing and Engagement policy (staff login required) and Acceptable Use Agreements. Schools are encouraged to involve students when developing these protocols.

Staff use of social media must align with professional conduct expectations. Personal social media accounts must not be used for interactions with students unless objectively appropriate, for example, where the student is also a family member of the staff member. The principal is responsible for determining what is appropriate in such circumstances and may seek advice from Conduct and Integrity Division. It is recommended that at least 2 staff members have administrative rights to any social media page, with individual logins preferred. School staff are encouraged to manage school social media pages directly, rather than delegate this function to parents or others.

If a staff member becomes aware that a student is ‘following’ them on a personal social media account (where ‘following’ an account does not require permission from the account holder), the staff member must ask the student to ‘unfollow’ them and notify the school and/or parent/carer if the student does not do so.

Schools are encouraged to prioritise social media platforms that allow department/school credentialing and that restrict public access to student content to mitigate privacy and safety risks. Department-provided online tools are strongly recommended over personal accounts. Additionally, use of digital tools, including social media platforms, must comply with any terms set out by the provider of the tool. For use with students, this may include an age limit. For more information, refer to Software and Administration Systems.

Definitions

Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is direct or indirect bullying behaviours using digital technologies. This includes harassment via a mobile phone, setting up a defamatory personal website or deliberately excluding someone from social networking spaces.

Digital technologies
Digital hardware, software and resources used to develop and communicate learning, ideas and information. Note, not to be confused with ‘Digital Technologies’ which is a discipline within the Technologies learning area.

External access
External access is any communication in an online environment with individuals or parties outside the school.

Personal information
Personal information is information about an individual who is identified or could be identifiable. This includes not just names but also photographs, contact information, academic results, health and wellbeing information and biometrics. Contact the Privacy team privacy@education.vic.gov.au if you have any questions about the handling of personal information.

Social media
Social media encompasses digital platforms and technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and interaction that enable users to create and share content and participate in social networking and communication. This includes:

• social networking sites (for example, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram)
• video and photo sharing websites (for example, YouTube, Flickr)
• blogs, including corporate blogs and personal blogs (for example, WordPress, EduBlogs)
• micro-blogging (for example, X (formerly Twitter))
• forums, discussion boards and groups (for example, Reddit, Whirlpool)
• wikis (for example, PBWorks, Fandom)
• instant messaging (for example, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, QQ).

Related policies

• Acceptable Use Policy for ICT Resources
• Bullying Prevention and Response
• Child Safe Standards
• Code of Conduct
• Digital Learning
• Duty of Care
• Generative Artificial Intelligence
• ICT Software in Schools – Risk Assessment
• Information Security
• Intellectual Property and Copyright
• Managing and Reporting School Incidents (Including Emergencies)
• Photographing, Filming and Recording Students
• Privacy and Information Sharing
• Supervision of Students
• Teaching and Learning Resources – Selecting Appropriate Materials
• Technologies and ICT Services in Schools
• Work-Related Violence in Schools

Relevant legislation

• Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic)
• Health Records Act 2001 (Vic)
• Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)