“Generation Sext” event

I attended a conference about sexting yesterday in the COSLA Conference Centre in Edinburgh. There were expert speakers about various aspects of online safety from organisations such as NSPCC, University of Edinburgh and Childline. My interest was SQA’s Internet Safety Award, which was recently updated.

I learned a lot about the on-going threat to young people posed by sexting and other online threats. What was clear is that, far from improving, this problem is getting worse. Some of the statistics are frightening: 40% of young people have created sexually-oriented photos or videos, one third of those who had, had sent them to a “friend” who they had only met online, girls make up the majority of victims but boys, too, can be targeted.

Sexting is one of the things that the revised Unit emphasises more (along with other contemporary threats such as sextorion and ransomware). In fact, the whole Unit was given a significant update. I left the conference promising myself that I would urge centres to consider offering the Internet Safety Award – so I will. Please consider offering this updated qualification in your centre. Some schools already offer it to every pupil in S2 or S3. I think that that’s a great idea. Contact Emma for more information about it.

Bobby Published 28/04/2016