* the nature and extent of student access to controversial
material
* the views on this issue from a range of key stakeholders
in the education community
* solutions which have been attempted to date, including
both organisational and technical arrangements.
The project was intended as an exploratory exercise, it
did not seek to survey a representative range of schools.
FINDINGS
Everyone contacted (schools, administrators, parents' and
teachers' organisation representatives and service
providers) agreed that there was material available on
the Internet which was inappropriate for school students.
However, many of them saw the media publicity about
inappropriate material on the Internet and the dangers of
student access as grossly overstated. There were a few
notable exceptions.
Very few first-hand examples of student access to
inappropriate material were identified by the people
contacted. From the schools' perspective, most instances
were adequately dealt with using the controls and
sanctions they had in place.
There was widespread concern to ensure that acknowledged
problems about inappropriate material did not detract
from an appreciation of the educational benefit of wider
Internet access by students.
Schools interviewed use a wide variety of mechanisms and
arrangements to manage student access to the Internet.
These included both technical and organisational
arrangements.
Despite the wide variety of technical and organisational
arrangements encountered, and the wide variation in the
extent of equipment available in schools, schools
interviewed were generally happy with the management
strategies they had in place for student access
(including the issue of access to inappropriate
material). However this does not imply that they do not
see room for improvement. Nor will current arrangements
necessarily serve schools which are about to undergo
rapid expansion of access. There was a general
expectation that management of access would improve in
the future as result of the expansion of specific
educational initiatives such as EdNA.
end =====+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=======
Centre for International Research on Communication & Information Technologies
Jack Gilding, Project Manager, Phone: + 61 3 9248-1174
CIRCIT, 14/300 Flinders Street, Fax: + 61 3 9248-1170
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia Email: jgilding@circit.vut.edu.au