The eSafety Commissioner has congratulated participants in its Trusted eSafety Provider program on delivering education programs to a quarter of all Australian school students in the last financial year.
eSafety has announced the initial 21 providers who have been re-endorsed for another two years, after satisfying updated assessment criteria.
Schools and community organisations can confidently select from the list of Trusted eSafety Providers for their online safety education requirements.
“As the incidence of online harms reported to eSafety continues to grow, it is more important than ever that we educate children and young people about the risks and ensure they know where to go to seek out resources, advice and help,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
“Trusted eSafety Providers bring specialist knowledge across a wide range of topics, allowing them to deliver tailored programs for students, parents and teachers.
“Each provider has demonstrated their expertise, commitment to evaluation and improvement, and alignment with eSafety’s Best Practice Framework for Online Safety Education.
“Schools have told us they want to know that these providers are delivering high quality and evidence-based online safety messages that are going to lead to meaningful behavioural change.
In 2021-2022, over 1 million primary and secondary students – around a quarter of the total enrolled – took part in Trusted eSafety Provider sessions delivered in schools, a 41 per cent increase on the previous year.
There was also a significant growth in professional development programs, with more than 27,800 teachers participating in training delivered by a Trusted eSafety Provider.
Under the eSafety Strategy 2022–25, eSafety will continue to leverage strategic partnerships with organisations, including education providers, to reach more Australians and complement its own resources and programs.
“Creating a community of practice for the Trusted eSafety Providers is valuable for them but also the entire Australian community, which gets a diversity of providers delivering quality online safety education,” Ms Inman Grant said.
Further information about the program including the list of endorsed providers is available at esafety.gov.au/trusted-providers
Trusted eSafety Provider case studies
Sydney primary school Ryde East Public engaged a Trusted eSafety Provider to help implement curriculum priorities and respond to student needs. Deputy Principal Catherine Myson said the program achieved immediate buy-in from the school community by tapping into current issues faced by students and their families. “The provider surveyed staff and students to gain an accurate picture of what is going on in our community,” Ms Myson said.
“This allowed them to match their content and messaging to our school profile.
“In this way, the skills practised, and the information provided, corresponded to the needs of our students, and follow-up surveys undertaken provided evidence that our families and students had implemented many of the security measures discussed.”
Perth College (Independent, Foundation-to Year 12 school, metropolitan WA)
Perth College in Western Australia engaged a Trusted eSafety Provider to deliver “a holistic and proactive service for our school community” aligned to existing programs across age and year groups. The school has worked closely with the provider to create developmentally appropriate programs for students, upskill staff through relevant professional development and provide information for parents.
Director of Wellbeing Shani Andrews said the provider proved a very responsive partner. “They have been accommodating with requests regarding parent information meetings, staff professional learning and rescheduling program dates,” she said.
Montrose Primary School (Government primary school, metropolitan VIC)
Montrose Primary School in suburban Melbourne engaged a Trusted eSafety Provider to help deal with online safety issues. Jennifer Tesselaar, Relationships and Sexuality Education Coordinator at Montrose, said the decision to engage a provider allowed the school to “strengthen our understanding and equip our staff with some tools for future conversations, curriculum planning and confidence in this area”.
“eSafety is a brilliant resource for us as teachers, but also for the parent community’, she said.
“The [Trusted eSafety Provider] supported us throughout our journey’.”
For further information or to report instances of cyberbullying or online abuse, visit esafety.gov.au/report
