Several students may be studying off-site and their safety must be treated with the utmost diligence. How can students be safeguarded off-site?
There is no guarantee that a student’s safety will be 100% secured due to multiple external factors. However, instilling appropriate safety measures can help mitigate such issues.
“Almost 9 in 10 children (89%) aged 10 to 15 years said they went online every day.”
The younger generation frequently accesses the internet so when they are learning, the platforms they are enrolled on they need to be secure.
Schools need to research suitable platforms that will reduce their workload, improve their overall image and safeguard their students.
“Schools and colleges should continue to provide remote education to allow children and young people, who are well enough to learn, to keep pace with their education when in-person attendance in school or college is either not possible or contrary to government guidance.”
Students can be exposed when learning off-site
There can be multiple instances where students can be exploited when studying off-site, especially if the platform chosen doesn’t monitor students.
“Online grooming crimes recorded by police jumped by around 70% in the last three years reaching an all-time high in 2021.”
Implementing routine home visits or regular well-being checks can help institutions gauge whether a student’s environment is suitable for learning.
Moreover, if checks aren’t in place, students learning at home could be exposed to dangers that may threaten them physically or mentally.
“In the year to March 2021 the [NSPCC] helpline was contacted almost 85,000 times, up 23% on the previous year.”
Positive student mental health is crucial for development allowing them to focus on their education. There are platforms designed that can monitor students’ well-being and safeguard them, research just needs to be completed by schools to identify the most beneficial system.
Off-site students need exam and behavioural support
During exam season, students tend to experience lapses in judgement or provide behavioural challenges to schools, subsequently leading to them being enrolled on off-site provisions.
“Persistent disruptive behaviour continues to be the most common reason for permanent exclusions and suspensions (both 34%).”
Excluding students is never an easy decision, but enrolling them in alternative provisions can help them continue their education and assist the school.
The exam season can exacerbate student behaviour, but by supporting students off-site their willingness to succeed will improve. Monitoring them or having the ability to chat to teachers from a comfortable learning environment may cater to their learning styles, thus improving their prospects.
Online learning can be beneficial for students if they are safeguarded and monitored when learning online with some useful guidelines that can be found here.
“You should consider what safeguarding measures you need to put in place when teaching children remotely.”
Student safety should be at the forefront of whatever platform a school decides to use for off-site learning.
How secure is the platform? Can hackers gain access to vulnerable children or obtain information because the security is not standardised or regulated? These are questions to be considered.
A reduction in teacher workload can also be contemplated whilst less time is being spent looking after certain students. There should also be a good standard of content on the platform so students can be adequately educated, but the students’ safety needs to be ensured as the priority.
How EDClass can help students off-site
EDClass includes registration forms, safety questionnaires and alert buttons for students to ensure they are safe when using the platform. Schools are notified if there is ever an issue and they are dealt with as a matter of urgency.
Attendance codes can also be claimed when using EDClass which greatly benefits a school when they have students off-site.
UK-qualified teachers provide one-to-one support for students with their well-being and learning. A reduction in teacher workload can be significantly noticed when students off-site are monitored by EDClass’ staff.
If you would like some more information on EDClass and how the platform can help your students learn off-site then call the team on 01909 568 338, send an email to mail@edclass.com or book a free online demonstration here.
