If you enter the words "proxy bypass" into Google you get 293,000 results, many of which will contain detailed and fairly simple instructions on how to bypass your school's and local authority filters. For the most part this is done to gain access to social networking sites such as Bebo and MySpace. In the main, good monitoring of your school's web activity can spot this sort of thing going on and can take steps to block it. Secondaries have become very adept and spotting suspicious surf patterns among students (and staff) and until now it has largely been assumed to be a secondary school proble.
Last week a primary school in Manchester where I work discovered a Year 6 pupil had set up a proxy bypass and was downloading all kinds of unsuitable material (they also warned a temporary member of staff about doing exactly the same thing - setting up a bypass, that is). In past blog posts I have ranted more than a little about the irrelevance of filter systems and the need for better education and better monitoring, so, which of the following apply in your primary school?
- Children have individual logins so individual surf patterns can be tracked;
- Someone on the staff is trained and can routinely check web activity;
- Someone on the staff knows how to block/unblock websites;
- You have internet monitoring software installed on your network.
I'm guessing that for most primary schools that none of the above apply.
We are rapidly getting to a situation where the existing complacency around web filtering in primary schools is no longer tenable (massive generalisation, I know, but in the last 18 months I have been in over 100 primary schools and can count on one hand the number with proactive web monitoring systems). Children and staff are actively seeking ways to get around the filters and nobody in the school even knows. The only reason that the above mentioned primary spotted the problem is that it is someone's job every week to check the web access reports.
What's the solution? Certainly not more filtering, as web access becomes cheaper and cheaper and the skills to get around filters becomes more widely disseminated (how many of the children in your school have elder siblings at secondary? How many have web access on their mobiles?), filters are becoming redundant. No, the answer is much better monitoring; back that up by an active Acceptable Use Policy; and finally much better education for staff and children alike on the issues surrounding internet safety, safe surfing habits and educational use.
