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Online Safety & Red Flags

This lesson encourages students to report suspicious behaviour and examines the strategies online groomers use to trick young people.

Learning intentions:

  • Understand that we all make mistakes and don't have to feel ashamed

  • Recognise the tactics that online sex offenders use to groom young people

  • Develop proactive and reactive skills in online safety and help seeking

Digital Educator: Mei

  • 12-30 learners

    Class size

  • 7+

    Year Level

  • 40-60 minutes

    Course duration

  • Nil

    Student Handouts

    Preparing for the lesson

    Information
    Resources

    ACHPE Objectives

    UNESCO Objectives

    Safety & Wellbeing

    Sequence
    Extension
    This lesson should be used after students have completed the Being An Online Detective lesson.

    In this Online Safety & Red Flags lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of Online Grooming.

    They will brainstorm on the concept of making mistakes to normalise that everyone does silly things online or misjudges a person they have met. After watching a short video, students will use the think-pair-share visible thinking routine to explore their prior knowledge of Online Grooming tactics, working through six real life scenarios from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. Students will then watch a short video to create space for laughter and emotional processing. The class will then work together using a protective othering strategy, to consider what strategies can be used if someone has already encountered online grooming.

    Each lesson ends with a consolidation activity, inviting students to list 1 thing they have learnt from the lesson, 1 thing they already knew, 1 piece of advice they would share with a friend, and 1 adult or organisation that would be helpful in relation to the lesson topic.  

    Student Printouts

    There are no student printouts for this lesson. 

    Additional Student Resources

    AC9HP8P08: Refine protective behaviours and evaluate community resources to seek help for themselves and others.
    • Exploring strategies for dealing with online abuse and bullying when there is an imbalance of power, such as grooming, image based abuse or negative social interactions, and reporting the situation to appropriate authorities, trusted adults, and through online tools.
    • Examining how support services, such as the eSafety Commissioner, can provide support for young people who feel unsafe, bullied or abused online.
    Key Concept 4: Violence and Staying Safe
    4.3 Safe Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs)
    • Key idea: Internet and social media use require special care and consideration.
    • This lesson can be difficult as many students in your class will have experienced elements of the grooming tactics online. Although the lesson can be eye-opening it is important that students are aware of these tactics so they can be proactive in protecting themselves and their friends online.
    • It is important to continue reminding students that the groomer is to blame, not them. You should be prepared for increased disclosures after this lesson and notify wellbeing staff in advance.
    • In rare circumstances students will have been groomed offline, often by a family member of family friend, and then filmed and uploaded to the internet. There are unique harms associated with this form of Image Based Abuse that relate to spaceless violence. The Survivor Survey (2017) from the Canadian Centre for Child Exploitation provides an indepth analysis of the ongoing severity of online child exploitation materials. 
    1. There are many fantastic educational books and videos on the topic of online safety. Students could spend time researching resources to present to their class. 
    2. As a class, complete the eSafety Commissioner's activity to develop an Online Safety Classroom Agreement. 
    3. Google has a playable game called InterLand: Be Internet Awesome which provides an excellent way to explore aspects of privacy and safety. 

    Ideally, you will have scope to deliver all of the lessons in your program. However we understand that many schools have limited capacity to do so. Should you find yourself having to implement part of this program, we have provided a suggested sequence of lessons within the broader skills and knowledge categories of relationship, consent, gender, and cybersafety. We recommend delivering at least one lesson from each category.

    1. Group Agreements & Pod Mapping should be the first lesson as per best practice.
    2. Puberty & Reproduction: A Refresher should be delivered early in the program to ensure students have an understanding of the physical, emotional, and social changes of puberty including menstruation and sperm production.

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