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Session 5. Safe, Private and Balanced: Your Digital Teaching Plan
Objective. Protect pupils' personal data, handle common online risks, keep screen time balanced, and bring the course together in a one-page digital teaching plan for one real lesson.
Children cannot yet judge who may see their name, photo or voice, or where it travels after it is posted. That is why the teacher is their first protector online. This does not need technical knowledge. It needs a few habits: collect little, ask first, keep contact on official channels, and know what to do when a pupil tells you something worrying. This session ends with your one-page plan, so safety goes into the plan from the start, not as an afterthought.
Key ideas
Pupils' data is not yours to give away
- Names, photos, phone numbers, marks, addresses and voice or video recordings are personal data. Children's data needs extra care.
- Collect the least data you need (data minimisation). If a tool asks for more than it needs to do its job, that is a reason to say no.
- Use tools your school approves. Never type pupils' names or personal details into any online tool, including AI tools (see course 5.9).
Consent, photos and accounts
- Before photos, videos or accounts for pupils, check school rules and get parents' permission, preferably in writing. Many online services also have a minimum age, so read the terms.
- Show the work, not the face. Avoid putting a name next to a photo in public. Keep teacher-pupil contact on official channels, with another adult able to see it.
- Use strong passwords that are different for each account, and never write a shared password where others can see it.
Online risks: what to teach and what to do
- Common risks are cyberbullying, contact from strangers, harmful content, scams and sharing private images. Teach pupils three habits: do not share passwords, think before posting, tell a trusted adult when something feels wrong.
- When a pupil tells you about a problem: listen calmly, do not blame, save evidence such as screenshots, and use the school's reporting process. Do not forward or share harmful images.
- UNICEF materials, including from UNICEF Uzbekistan, describe child online protection as shared work between families, schools, companies and governments. You are one part, not the whole.
Balanced screen time, for pupils and for you
- Alternate screen tasks with paper, talking, drawing or movement. A short break every 20 to 30 minutes helps; a common tip is to look at something far away for a short while.
- Do not set homework that needs a screen late in the evening. Encourage a simple family habit of screens off before sleep.
- Look after yourself too: set reply hours, rest your eyes and keep your own non-screen time. Tired teachers plan worse lessons.
Safety habits at a glance
| Area | Do | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Collect the least; use approved tools | Names and details in free online tools |
| Photos | Permission first; show work, not faces | Names next to faces in public |
| Contact | Official channels, another adult can see | Private chats, personal accounts |
| Problems | Listen, save evidence, follow school process | Blame, ignore, forward harmful images |
| Screens | Breaks and paper options | Late-night screen homework |
From safest to riskiest sharing
Map where pupils' data lives
Take a sheet of paper and list every place where information about your pupils is kept: your phone's photo gallery, messaging groups, files with marks, class lists on a school platform, notebooks. For each place ask three questions: do I need this? Who else can see it? When will I delete it?
Most teachers find a few quick wins: delete photos of pupils' work after marking, remove old groups, put a code on the phone and keep names out of file names. You do not need to fix everything this week. One improvement a week is a sound habit, and it shows pupils what careful behaviour looks like.
A safety culture, not a list of bans
Rules that pupils help to write are followed more often than rules read out to them. Spend ten minutes with the class on a few agreements for any online space: we are kind, we do not share each other's pictures, we tell an adult when something feels wrong. Write them on a poster, and add the name of the person in school to tell.
Children should know that telling an adult will not lead to punishment for them. UNICEF Uzbekistan's article for Safer Internet Day describes online protection as shared work between families, schools, companies and government, and encourages talking with children about new risks such as manipulated images. Your part is to make it easy to talk.
Examples from the classroom
Navruz photos without faces
Scene. Dilnoza in Samarkand wants to show parents the Grade 4 Navruz display. She asks the parents' group for permission, then photographs the pupils' paper tulips and their hands setting up the table. She shares the photos in the closed class group. No faces, no names, and every parent who wanted to see could.
Insight. Showing work rather than faces gives parents what they want and shares less data.
Class chat rules, written together
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 8 in Fergana. Before opening a class chat, he spends ten minutes with pupils writing four rules: kind words, no sharing others' pictures, chat closes at 19:00, and tell an adult if something feels wrong. They sign the poster. Later a pupil brings a mean message to him on the first day, because the rule says to.
Insight. Rules written with pupils are easier to follow and make it easier to speak up.
A message from a stranger
Scene. A Grade 10 pupil in Tashkent shows Malika a message from an unknown adult asking for her photo. Malika thanks her for telling, does not blame her, takes a screenshot with the pupil's agreement, and takes it to the school's designated person the same day. The parents are contacted as the school's process says.
Insight. Listening, saving evidence and using the school's process protect the child and the teacher.
Common pitfalls
- Believing a free tool is safe, without checking what pupil data it collects.
- Posting pupils' photos with names in an open page because it is quick.
- Reacting to a pupil's report with blame or with 'just ignore it'.
- Sending homework late in the evening and treating the response time as the pupil's problem.
Data Check and My One-Page Digital Plan
- Read the eight situation cards in your Activity Kit. In pairs (10 min), decide for each: what is the risk, and what would you do? Write one line.
- Alone (15 min): take the one-page plan template in the kit. For one real lesson you will teach soon, fill every row: objective, what the tool adds, resources checked, slides or handout, online route and offline fallback, safety steps, screen balance and Plan B.
- In pairs (10 min): swap plans. Use the checklist at the bottom of the template. Write one thing that is clear and one change on the other person's page.
- Make the change that matters most (5 min) and write in the box 'What peer feedback changed'. Keep this page; it is your final assessment piece.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which situation card surprised you most, and which would be hardest to handle in your school?
- What did your peer's feedback change in your plan? Was it purpose, access or safety?
- Which one question from this course will you ask before using any digital tool from now on?
Reflect
- What pupil data do you hold today (phone, messaging group, files), and could you hold less?
- Does your school have a written rule for photos and accounts? If not, who could draft one with you?
- Which part of your own screen habits would you change this month?
Try it tomorrow
- Make a list of where pupils' data lives on your phone and delete one thing you no longer need.
- Spend ten minutes with your class writing three rules for any online space.
- Find out your school's reporting process for online problems and write the name and contact on one card.
Further reading and links
Collect the least data, ask permission, report problems the school's way, and write one page that ties purpose, access and safety together.