Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce cybersecurity education to Key Stage 1 children in order to educate them on tech literacy and online safety.

The introduction of e-safety content in key stage 1 reflects the fact that children are increasingly accessing the internet from a young age. As part of the computing curriculum, pupils are taught the fundamental principles of e-safety and cyber security. These fundamental principles include how to use technology safely and respectfully, how to keep personal information private, recognise unacceptable behaviour, and identify a range of ways to report concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies. Cybersecurity knowledge is then developed right through a pupil’s time in school, with progression in content throughout each key stage to reflect the different and escalating risks that children face throughout life.

To support the delivery of computing in schools, the department launched the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) in November 2018, which is backed by £84 million of government funding, to ensure teachers have the knowledge and expertise to deliver all aspects of the computing curriculum with confidence at each key stage, including e-safety and cyber security. As part of their core offer, the NCCE are delivering online courses on cyber security and a range of resources on e-safety for each key stage. This includes a unit of learning on being a competent, confident and respectful user of IT for key stage 1 pupils.