Managing digital citizens: Online safety and the rise of private actors in New Zealand schools

Abstract

Online safety has increasingly become an issue in schools worldwide. For both teachers and students, online safety problems, from sleep deprivation through to sextortion, present unprecedented challenges beyond the control of school management. The pressing nature of online safety issues combined with other material conditions, such as underfunded public systems and neoliberal administration models, has presented a breeding ground for private organisations to flourish in this field. In this study, we examine how schools enact online safety, the educational approaches underpinning these efforts and the conditions favouring the privatisation of online safety services. The context of the research is New Zealand – a country whose education system has experienced a sharp rise in privatisation over the last few decades. The study draws on ethnographic data with four high schools, involving school leaders, teachers, students and private organisations – for profit and non-profit – providing services to these schools. Our findings point at the unrealistic expectation of demanding schools guarantee young people’s safety online and the problems associated with the increasing privatisation of the field, including the lack of critical approaches to digital citizenship education. The article concludes with recommendations for policy makers, including legislative measures to hold online platforms accountable for online harm.