Abstract:

Background:
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Public Health and Social Affairs are developing, in the current academic year 2012-13, the 3rd National Plan for Co-living and Improvement of School Safety. Amongst the specific actions stated in this plan, it is worth mentioning some presentations about safety issues affecting the students, from which, we can emphasise those related to risks associated to the use of the Internet.

Objective:
Analise the impact that this project has on some Compulsory Secondary Education (E.S.O.) students.

Procedure:
A Civil Guard officer, specifically trained in New Technologies and associated risks, gave one-hour presentation to students from the four compulsory secondary educations years, during school time. The selected Educational Centre that agreed to such proposal, was Antares School (state-funded) in Reinosa, Spain; this school is a small private centre which, with just one line of secondary education students, offers a clearly personalised teaching method. Different aspects encompassing the spectrum of potential risks linked to the use of the Internet were dealt with, with special emphasis on those derived from the participation of teenagers in social networks (Cyberbullying, Grooming, Sexting, etc.). After the presentation, a questionnaire drawn up ad hoc was given to the students that had taken part in it, by means of which data regarding aspects defining their participation in social networking were obtained (time of use, external control, network choice, importance weighting, etc.), as well as elements enhancing the role of the Civil Guard Corps in this activity.

Findings and Conclusions:
The data obtained show a debut in social networks around the age of 12, pointing out, in this age group, Tuenti, followed by Twitter and Facebook. In the early years of secondary education, the students´ parents have strict control of the internet use their children make of, therefore this use is significantly reduced in the last year of the second cycle of secondary education. As the age of the students increases so does the perception of need to use social networking, being this sometimes deemed as essential. This phenomenon is diminished by the current dissemination of instant messaging systems, such as Whatsapp. In regards with the content with most impact on the students, the following can be pointed out: 1) real testimonials of dramatic cases described; 2) cyberbullying methods, specially, that related to sex; 3) loss of privacy along with the lack of control of personal data available on line. On the other hand, the degree of knowledge described in the presentation was directly proportional to the age of the students. They made a positive meaningful assessment of this preventive initiative explicit, taking into account the fact that it was provided by a Public Security Service officer, therefore the perception that they initially had about this institution improved.

Keywords:

Cyberbullying, Internet, School Safety, Secondary Education, Social Media.