Cyber Wellness
What is Cyber Wellness?
Cyber Wellness (CW) refers to the positive well-being of Internet users. It involves an understanding of online behaviour and awareness of how to protect oneself in cyberspace. The focus of CW is about helping students to become discerning and responsible digital learners. When navigating cyberspace, students should demonstrate respect for self and others and practise safe and responsible use. Students should also be a positive peer influence by harnessing technology for collaboration, learning and productivity, as well as advocating positive use of technology for the good of the community.
MOE Cyber Wellness Framework
MOE uses the CW framework to develop the child’s instinct to protect and empower him to take responsibility for his own well-being in cyberspace. The three principles, ‘Respect for Self and Others’, ‘Safe and Responsible Use’ and ‘Positive Peer Influence’ when adhered to will anchor a child’s well-being in cyberspace as he will then be able to make careful and well-considered decisions. In Pasir Ris Secondary School, we are guided by the CW framework to plan and implement holistic CW Education which is customised to the student profile and school environment.
PRSS Cyber Wellness Framework
Principles
1. Respect for Self and Others
Students need to:
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uphold their own dignity when online (e.g. share appropriate content and participate in only legal online activities)
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respect other people online. (e.g. put themselves in others’ shoes, accept diverse views and opinions, give credit when using other people’s work and seek permission where necessary and avoid sharing hurtful materials)
2. Safe and Responsible Use
Students need to:
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have an understanding of the risks of harmful and illegal online behaviours, and take steps to protect themselves (e.g. keep their personal information private, verify the reliability of information using various sources, take steps to avoid dangers they may encounter online.)
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make wise and healthy choices (e.g. maintain a healthy balance of their online and offline activities)
3. Positive Peer Influence
Students need to:
- be a positive role model online (e.g. share healthy and positive content, harness the affordances of technology to do good for society)
- advocate positive online behaviour (e.g. stand up for their peers online, report cases of cyber bullying to a trusted adult/authority, post encouraging remarks on social media)
PRSS Cyber Wellness Programme
In Pasir Ris Secondary School, our vision is to develop Pasirians as savvy online users who have positive online influence. To do so, we have a 3-pronged approach:
Cyber Wellness Curriculum
The goal of CW lessons is to equip students with life-long social-emotional competencies and sound values so that they can become safe, respectful and responsible users of Information Communications Technology (ICT).
The four key messages for students are:
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Embrace ICT yet maintain a balanced lifestyle between the physical and the cyber world.
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Harness the power of ICT for positive purposes.
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Maintain a positive presence in cyberspace.
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Be a safe and responsible user of ICT.
Lessons are delivered via the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum in PRSS. Key CW topics are also incorporated in subjects such as English and Mother Tongue Languages.
Cyber Wellness Curriculum at a glance
Extracted from MOE (2024, Oct 02) Practising Cyber Wellness
Sense-Think-Act @ Home
To complement the Cyber Wellness curriculum in schools, parents can set a good example at home in the use of technology and play an active role in guiding our children to navigate in cyberspace. In partnership with parents, we also organise parenting workshops for parents during PTMs to learn more about what teenagers do online and how to effectively manage some of the challenges they face in managing their children’s online behaviour.
To ensure that their children are safe and have positive experiences online, parents can:
The Cyber Wellness programme in PRSS aim to equip students with the knowledge, skills and values to exhibit appropriate behaviour when interacting with other cyber users to advocate a safe and healthy cyber community.
Training and Workshops
We organise trainings for our leaders and students to internalise the Cyber Wellness key messages. In 2023, we organised the NCAC enrichment module so that our student leaders are equipped with the key leadership skills to champion CW.
Assembly Talks
Cyber Wellness is especially important for our internet-savvy youth today. All students will attend assembly talks and lessons which will teach them how to stay safe in cyber-world. There are also competitions and termly just-in-time holiday reminders to engage students. Topics covered include socializing on social media platforms, fake news, copyright issues, cyber-gaming, Internet addiction, cyber-bullying and cyber-relationships.
Student Leaders Positive Peer Advocacy
In PRSS, we also engage student leaders to lead Cyber Wellness peer advocacy projects. A signature event is the Cyber Wellness Fest. Experiential learning games led by Cyber Wellness Champs, talks, exhibitions and awareness competitions are organised to further inculcate Cyber Wellness values. We also collaborate with external organisations such as Singapore Kindness Movement, National Library Board and Fei Yue Social Services in organizing our activities. Our Student Councillors also organise the Safer Internet Awareness Campaign Week to further spread awareness and share tips on all Cyber Wellness issues. Cyber Wellness. As advocacy, our students have also created posters.
Awards and Recognition
To further develop and share our expertise in Cyber Wellness, the school presented our Cyber Wellness programme at the National Cyber Wellness STAR Award Conference 2015, Cyber Wellness Connexion 2017, National Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Summit 2017 and National CW Connexion 2019. Our student leaders have also participated in competitions such as Cyber Warriors Challenge and National Cyber Wellness Advocacy Challenge. At the NCAC 2016, our school teams won the First and Third Prize. Our student, Ong Jiang En was also awarded the National Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Award in 2017. Terry Teng Joon Seng, President of the Student Council was also awarded the National Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Award in 2019. We also participated in Design For Good Competition 2021 (Cyber Wellness poster), and our student Rachel Tan received the Commendation Medal. In 2022, our team of students (Ryan Qiu, Samakya, Tan Aik Wee, Mohd Ibrahim, Davwin Arinze) also won the National Cyber Wellness Advocacy Challenge - Gold Award. In 2024, our school has co-organised a National Cyber Wellness Competition with IMDA.
Partnerships
We believe in working closely with other key stakeholders.
- Other schools
Since 2015, we have been supporting the Cyber Wellness programmes in other schools. Our student leaders have conducted workshops and training programmes for both Primary and Secondary schools. Our student leaders have also organised a Cyber Wellness Fest to engage their students as a form of Values-In-Action (VIA) project.
- Other external organisations
We have engaged the support of other organisations such as Singapore Kindness Movement, Kingmaker, KPMG, IMDA and the Tampines community centres to run various activities such as assembly talks and outreach projects.
This year, our school has partnered Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to co-organize the inaugural National Cyber Wellness Competition, an event aimed at empowering students to become responsible, savvy, and positive digital citizens. With over 100 submissions from primary and secondary schools across Singapore, the competition encouraged students to explore essential themes like online safety, digital empathy, and ethical online behaviour. We played an active role in shaping the competition’s structure and content, nurturing a generation of youth who can confidently navigate the digital world and positively influence their peers. The competition highlighted the significance of cyber wellness advocacy and inspired participants to lead the way in promoting safe and responsible online behaviour.
Our Competition Website: https://go.gov.sg/ncw2024