Few surveys have been conducted in Slovenia until now on internet use in schools. The only relevant longitudinal survey is the one that has been conducted annually by the RIS project, Research on Internet in Slovenia, since 1996.

The most recent figures date back to 2002 and 2003. They showed that at that time, more than 99% of primary and secondary schools had at least one computer connected to the internet. Internet access in schools does not necessarily equal internet access for pupils: in secondary schools 89.4% of computers intended for pupils had internet access, whereas in primary school only 80.9%.

In 37.9% of schools, pupils could use at least one computer connected to the internet in their free time, but only one third of schools regularly used the internet in an educational context. In primary and secondary schools, internet was mostly used in computing classes, at 79%. In all other classes internet usage was rather small (50% or less).

It would appear that Slovenian schools were generally less aware of internet risks and hazards, since only 45.2% of them controlled and supervised pupils’ activities on the internet. Only 37.3% of schools technically prevented pupils’ access to potentially harmful content.

In October and November 2005, the Slovenian awareness node SAFE-SI, conducted a small survey among “expert ICT teachers”, multipliers, about internet safety and internet usage in schools. The survey showed that multipliers are interested in all internet safety issues and especially in protection against viruses and other malware.

They also want to learn more about privacy abuses, spam and filters that can block access to potentially illegal and harmful content on the internet. Teachers would like to have more information about appropriate websites for children, known privacy and security frauds, rules on safer use of chat rooms and forums.

Learning how to check credibility of internet sources is another topic of interest. Multipliers, who seem to be using the internet as an important teaching resource would also like to know more about protection against illegal and harmful internet content. More than 90% of them visit the net in the classroom together with their pupils in order to find appropriate learning tools and materials and teach pupils how to use search engines.

Tina Zupanič and Tanja Šterk, SAFE-SI Awareness Node