The eSafety Commissioner has congratulated participants in its Trusted eSafety Provider program on delivering education programs to a quarter of all Australian school students last financial year.
eSafety this week announced the initial 21 providers who have been re-endorsed for another two years, after satisfying updated assessment criteria.
Schools and community organisations can confidently select from the list of Trusted eSafety Providers for their online safety education requirements.
"As the incidence of online harms reported to eSafety continues to grow, it is more important than ever that we educate children and young people about the risks and ensure they know where to go to seek out resources, advice and help," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
"Trusted eSafety Providers bring specialist knowledge across a wide range of topics, allowing them to deliver tailored programs for students, parents and teachers.
"Each provider has demonstrated their expertise, commitment to evaluation and improvement, and alignment with eSafety's Best Practice Framework for Online Safety Education.
"Schools have told us they want to know that these providers are delivering high quality and evidence-based online safety messages that are going to lead to meaningful behavioural change.
In 2021-2022, over 1 million primary and secondary students - around a quarter of the total enrolled - took part in Trusted eSafety Provider sessions delivered in schools, a 41 per cent increase on the previous year.
There was also a significant growth in professional development programs, with more than 27,800 teachers participating in training delivered by a Trusted eSafety Provider.
Under the eSafety Strategy 2022-25, eSafety will continue to leverage strategic partnerships with organisations, including education providers, to reach more Australians and complement its own resources and programs.
"Creating a community of practice for the Trusted eSafety Providers is valuable for them but also the entire Australian community, which gets a diversity of providers delivering quality online safety education," Ms Inman Grant said.
