0129—Education and Training—INTERNET FILTERING

Dr Kaye to the Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for the Central Coast, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Finance—

1.  
1. Have any steps been taken to ensure that internet filtering is not undermining the benefits of school internet connection?
2. If so, what?
2. What steps have been taken to ensure that valuable time is not wasted requesting that a site be unblocked or trying alternate non-filtered search engines to locate information?

Answer—

All Internet requests from Department of Education and Training sites, including those to search engines, pass through a  filtering system. In August 2006, the Department, in consultation and with the support of the Primary Principals Association and the Secondary Principals Council, made changes to the Internet filtering system to improve system speed and performance. In addition, a new filtering system was installed in 2007 providing greater flexibility in the application of filters for Internet browsing.

 

As part of additional changes made at the start of 2007 the Department has provided all staff with access to a Web Filter Check tool from within their personal departmental portal. This tool allows them to easily check if specific web addresses (URL's) are blocked or allowed within the filtering system and immediately submit requests for web sites to be unblocked or blocked where necessary. The tool is available for teachers both within the school environment and from home. All web filter requests are evaluated and resolved by a team of senior teachers usually within one business day of receipt.