Cybersecurity enters the classroom

"Without trained teachers, there can be no secure digital citizenship." This is the view of Iñaki Celaya, professor at the School Education Psychology at the University of Navarra and coordinator university team participating in an project whose goal to train faculty , secondary, and vocational training faculty cybersecurity so that they can educate their students in this field.

The project CyberSecure Teaching: Strengthening Digital Resilience in K-12, VET, and Teacher Training will run for three years. Fifty researchers from different entities will participate in the project. Professors Iñaki Celaya, Sara Ibarrola, and Leyre San Martín will participate alongside professionals from eight other institutions: Jamk University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (Portugal), St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (Austria), University Colleges Leuven-Limburg (Belgium), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), Ylä-Savo Municipal Federation of Education, JYU Norssi (Finland), and Hetel (Basque Country).

This research develop a skill that is still weak among faculty: cybersecurity and cyber hygiene applied to classroom the school. It arises in response to one of the European Union's priorities (Teacher Academies, European Education Area, Digital Education Action Plan): to provide training and continuing training for teachers, to encourage mobility faculty trainers with short international stays to learn and share practices, to develop multilingual resources, and to promote the transfer of this knowledge between countries," notes Celaya.

One of the objectives of the research to develop development resources for teachers. To this end, Celaya explains, "we will develop materials and activities for teachers and conduct a test in the classroom. This will allow us to gather evidence, through questionnaires, interviews, and observation, of what works and what we can improve." 

On the other hand, the project to create a community of practice , where teachers can find a space with different resources, and which serves to share best practices, resolve doubts, and provide mentoring among teachers.

Finally, the project two summer schools, one in Portugal and one in Finland, where teachers will attend practical workshops, share case studies, laboratories, and design . Teachers will develop a teaching unit to be internship classroom a basic cyber hygiene plan for their school. Small workshops and online reinforcement sessions for teachers are also planned for the rest of the year.