Children want adult supervision online

Urge for inappropriate sites to be blocked

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29 October 2008 10:37 GMT / By Katie Scott

Children using the Internet want more protection online, according to a new survey.

The school inspectorate, Ofsted, has released the findings of a report in which it asked 686 school children how they feel about their safety online.

And the majority said that they wanted more "adult supervision on internet".

In fact, from the survey of 686 children aged between 4 and 20, 45% went as far as to say they believed that an adult should be sitting next to or near them when they are on the Internet.

Two-thirds said that they thought pornographic websites should be blocked along with some chat rooms.

Some of those interviewed also said that children "shouldn’t be able to put pictures up of yourself’" online.

Dr Roger Morgan, director of children’s rights for England, said commented on the findings: "The message here is simple - children are taking their internet safety seriously, but many clearly don’t feel confident that they can protect themselves on their own".

"They want adults to take a greater role in overseeing their web use and to be told exactly what is safe, so that they are better prepared to steer clear of unsuitable sites. Indeed many children suggested unsafe sites should be blocked completely so they cannot access them."