Elsa Belo

02.07.2018

Nowadays we need to prepare teens to perform in jobs which still don’t exist today, which means we also need to address issues which are still not tackled in the curriculum. I think this is where the eSafety Label comes and plays a crucial role in sharing best practices across Europe!

Elsa Belo, eSafety Label+ Partner

DGE, Portugal

Please introduce yourself and explain how and when you became involved with the eSafety Label world:
I’ve been a teacher since 1995 and I am currently working at DGE, a department belonging to the Portuguese Ministry of Education. Being a mother of three teens who are growing in a progressively digitalised world and who are getting more and more digitally skilled, I felt the need to get more acquainted with eSafety. In 2013 I applied for a scholarship to attend a five-days-long training course about the eSafety Label, at the European Schoolnet, in Brussels, taught by Karl Hopwood e Grannia Walsh. This professional development experience was so striking and profitable that from that moment on, I found it imperative to get more involved in several activities within this area. In 2015 my school was the first one in Portugal to obtain the gold eSafety Label , as back then, I was the responsible for this area in the school I was working in. Presently I’m the coordinator of the eSafety Label at the Portuguese Ministry of Education (DGE).

What does the eSafety Label+ project bring extra to the already existing eSafety Label initiative?
The eSafetyLabel+ provides a reflection context and promotes an overview of this project which was long needed. It will function as a trigger which will promote a refreshing process within the eSafetyLabel Community.

If you had to recommend the eSafety Label initiative and community to someone, how would you do it? What would you say to convince them to join? Also, what do you expect from the future of the eSafety Label initiative?
I would probably discuss about how it provides very comprehensive support, covering many areas. It also allows schools to be recognized because of their good practices in a society which these days is more and more concerned about these issues. I’m sure that it will grow exponentially and it will adapt to the growing societal needs. As we are educating teens to perform in jobs which still don’t exist today, we will address issues that these days are still not tackled, but we certainly can count on the knowledgeable and always present help of the eSafetyLabel team.

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