Probe after adult content viewed on school iPads

Parents in Edinburgh are being told the council cannot protect their children from harmful online material after it emerged young people were able to view inappropriate content on school-issued iPads.

City of Edinburgh Council published a letter last night explaining that even with internet filters in place, pupils could still access explicit material in the classroom.

An online video shared by someone claiming to be a parent demonstrated that turning off a safe search function allowed children to access material such as pornography and executions.

The local authority said blocking inappropriate content was a priority and that it had taken steps to prevent the content from being accessed.

Education, children and families convener Joan Griffiths said "empowered learning iPads" issued by the local council had a filter installed which is meant to protect children from inappropriate content.

"This means that students have filtered internet access whether using the iPad within the school environment, at home, or on a visit to another venue," she said.

"Our filtering restrictions make use of Safe Search as a function. However, we were made aware that some search engines were permitting Safe Search to be turned on and off."

The council is now putting in place measures to ensure children can only use one search engine on the devices.

Access to Wikipedia has also been suspended pending a review after concerns that the online encyclopaedia could allow children to access unsuitable material.

In October, school-issued iPads were taken away from pupils at one school for testing to find out if they were also susceptible to the fault.

Desktop computers in council libraries were also taken offline after an IT fault meant that filters designed to block inappropriate websites were not activated.

In an email, the council said the devices had since been returned to pupils after "no evidence of inappropriate material" was found.

The council's IT partner, the Canadian firm CGI, handed out 44,000 iPads to pupils, teaching and learning staff as part of an 18-month rollout which ended in May 2023.

The devices are supposed to be equipped with software which filters content based on age to prevent access to inappropriate material.

In an email sent to parents, the council's head of education, Jackie Reid, said keeping children safe online was paramount, but a solution had to be found that also reflected the learning potential of electronic devices.

"Filtering and blocking inappropriate content is always a priority but it needs to be balanced with the need to enable teaching and learning to take place and also the rights of children to access information," she said.

"It can be a difficult balance to achieve, no technical solution can ever guarantee full safety, and as such, we also have to educate our learners in the appropriate behaviours required to allow for safe internet use."

Ms Reid said they were aware about particular content which could be accessed on the iPads.

She continued: "We have taken immediate steps to ensure that this content cannot be accessed and will be conducting further investigations into this matter.

"An urgent review of the solution will take place to ensure that this is resolved. We are continually monitoring the situation to ensure the online safety of our children and young people."