Safer Internet Day: Swisscom is expanding its media skills courses by more than 30%

Swisscom is expanding its media skills courses and plans to train over 25,000 parents, teachers and schoolchildren on media use in 2014. That's an increase of more than 30% over the previous year. In all, more than 50,000 people have attended these courses over the last five years, making Swisscom the largest provider of media skills training in Switzerland. The number of online media skills courses, for instance on cyber-bullying, has also been expanded.
Berne, 10 February 2014

Promoting media skills and protecting minors in the media are central issues in Swisscom's corporate responsibility strategy. The company has been offering parents and teachers courses to promote media skills for more than five years. In these, parents learn how children and adolescents use mobile phones and the Internet and how they can channel their media use sensibly. In January 2011, Swisscom also launched courses for schoolchildren. These have been expanded continuously since. With more than 50,000 people attending its courses over the last five years, Swisscom has become the largest provider of media skills training in Switzerland.

Swisscom has not only increased the number of courses considerably. It has also analysed the effectiveness of such courses together with the Distance-Learning University of Applied Sciences in Brig. In this way it was able to show that young people were significantly more aware of the risks associated with Internet access after attending a media skills course. Experts have praised Swisscom's activities. "Swisscom's multifaceted input on this issue is extremely valuable," says Thomas Vollmer, Head of the Federal Social Insurance Office's 'Youth and the Media' programme. "The question of how to use digital media properly is increasingly becoming one of the most important educational challenges in the home." Swisscom has supported the federal programme as a main partner since 2012.
Swisscom announced the expansion of its courses to coincide with this year's Safer Internet Day, on 11 February.

  • Swisscom has set itself the goal of training more than 25,000 parents, teachers and schoolchildren in media skills in 2014 through a range of training courses. This represents an increase of more than 30% over last year.
  • Schools and parents' associations and organisations will be able to take part in these courses free of charge. Participants must book by 28 February 2014.
  • Over the coming weeks, a lot of content will be added to the recently-launched media smart Website (www.swisscom.ch/medienstark) developed in association with the Swiss Adult Education Association. In early March, for example, an extensive module on cyber-bullying will be published. The Web site addresses parents' concerns using realistic scenes from everyday family life. It contains tips designed to support parents having the daily debate with children about issues like computer games and mealtimes.

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