The role of primary school teachers in raising students' awareness of privacy against the risks of digital media

Purpose: This research aims to determine the role of primary school teachers in raising privacy awareness against digital media risks. Method: A mixed research design has been used in this research. The quantitative data of the research has been collected by the "Digital Privacy Awareness Questionnaire" applied to 126 primary teachers working in schools in Bilecik city center. As for the qualitative data, it has been collected by semi-structured interviews with 18 participants, who are determined by taking the status of experiencing digital privacy problems as a criterion. Findings:In the analyses made with the quantitative data collected with the Digital Privacy Awareness Questionnaire, significant differences have been found regarding the digital privacy awareness of primary school teachers according to the variables of age, education level, marital status, professional seniority, and training on digital privacy.Accordingly, it has been determined that younger teachers, postgraduate-educated teachers, single teachers, inexperienced teachers, and teachers who received training on digital privacy have higher digital privacy awareness than older teachers, bachelor's degree-educated teachers, married teachers, experienced teachers and teachers who didn't receive training on digital privacy awareness. In the study, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with 18 teachers who have problems with digital privacy among 126 primary school teachers. As a result of the qualitative data obtained, the following findings emerged. Accordingly, in line with teachers' views on digital risks for students, themes of social risks, digital privacy and security risks, educational and behavioral risks, health risks, and emotional risks emerged. Digital privacy violations against children are expressed as the sharing of children's personal information and photographs and digital bullying.Regarding the meaning of digital privacy, views on the confidentiality of identity information have come to the fore. Teachers also stated that the purpose of digital privacy education is to protect children against digital risks by providing them with digital awareness and consciousness, teachers stated that they cooperated with parents and guidance counselors regarding digital privacy. In addition, 78% of the teachers stated that they provide non-systematic training regarding digital privacy education through association with course content and experiences, and that they want to give this training to their students by receiving it from experts in the field. They stated that the content of the training they would like to receive as introducing the digital media, understanding the concept of privacy, providing digital competencies to students and families, creating awareness against digital risks and creating an applied training programme. Results and Suggestions: In line with the quantitative and qualitative data obtained, it has been determined that primary school teachers have awareness of digital privacy, but they do not carry out systematic teaching on digital privacy in their classrooms. It has been detected that primary school teachers want to receive digital privacy education from experts in the field in an order to improve their awareness of the subject. Apart from this, teachers think that digital privacy training should be given in the classroom and this training should be given in a content, place and time that will be efficient. Based on the results of the research, it is recommended that teachers should be trained on digital privacy, and legal regulations should be made to enable them to teach digital privacy in their classrooms, along with outcomes including digital privacy skills that should be included in the education programmes.