The role of parents in today’s highly digitized society is more challenging than ever.

Whereas once parents could keep an eye on what their children were doing and who they met, nowadays in just a couple of clicks children can make contact with people from all over the world and encounter content that is scary, biased, harmful or downright illegal. Helping your children to become digital citizens is about enabling them to benefit from the many opportunities open to them through the internet, whilst fostering the values and attitudes that will guide their behaviour wherever they are.

Empathy, cooperation, and understanding themselves and their rights and responsibilities, are developed from earliest childhood onwards, and necessary to every individual throughout life.

Digital citizenship education offers ideas and tools for parents and carers to help their children become caring, ethical individuals who enjoy a sense of well-being and are able to actively participate in online and offline communities.

Download "DCE from a parent's perspective"

In 2020, the Council of Europe conducted a survey to better understand the views of parents on digital citizenship education and the concerns they have about their children’s use of digital technology.

More than 21 000 parents in 47 countries responded to the survey, which was followed up by interviews in 2020 and 2021.

The publication maps the needs and reflections of parents as they strive to ensure the well-being of their children and help them become competent digital citizens, who are empowered by digital technology rather than shaped by it.