Strengthening Digital Safety Education Through Cross-Sector Collaboration

The growing prevalence of digital threats, including cyberbullying, misinformation, and privacy breaches, underscores the urgent need for structured online trust and safety education. While various online safety curricula exist, gaps in accessibility, empirical validation, and cross-cultural adaptability persist. This position paper advocates for a collaborative framework involving youths, governments, and academia to enhance online trust and safety education. By actively engaging young people in the development of educational materials, integrating safety curricula into formal education, and ensuring academic research informs policy and practice, a more effective and inclusive digital literacy framework can be established. The paper outlines key challenges, evaluates existing educational approaches, and proposes a structured model that leverages cross-sector collaboration to create a resilient and adaptable online safety education ecosystem.