Learning target 8.3
Digital Assertiveness & Wellbeing Strategies
Maintain healthy digital boundaries, communicate assertively online, and sustain wellbeing-supporting practices across platforms and contexts over time.
T3Practised disposition
Orientations students grow into — practised over time, observed across contexts. Assessed by what they consistently do, not what they say.
Criteria — what growth looks like
Every learning target has a set of criteria specifying what growth looks like at each band. For this practised-disposition LT, each criterion lists what would be observed (and what would be confused with it) rather than rubric levels.
6 criteria across 6 bands.
Band A— Water + Air Dragons
K–2ages 5–7
A.1The student sustains assertive, wellbeing-supporting digital practices across platforms and contexts over time, as an enacted disposition rather than a single performance.
Observation indicators
- The child stops using a digital device when a trusted adult asks, without significant distress, on most occasions. (Parental observation is primary at this band; teacher observation supplements.)
- The child tells a trusted adult when they see or are shown something online that makes them feel confused, scared, or uncomfortable, on more than one observed occasion.
- The child does not share personal information (name, address, school, family details) with strangers in digital contexts. (Safeguarding observation — failure here triggers safeguarding pathway, not assessment.)
- The child reports something confusing online rather than hiding it, without treating the report as getting anyone in trouble.
Confusable behaviours
- Device-stopping only when parental tone is angry mistaken for responsive practice. Distinction: the disposition is shown when the adult asks in an ordinary tone, not only under pressure.
- Reporting "fine" to every adult asking about online activity mistaken for safe online practice. Distinction: the disposition includes the child volunteering something was confusing, not only responding to questions with reassurance.
Absence indicators
- The child shows significant distress or resistance when asked to stop using a device, consistently across weeks.
- The child does not mention online experiences that were confusing or upsetting, even in contexts designed to invite sharing (bedtime chat, reflection at home).
Conversation prompts
- Tell me about a time something on a screen made you feel worried — what did you do? (Ask the parent too.)
- Tell me about a grown-up you can tell when something online doesn't feel right.
- When you're asked to stop using a device, what's it like inside?
Band B— Earth Dragons
G3–4ages 8–10
B.1The student sustains assertive, wellbeing-supporting digital practices across platforms and contexts over time, as an enacted disposition rather than a single performance.
Observation indicators
- The child exits digital content they recognise as unkind, distressing, or inappropriate, without needing an adult to direct them, on most observed occasions. (Parental observation remains primary.)
- The child uses simple assertive language in digital communication ("I don't want to", "please stop", "I'm going to tell an adult") when a peer behaves unkindly online.
- The child keeps to family or school rules about device use (time, place, content) without constant reminders.
- The child brings the assertive moves they use face-to-face (saying no, walking away, telling someone) into digital contexts when the same situation arises.
Confusable behaviours
- Rule-following only when being watched mistaken for self-directed digital practice. Distinction: the disposition shows in unsupervised moments as reported by parents.
- Exiting content the adult disapproves of, while continuing to engage with content that is also unkind but less visible to adults, mistaken for discernment. Distinction: the disposition is child-led exit based on what feels wrong to them, not adult-curated exit.
Absence indicators
- The child needs constant reminders to follow device-use rules, and the pattern does not shift across the year.
- The child stays in group-chat or game interactions that are visibly unkind, without using assertive language they have demonstrated face-to-face.
Conversation prompts
- Tell me about a time online when someone wasn't nice — what did you say or do?
- Tell me about a rule for screens that is easy to keep, and one that is hard — why?
- When someone online wants you to keep going and you want to stop, what do you do?
Band C— Fire Dragons
G5–6ages 10–12
C.1The student sustains assertive, wellbeing-supporting digital practices across platforms and contexts over time, as an enacted disposition rather than a single performance.
Observation indicators
- The student names their own digital boundaries — when they will and will not use a device, what they will and will not engage with — and largely keeps to them without external reminders, across home, school, and friend contexts.
- The student speaks up or exits group chats, games, or platform interactions where peers behave unkindly, excludingly, or unsafely, on more than one observed occasion.
- The student takes independent action (muting, blocking, unfollowing, reporting, stepping away) when content or interaction is affecting their wellbeing, without adult prompt.
- The student treats their digital boundaries as self-authored, not as rules handed to them — they can explain why the boundary is theirs.
Confusable behaviours
- Citing adult-given rules ("my mum said") as the reason for a digital boundary mistaken for self-authored practice. Distinction: the disposition shows in the student's own reason for the boundary, not in citing an external authority.
- Exiting only the most-visibly-unacceptable content while staying in lower-grade unkind interactions mistaken for active boundary-setting. Distinction: the disposition includes responsiveness to subtler signals, not only the obvious ones.
Absence indicators
- The student's digital boundaries are visibly enforced by adults (phone in kitchen, parental controls) and collapse in their absence.
- The student stays in group chats or platform interactions they privately find distressing, without using the specific named actions (mute, block, unfollow, report, step away).
Conversation prompts
- What's a digital boundary that is genuinely yours — and how did you come to it?
- When do you find it easiest to exit a group chat that isn't working, and when is it hardest?
- Tell me about a time you muted or blocked or unfollowed — what drove the choice?
Band D— Metal + Light Dragons
G7–8ages 12–13
D.1The student sustains assertive, wellbeing-supporting digital practices across platforms and contexts over time, as an enacted disposition rather than a single performance.
Observation indicators
- The student maintains stated digital boundaries under social pressure — friends pushing them back into a chat, a game, a notification check — on more than one observed occasion.
- The student uses assertive communication in difficult digital interactions (disagreement, exclusion dynamics, pressure) without escalating into harshness, abandoning the conversation, or capitulating against their stated position.
- The student adjusts their digital practice based on evidence they have collected about its effects on their attention, mood, or sleep — and can point to the adjustment and the evidence that drove it.
- The student distinguishes "the feature is designed to pull me back" from "I have to go back", and operates accordingly.
Confusable behaviours
- Holding a boundary in public while breaking it in private ("I told them no but later I joined") mistaken for under-pressure maintenance. Distinction: the disposition shows in the follow-through when the audience has moved on.
- Assertiveness that flips into harshness ("leave me alone, idiots") mistaken for mature assertiveness. Distinction: the disposition holds position without attacking the person.
Absence indicators
- The student's stated boundaries reliably collapse under peer pressure, across multiple observed weeks, with the pattern unchanged.
- The student's digital practice is insensitive to evidence about its effects on them, even when the evidence is clear (sleep reports, mood, academic drop).
Conversation prompts
- Tell me about a digital boundary you held under pressure — what was the pressure and what held you?
- Where has your digital practice changed this year based on what you noticed was happening to you?
- When does assertiveness tip into harshness for you online — and what do you do with that?
Band E— Stone Dragons
G9–10ages 14–16
E.1The student sustains assertive, wellbeing-supporting digital practices across platforms and contexts over time, as an enacted disposition rather than a single performance.
Observation indicators
- The student sustains digital wellbeing practices across extended periods — not only in a tracked week, but as an integrated part of their life across terms.
- The student holds their position in digital disagreements or conflicts without becoming harsh, performative, or retreating — substantive assertiveness addressing the other's argument, not their identity or the audience.
- The student notices when their digital practice is not serving them well and adjusts proactively — before a crisis or a forced break — on more than one observed occasion across the year.
- The student's digital practice quality is the same whether or not they are being tracked or observed.
Confusable behaviours
- Visible performance of digital restraint ("I don't use my phone anymore") mistaken for sustained practice. Distinction: the disposition is quiet and continuous — often not visible unless specifically asked.
- Assertiveness that plays to the audience rather than addresses the other person ("he's wrong and I'm going to take him down") mistaken for substantive assertiveness. Distinction: the disposition is aimed at the argument, not the optics.
Absence indicators
- Digital wellbeing practices collapse between terms or during breaks, resuming only when school tracking resumes.
- The student's online conflicts consistently feature harshness, performance, or retreat, without the stable substantive-disagreement move appearing.
Conversation prompts
- Where does your digital practice hold across untracked weeks, and where does it slip?
- Tell me about a digital disagreement you held substantively — what kept you from performing or retreating?
- What's a proactive adjustment you made this year before a crisis — what made you see it coming?
Band F— Sky Dragons
G11–12ages 16–18
F.1The student sustains assertive, wellbeing-supporting digital practices across platforms and contexts over time, as an enacted disposition rather than a single performance.
Observation indicators
- The student treats their digital life as an expression of their values — what they engage with, what they create, what they refuse — and can articulate this stance when asked, without turning it into a public performance.
- The student supports peers navigating digital pressure, conflict, or harm, without taking over the situation, without shaming the peer for being in it, and with authentic respect for the peer's own agency.
- The student holds consistent digital practices across contexts — teacher-observed, parent-observed, peer-observed, self-reported — with no quality shift based on who is watching.
- The student's digital identity aligns with their face-to-face identity; the student is recognisably the same person online and offline.
Confusable behaviours
- Public performance of digital values (regular posts advocating digital restraint) mistaken for integrated values. Distinction: the disposition is the consistency of practice, visible without being advertised.
- Taking over a peer's digital situation ("I'll deal with it for you") mistaken for peer support. Distinction: the disposition respects the peer's own agency — support is offered, not imposed.
Absence indicators
- The student's digital practice diverges across observed contexts — visibly good when supervised, visibly different when not — even after years in the programme.
- The student's peer support in digital situations consistently takes over or shames, without the agency-respecting move appearing.
Conversation prompts
- Walk me through how your digital life is actually an expression of your values — with examples, not slogans.
- Tell me about a time you supported a peer through a digital situation without taking over. What kept you from taking over?
- Where is the consistency between your online self and your offline self — and where is the gap that still catches you?