ENHANCING CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A CYBOK-BASED ANALYSIS AND STRATEGIC APPROACH
Maha F. Alotaibi, Yulia Cherdantseva, OMER F. RANA, Catherine Teehan · INTED proceedings · 2024
Increasing reliance on the digital environment, along with the rapid evolution of technology, present unique challenges and opportunities for interaction, work, and education. In an era when children are increasingly interacting with online services, it is more critical than ever to protect their privacy and verify authenticity. To address this need, educators are consistently required to teach crucial cybersecurity skills to students, preparing them for success both as engaged social citizens and members of the workforce. However, there are challenges to the integration of cybersecurity education into secondary schools, including a lack of qualified teachers, limited cybersecurity resources, and an insufficient focus on this critical subject for young learners. This study aims to determine how cybersecurity is being integrated into the current curriculum and the challenges that educators face in teaching cybersecurity. The method provides an in-depth, comprehensive comparison of eleven national and international computer science curricula from various countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) is a comprehensive guide to foundational cybersecurity knowledge that was developed through consultation with industry and academia. It was used as a foundational framework to focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of cybersecurity. This method incorporates a detailed content analysis of secondary education computing qualifications in relation to CyBOK’s knowledge areas. This study reveals distinct findings and potential gaps in the examined curricula while also highlighting the significant absence of a standardized cybersecurity framework in educational systems in secondary schools worldwide. Consequently, it identifies the substantial need for a standardized cybersecurity curriculum that addresses gaps in cybersecurity skills and provides teachers with the necessary training and resources to effectively teach cybersecurity to secondary school students.