Safeguarding expert calls for urgent AI policy updates in schools as guidance remains advisory
Summary
Following the roll-out of child safety provisions under the Online Safety Act in July 2025, Department for Education (DfE) advice on AI in schools remains advisory rather than mandatory. Mary-Ann, a safeguarding expert at Virtual College, warns schools to update policies, carry out robust risk assessments and monitor AI use closely to protect pupils from harms such as deepfakes, bias and accidental data exposure.
The article outlines practical steps schools should take: assess risks across the whole school, review and strengthen web filtering, ensure a lawful basis for any data processed by AI tools (and consider sandboxed environments), educate staff and pupils on ethical use, and engage parents so they can support children in judging AI content.
Key Points
- DfE guidance on AI in education is advisory; there are no blanket mandated rules, leaving interpretation to individual schools.
- Carry out whole-school risk assessments to identify AI-specific harms (deepfakes, bias, inappropriate content) and update online safety and behaviour policies accordingly.
- Review and tune web filtering and monitoring systems so they recognise and respond to the instant nature of generative AI outputs.
- Ensure any personal data processed by AI complies with UK GDPR — provide age-appropriate privacy information, minimise stored data and consider sandboxed or restricted accounts.
- Train staff regularly so they can integrate AI safely into teaching and teach pupils the ethics and responsible use of AI tools.
- Engage parents through newsletters and drop-in sessions to bridge gaps in understanding and help children assess the accuracy of AI-generated information.
- Use DfE resources (AI product safety requirements, Keeping Children Safe in Education) and ICO guidance when forming policies and controls.
Why should I read this?
Quick heads-up: if you work in a school or run safeguarding, this is not a ‘nice to know’ — it’s a must-act. The guidance is still advisory, so it’s down to schools to make the right calls now. Read this to get a clear checklist of practical steps you can apply straight away to keep pupils safe while using AI for learning.
