Private schools lose GCSE results edge after socioeconomic adjusting
Private school pupils in England no longer perform better at GCSE level than state school pupils in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science when the results are adjusted for socioeconomic background, finds a study by UCL researchers. Despite the gap closing in the core subjects, private school pupils continue to achieve stronger results in arts subjects, such as Music, Drama and Art, even after adjusting for socioeconomic background. The researchers say the findings could have implications for parents deciding on the best education for their child and raise questions about the relative strength of creative education in state-funded schools, and the long-term effects of this disparity. In the study, published in the Cambridge Journal of Education, researchers used longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study – looking just at the England sample – to track information including family income, parental occupation status, home ownership, gender, ethnicity and geography, along with GCSE performance in 2016/17. By accounting for these characteristics that are predictive of academic performance, the study aimed to understand performance differences over and above these factors. Before adjusting, private school pupils achieved on average over four fifths (83%) of a grade higher across all GCSE subjects, assuming eight were studied. Once socioeconomic status was accounted for, this difference was close to, and statistically indistinguishable from, zero. But when just the core subjects were considered, state schools had the edge after accounting for socioeconomic status, achieving on average two thirds (66%) of a grade higher than private schools in Maths, two fifths (41%) of a grade in Science subjects and a slight advantage in English of 17% of a grade, although the researchers say this is not statistically significant. Private schools maintained their edge in the creative subjects, scoring just over half a grade higher after accounting for socioeconomic differences. These results stand in contrast to evidence from different phases of the education system – both earlier, during primary school, and later, at age 18 – and in earlier cohorts, such as studies of pupils born around 1990 who took their GCSEs in 2006. In both of these settings, private school advantage in academic performance has been found even after adjusting for socioeconomic status. A greater focus in state schools on the core subjects of Maths, Science and English might partly account for this change, the researchers said. Lead author Professor Jake Anders (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities) said: “It has long been assumed that the private sector outperforms the state sector at GCSE level and raw data indicates just that. However, this doesn’t allow for the vast socioeconomic differences between private and state. “Over the last two decades state schools have increased their focus on the core subjects to deliver results, which is reflected here. There could also be several additional reasons why they have outperformed private schools, including a shift in focus for private schools at GCSE level. Private schools also have the resources to expose pupils to a rich variety of cultural experiences, which could go some way to explain why they produce stronger results in the creative subjects.” Education policy since the late 1990s has prioritised a focus on STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) along with English, which critics of the policy say has led to a narrowing of the curriculum. Professor Anders continued: “A small minority of children attend private schools in England, but these alumni are particularly overrepresented in high-ranking roles across the creative industries. “While it is positive for social mobility that state schools are producing stronger results in the core subjects, inequality still exists – and is arguably becoming more pronounced – in industries such as acting, music and art.” In England less than one in ten children attend a private school at some point. Average fees across the UK are around £16,600 per year for day schools, with boarding school fees averaging nearly £22,000 per year. State schools receive on average £8,000 per pupil per year. Private schools in England are almost exclusively funded by fees paid by parents or guardians, with a limited number of scholarships and bursaries available. This means that privately-educated children are almost exclusively from families with much higher incomes than the national average. Co-author Professor Francis Green (IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society) said: “The results reflect the wider, non-core curriculum that private schools are able to offer with the resources available to them for this. State school alumni’s disadvantages in the creative world will not diminish until this gap starts to be reduced.” The researchers had aimed to use GCSE data from the Department for Education’s National Pupil Database (NPD). However, many pupils in this cohort who attended private schools took International GCSEs (IGCSEs), which aren’t recorded in the NPD. Therefore, self-reported GCSE and equivalent IGCSE data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) was used instead. They then examined the relationship between GCSE performance and individual social factors, including family income and parental occupation status. The Millennium Cohort Study, based at UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, follows the lives of around 19,000 young people born across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2000-2002.
Healthy food options don’t equate to healthy eating in secondary schools, study finds
Healthy options aren’t necessarily leading to healthy eating among students as secondary schools are failing to fully meet Government standards, a study has found. More than 2000 young people and staff across 36 secondary schools in the Midlands took part in the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded FUEL study, which sought to find out how well UK government’s school food standards were being adhered to. The study, published in NIHR Journals Library, and following a related study published in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, is the largest of its kind looking at secondary schools. The team of researchers, led by Professor Miranda Pallan from the University of Birmingham, found that on average only 64% of the school food standards were met by schools during the three-year study period, with lunchtime options being the most compliant. Schools met 81% of standards applying to lunchtime food options but only 43% of standards applying to food options across the whole day, including breakfast and break times. While some schools were more compliant with the standards than others, higher compliance was not related to healthier food choices being selected by students. Importantly, the team found that while healthy eating options were available during the school day including lunchtime, many students found that taste, value-for-money, and convenience were most important to them when choosing food, and these needs were not satisfied by much of the school food on offer. Many of the students who took part in the study said they didn’t enjoy the eating experience in school, and they felt that school canteens could be busy and stressful leading many students choosing to bring in their own food from home. Miranda Pallan, Professor of Child and Adolescent Public Health at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the study said: “This is the first study of its kind to take a detailed look at secondary school food provision and adherence to school food standards. It is perhaps unsurprising that the main drivers of food choices in secondary school students are factors such as taste and value for money, given they are at the age where they have greater agency over the food that they eat. “We saw the highest adherence to standards for food served at lunchtimes and poorer adherence to standards for food served at break and other times during the school day. Many of the students we spoke to talked about the importance of convenience and the negative experience in canteens affecting food choices. “Schools have a difficult balance to make when looking at healthy eating provision, with tight budgets and a student body who will vote with their feet if the food choice doesn’t meet their needs. One area where schools may be able to improve is through consultation with students about designing menus that try to balance the demands for taste and convenience with providing healthy options.” Lack of voice Students were often not meaningfully involved in discussions about food served in the schools that took part in the study, and the research team identified that schools may be unaware of what students want from healthier school food. Other findings include: Peymané Adab, Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Birmingham and co-author of the study said: “School is a key pillar in the lives of young people and the food and drink available there can shape their diets in the longer term. We know that teens in the UK consume three times the recommended amount of their total energy intake from free sugars, found in sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate and some sweet drinks and only 12% of teens meet the recommendation of five fruit and veg portions a day. So it’s really important that we try to address this in whatever ways possible. “The FUEL study however shows that while schools could improve their provision of healthy food options for students, there are factors that go beyond a school’s responsibility that need to be addressed to help support young people to have healthier diets.”
Top tips on how to help less-able learners engage with reading
For those students who struggle with reading, the transition to secondary school can see a rapid decline in engagement and enjoyment. By Heather Grainger – Secondary School Librarian of the Year It represents a change when children no longer have to read daily or weekly and they no longer have teachers checking their reading record – when it comes to picking up a book, from Year 7, they can largely be doing this on their own. It is therefore crucial that all students are encouraged to read from the moment they step through the door. The work we do at Weatherhead High School aims to encourage students to see themselves as readers and help them develop a love of reading. We now have many students, including our less-able learners, who can’t wait to visit the library and pick up a book. We’ve developed six key priorities that can help others experience the same success: Create a student-focused safe space First and foremost, students must feel safe and included before they can start to engage with reading. Our library provides a different atmosphere to a classroom, with curved tables and a selection of different chairs, and is open to students outside of lesson times, helping to establish it as a relaxing and fun space. For all of our students, but especially for those who are less-able or less positive readers, it has been hugely beneficial to use the library for activities that go beyond just books and reading. We hold frequent free lunchtime and after-school events, with everything from crafts and games to fancy dress competitions and animal encounters. This allows our struggling readers to feel excited about the space and encourages them to participate in more reading-focused activities as well. An example is our ‘Poetry Slam’, where students perform poems aloud. This excites students of all abilities as there is never the question of whether a student is allowed or able to participate. This is mirrored in our writing competitions, where every age and ability is represented in the winners’ lists. Also, it is important to ensure the staff who are in the library have the time to talk. I am honoured to be the school librarian. My role is very different to that of a teacher, and time spent in the library can hopefully feel free from tests and targets. Whether your school has a dedicated librarian or not, having interested and sympathetic adults in the library helps to create a sense of inclusion and safety. Students can chat with staff more informally, speaking passionately about their interests, and sharing their triumphs and disasters. Address specific needs As we all recognise, it is essential to address any specific needs of individual students that might be creating barriers to reading so working closely with the SEND department is crucial. We have a whole-school database, which includes SEND, medical and EAL information, as well as links to general and student-specific advice. Our teaching groups are arranged by ability, so it is possible to differentiate the format of our library lessons. This might mean focusing more on a class read, allowing modelled fluent reading or clarification in comprehension. The time can also be used to highlight books that might be more suitable, encouraging books that will not be unmanageable and addressing any needs that require specific consideration. Provide and curate choices Choice is so important for reading for pleasure, and taking ownership of reading is vital for students. However, for our less able learners, making those decisions can feel overwhelming. Part of the librarian’s job is to ensure that there are suitable and engaging books for all abilities and that these books can be seen and found. When curating displays, I include a variety of books – fiction and non-fiction, HiLo books and quick reads, short stories, graphic novels, ‘as-seen-on-screen’ etc. This means any student can hopefully find something that not only interests them, but that is manageable. The library houses a large collection of HiLo and quick read books for our lower reading ages, and easy but popular nonfiction which helps engage our less-able readers. Induction lessons provide students with the skills to find these books for themselves, but having a knowledgeable librarian means help is always at hand. Acknowledge barriers and build confidence One induction lesson that has a great impact is ‘the beginner-to-expert pathway’. We compare a simple piece of piano music to a more interesting but complex piece, discussing how a new player would progress from one to the other. Students realise that developing a skill takes time, patience and practice and that small steps are needed rather than huge jumps. We then map this onto reading and share ideas about different barriers to enjoying reading e.g. time constraints, lack of space, unsuitable books, and how we can overcome them together. It’s also important to constantly build students’ confidence. Celebrating all reading helps to encourage more reading, and all students need to be reminded that they are readers and that all reading is positive. This ties in with the importance of choice, and means that students are never negatively judged for the reading they enjoy. We work with students to find books that interest them, which are also at a level they can read independently, and then make suggestions for future reading to stretch them further. This support is crucial, as reading confidence can easily be damaged by constantly attempting books that are too challenging, but it can easily grow with the sense of achievement that comes from successful reading. Highlight the social aspects of reading Reading can often feel very lonely, in a world that increasingly values social engagement. It is important to make sure our young people still see a social value in reading, especially for those who are reluctant to read or who find reading challenging. By placing reading alongside other recreational activities, it can help them to feel more positively about books, and more likely to choose to read. Finding time to talk about books, share thoughts and opinions,
BBC Teach inspiring children to become the inventors of tomorrow
A new design and technology competition for UK primary schools has been launched by BBC Teach. Get children buzzing with ideas and learning about design and technology, while helping the mighty Gladiators achieve their next level of performance and skill. There are great prizes to be won for your school too. The challenge The Gladiators have teamed up with the BBC micro:bit team and have set a challenge for school children aged 7 to 11 to design the next generation of fitness gadgets for them. How can the Gladiators measure and improve their amazing skills of power and performance, using new gadgets based around the versatile BBC micro:bit? Harness the combined power of the Gladiators and theBBC micro:bit together to help the Gladiators become faster, stronger and truly unstoppable! Free resources for teachers As part of the BBC micro:bit – the next gen campaign, 700,000 BBC micro:bits were distributed to more than 20,000 UK primary schools, with the aim of helping children learn vital computing and digital creativity skills. You might already be using your BBC micro:bits in your school. Perhaps you are looking for a way to build them into your design and technology or computing offering? This is a design and technology focused competition based around creativity, innovation and teamwork – no coding is necessary. Free teaching resources are available on the BBC micro:bit website to help kick-start your team of inventors to enter the competition. These include: * An action packed 30-minute Live Lesson – Gladiators Phantom and Dynamite worked alongside two teams of school children to design and test two new performance gadget ideas. * A fun four-minute video of Phantom and Mwaksy developing their own gadget design ideas together and describing their design process. * An inventor workshop – consisting of three UK curriculum linked pre-planned lessons: features of the BBC micro:bit; identifying a problem to solve; and how to design as a team, including ready to use worksheets. The Competition The Gladiators BBC micro:bit competition opened on 15 October 2024, and competition entries need to be submitted by 6 December 2024. The submission process is easy to complete from a single web-based form, consisting of a diagram and 100-300 words that show and describe your class’s gadget. You can submit up to three entries per school. A team of judges will review all competition entries and select a winning entry plus three runners-up, which will be announced on 10 March 2025. Schools could win a Gladiator visit, a £500 voucher for computing equipment and the winning team will also have their design turned into a prototype gadget! Primary schools, are you ready? Three, two, one – go! By David Whale – BBC micro:bit Expert and STEM Ambassador. For more information about the Gladiators micro:bit competition, to watch the Live Lesson or to download the accompanying resources, please visit: www.bbc.co.uk/microbit
The Schools & Academies Show 2024: Mapping the Future of Your School
#SAASHOW, known as the Schools & Academies Show, returns to Birmingham with an Exciting New Co-Located Show! This year the show will provide a space for school and academy leaders to connect, inspire new ideas, and explore key challenges and emerging trends that will shape the future of education. The Schools & Academies Show makes its highly anticipated return to NEC Birmingham on the 20th of November, presenting not just one, but two co-located events. This bi-annual event provides a pivotal platform where the education community can collaboratively prepare for the dynamic changes ahead. We invite teachers and school leaders to join this essential, bi-annual education policy event, offering attendees access to over 30 hours of CPD-certified content across 13 themed seminar theatres. Topics include SEND, Business & Finance and School Improvement, ensuring that the event appeals to a wide range of education professionals and key decision-makers. Register for free here. This year’s The Schools & Academies Show will feature both the EdTech Summit and the Independent Schools Conference, offering frontline teachers from diverse school settings valuable examples of classroom best practices. These insights are designed to empower educators to drive positive change and enhance outcomes for all students. Visitors will also be able to hear from over 200 leading practitioners, experts and government officials including: – Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister for School Standards, Department for Education – Sir Michael Wilshaw, Former Chief Inspector of Schools in England and Head, Ofsted – Simon Kidwell, Immediate Past President, NAHT – Emma Balchin, Chief Executive, National Governance Association – Sam Freedman, Senior Fellow, Institute for Government – The Rt Hon. Lord Knight of Weymouth, Minister of State for Schools (2006- 2009) and Chair, E-Act Multi Academy Trust – Sir Ian Bauckham CBE, Chief Regulator, Ofqual – Lee Owston, National Director, Education, Ofsted – David Clarke OBE, Chief Executive, Paralympics GB Each speaker, an expert in their field within the education sector, will present through a CPD accredited session, live debate, discussion, or specialised workshop. The goal is to leave attendees feeling empowered, inspired, and equipped with key techniques, guidance, and resources to drive improvements across their organisations. The Schools & Academies Show also offers attendees numerous opportunities to meet new people, forge connections, build relationships, and discover new organisations through dedicated networking spaces. Explore the ConnectEd Lounge or the dedicated Networking Lounge for The Educator’s Networking Hour for refreshments at end of the show, where you can connect, share experiences and develop key partnerships with peers. The exhibition floor will host over 200 innovative education suppliers, showcasing the latest cutting-edge products and services designed to support school improvements. With dedicated zones for specific exhibitors, including Estates, Workforce and Business, this is a place for attendees to source solutions for their school, academy or MAT and test the latest innovative products. Registration is completely free for Schools, Academies, MATs, Local Authorities, Central Government, Specialist Charities and the wider education sector. Register your free place to attend and be a part of the conversation with over 4,000 visitors across the show floor expected. Register your free ticket here
Schools urged to act fast ahead of new food waste legislation
Schools, colleges and universities across the UK are being encouraged to act fast and get prepared, before stringent new food waste legislation comes into effect early next year. Applicable to all businesses that generate food waste on site, the new rules state that all commercial food waste (be that preparation waste, offcuts, spoiled produce or plate scrapings) should be separated at source, stored and collected for recycling by a reputable service provider. Any business that fails to adhere will be liable to significant penalties. Richard Poskitt, head of supply chain/commercial at ReFood, the UK’s leading food waste recycler, believes that the move is a significant step forward. He said: “Every year, the UK education sector throw away a huge volume of food waste, contributing to a national mountain exceeding 10.5 million tonnes. When left to rot in the ground, food waste releases greenhouse gases considered 21 times more damaging to the environment than CO2. For this reason alone, mandating a ban is simply common sense.” While businesses may be concerned about the cost and disruption of embracing food waste recycling services, Poskitt explains that working with a proven supplier can make the whole process quick, simple and seamless. What’s more, it can significantly improve your sustainability credentials alongside. Mr Poskitt continued: “Legislation can often put added pressure on businesses, but the ban on food waste to landfill will instead offer immediate benefits. With the opportunity to streamline processes and improve environmental credentials, it’s a real win-win situation. “However, with just a few months to go before guidance becomes law, there isn’t time to waste. If you don’t already recycle your food waste, now’s the time to engage with providers and implement a reliable service. It’s important that you partner with a supplier that understands your business and can offer the flexibility needed to minimise disruption. This is key to achieving the best possible results.” As the UK’s leading food waste recycler, ReFood operates three state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion (AD) sites in Doncaster, Widnes and Dagenham. Working with businesses across the supply chain, ReFood collects 480,000 tonnes of food waste every year and recycles it to generate clean, green, renewable energy. Nothing is wasted during the process, with the residual digestate repurposed as a sustainable liquid bio-fertiliser for local farmers. Perfect for the education sector, ReFood’s unique ‘bin swap’ service sees full bins exchanged with clean, sanitised, replacements. This means that bins can be hygienically used indoors, enabling staff to separate at source with no disruption to service. For more information about ReFood, visit www.refood.co.uk, or call 0800 011 3214 and speak to the team about your requirements.
How to integrate reading for pleasure from Reception through to Year 6
By Leia Sands – School Librarian School libraries have been found to impact pupils’ general academic attainment, reading and writing skills, wider learning skills, and more. I am passionate about the need for every school to have a library, as I imagine every headteacher is, but sadly, I know of too many schools whose budgets are being squeezed and hard decisions are being made. Many libraries are being pushed to the bottom of the ‘essentials’ list, getting smaller or worse, going completely. Whether your school has a large, small or even no library at all, integrating reading for pleasure is crucial – from the moment children walk through the door to the moment they leave for secondary school, each and every year. It’s not something that can be done overnight, it’s certainly not something that can be ticked off a list, but by asking yourself six questions, it is something that can be embedded throughout the whole school. Q1. What do you know about your children? As the children walk through your classroom door each autumn term, take the time to find out what their reading journey has been like so far. Who are their favourite authors and/or illustrators? What are their favourite books? Do they have any specific hobbies, likes or dislikes? Are they reading at home, with and without adults? By getting to know your children as readers, you can tailor any reading corners you may have to the children’s interests, select enticing books for your year group and recommend exciting books to read. By taking the time to talk to your children, maybe by completing a simple reading survey, you can get the information you need. Q2. Do your children have access to books? To promote reading for pleasure, you need to have books that your children want to read, books that are diverse, exciting and inviting in a range of fiction, non-fiction, picture books, graphic novels, poetry, magazines and more. Easier said than done, I hear you say. Approach your PTA and see if they can support you with funds to purchase books, contact your School Library Service if you have one, apply for grants and approach your local bookshop to set up a wish list where parents can buy a book that the children would enjoy. Display your books too to create interest and conversation. During the World Cup we created a display of football books, in January we share books that the children may have watched film adaptations of over the holidays, share your best poetry books to celebrate National Poetry day in October – the possibilities are endless. And remember, books don’t just need to be in a library or book corner, they can be anywhere – on a table in the corridor, by reception, near the canteen or hall, in the playground, in a reading shed. Give your children the opportunity to pick up a book wherever they may be. Q3. Are your adults knowledgeable? Do teachers, teaching assistants, helpers and members of SLT show themselves as readers? Have you thought about starting staff meetings with book recommendations? We have a staff WhatsApp group, Book Buzz, where we share children’s literature that we are reading. I encourage all adults to follow authors on social media, attend author visits and participate in initiatives like the Reading Agency and Open University’s Teaching Reading Challenge, especially over the school holidays when they may have more time to read. Q4. Are your children excited about reading? We have dedicated reading assemblies which helps us embed a reading culture across the whole school. One for Reception through to year 3 and another for pupils in year 4 – 6. This allows us to tailor the books to the ages of the children and gives us a platform to create a buzz around reading, sharing different books and highlighting different authors. The texts we use focus on key events of awareness days such as Anti-bullying Week or World Mental Health Day or highlight books that reflect our children’s experiences, such as young carers. We also encourage our children to take an active role in our reading assemblies. We have ‘Books that made me a reader’ segments where children interview a member of staff to find out their current and childhood favourites. At the end of the academic year, year 6 pupils run the reading assembly, sharing their favourite books from their time at the school. It is lovely to see the younger children being inspired to read some of their favourites. Q5. Is reading a focus all year round? Whether it’s fiction, non fiction, magazines, newspapers or poetry, it’s important for your children to see that reading is important all year round. As well as the informal conversations you have as part of daily school life, think about the time of year – Christmas stories, Black History Month and World Book Day as well as writing and reading competitions – external and internal. In my experience, children are often motivated to read by their peers. Our Pupil Librarians/Reading Ambassadors provide book recommendations and act as reading role models throughout the academic year. Their enthusiasm is often more effective than us teachers telling our pupils to read, particularly as the children get older. Q6. Is there focus and communication at staff level? At Steyning, we noticed that pupils were struggling to connect with poetry so this became a whole school focus. We now have a poem of the week and a half termly poet focus in assemblies. We display poems on the back of toilet doors, office doors, classroom doors and walls, basically wherever a child could be. We hold a termly poetry slam that has rapidly grown in popularity as the children become inspired by their peers. Embedding all of these things into our school routine has worked wonders. Creating a love of reading is a journey. It’s developing a reading community which involves the pupils as well as teachers, parents, family members and any others that may come into the school. I
Are we doing enough to ensure our school communities have sufficient AI training and resources?
By Katherine Howard, Head of Education & Wellbeing at Smoothwall Many of us now find ourselves well into the rhythms of the new school year. Yet, amongst much of the consistency and familiarity, it feels as though the battle to protect children from online harm is becoming tougher and even more unpredictable from one year to the next. Keeping up with digital advances, particularly AI and its negative connotations and applications, requires time and most importantly, resources; both of which we all know are in short supply. So, while the dedication and commitment of school leaders and Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) continues as the fundamental backbone to protecting students online, it’s critical to ask ourselves: are school communities truly being supported and adequately equipped to protect their pupils and themselves from the benefits and dangers of AI? It is of course important to say that AI has the potential to be – and in many applications of learning already is – a powerful and effective tool for good. Within the last few years alone AI has been deployed to enhance academic development, child safety, inclusivity and organisational efficiency. But we are fast approaching a scenario where if left unchecked and under supported the good will soon be outweighed by the bad. As the volume of AI applications grows, school communities are understandably feeling increasingly overwhelmed and underprepared. Without proper training and support, it will become more difficult to shield students from growing risks, such as exposure to inappropriate content and the sharing of explicit materials. Qoria recently surveyed school communities in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand to determine the level of understanding around the impact of AI, specifically as an enabler of creating harmful content and CSAM. The survey found that almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents reported that limited staff training, knowledge and time were the primary challenges they faced when addressing the dangers posed by AI, CSAM, and the sharing of explicit content among students. This is a clear call from those in the school community for additional resources to enable the delivery of safeguarding roles more effectively. One UK college leader surveyed said “AI is a rapidly growing area that as a college we are trying (and probably failing) to keep up with.The goalposts move so fast that we are constantly playing catchup”. Navigating these challenges is no small task for any educational organisation, however big, well funded or professionally staffed, to overcome. For those on the frontline, it is essential that the whole school community – from leadership teams to students – are fully aware of the potential issues, understand them and ‘tooled-up’, in order to be properly prepared to deal with these challenges. The government has a role to play here too. School communities should not be left to navigate these challenges alone. They need clear guidance and resources from policymakers in the form of regulation to ensure that schools can access the training and support they need. The UK government does currently invest in AI in education, yet its focus is on the aforementioned benefits AI can provide to the quality of education. It needs to acknowledge the challenges it poses to students’ online safety and work with the school communities to provide regulation, policies in place and provide educators with the support and guidance they truly need. Supporting the school community now While some school communities may feel helpless, there are many proactive and proven approaches to address this growing threat. Whilst we wait for the government and wider communities to switch on to the issue, there are things schools can do: Develop an AI working party – we’ve heard from many schools that they are setting up an AI working party. This is a great way to align all of the stakeholders around a common understanding and put strategies in place to support the whole community. Regular meetings and discussions will also improve communication, empower staff, enable shared responsibilities, and promote professional development in AI, risk management, and response. Review and update school policies – by ensuring that your incident management procedures include those relating to AI-based incidents, with particular reference to victim support. Schools can also review their student curriculums to include education on AI, as well as explore its positive applications. Increase staff training – a better understanding of these issues would allow everyone involved to be better equipped to detect, intervene, and educate about the risks and consequences associated with AI. There are steps you can take to invest in ongoing professional development and tools for staff, such as scheduling targeted and regular training on the latest digital trends, understanding the psychological and social dynamics at play that underpin poor online behaviours by students, or policy sessions focused on intervention and support strategies through the tooling they use. Extend education to parents – measures that are put in place to educate, support and protect staff and students need to extend beyond the school community. By involving parents and guardians, you can make sure that awareness will help provide support and protection in the home environment too. Increase digital risk visibility with technology – those involved in digital safety within the school community know that they don’t have enough eyes and ears to monitor the situation effectively. Digital monitoring solutions, which are often supported by human moderation, can provide real-time insights into potential risks such as exposure to harmful content, inappropriate conversations and online grooming. These solutions can help you identify issues early to prevent any escalation at all. Crucially, this technology allows the school community to be informed, providing a swift and accurate intervention or response. There are content filtering solutions available that intervene earlier, preventing students from accessing online content that could be harmful to either their physical, mental, or academic wellbeing. School communities provide hope There is no doubt that AI has introduced benefits to education, however it has also introduced significant new challenges for the school community when it comes to keeping students safe
Join BBC Teach for an Anti-Bullying Week Live Lesson
In partnership with the Anti-Bullying Alliance, BBC Teach will be broadcasting an interactive Live Lesson for primary schools during Anti-Bullying Week. The programme will inspire children to handle disagreements constructively, without turning to bullying. Children will help CBBC celebrity, Hacker T Dog, put on the ultimate sports match where the players come together and respectfully work out their differences. There will also be lots of classroom activities to get everyone thinking about the different ways we can show respect to one another. Activity sheets and a teaching guide will be available to download on the BBC Teach website to help teachers prepare for the lesson. BBC Teach will be running a live commentary page on the day, giving shoutouts to schools taking part. Schools can send their shoutouts to live.lessons@bbc.co.uk with Anti-Bullying Week in the email heading or by using the hashtag #BBCLiveLessons. The 30-minute Live Lesson will be broadcast at 11am on Tuesday 12 November via the BBC Teach website (as well as available on-demand) and on CBBC. www.bbc.co.uk/teach