The DfE has launched a 12-week call for evidence to take the views of schools, colleges, and other professionals on safeguarding practice development and direction, ahead of substantive updates to 'Keeping children safe in education' (KCSIE) for 2025. This article covers the key information schools need to know about.

Here are the key points covered in this article:

KCSIE 2024 will undergo “technical changes only” ahead of a substantive update for 2025
The results of the call for evidence will not be published
The DfE wants to understand the wider support teams for DSLs in schools
The DfE is likely to consult on the future of safeguarding inspections
The DfE is considering being more prescriptive about the information recorded in child protection files
The DfE may introduce a template for the single central record (SCR)
The DfE may produce further guidance on filtering and monitoring standards
The DfE is considering new guidance on dealing with child-on-child sexual violence
The DfE wants to review how KCSIE functions for boarding and residential special schools
The DfE wants to understand safeguarding risks from pupils bringing technology into schools
The DfE is exploring how generative AI could present safeguarding risks

KCSIE 2024 will undergo “technical changes only” ahead of a substantive update for 2025

The call for evidence is based on the DfE’s plans to produce a “substantively updated document, encompassing wider changes” for KCSIE in 2025. Accordingly, for KCSIE this year, the DfE says it will be making “technical changes only before final publication in September 2024”.

The call for evidence will run for 12 weeks, beginning on 28 March and closing at 11:59pm on 20 June 2024. The DfE says the call is “deliberately broad and seeks to reflect areas and issues that have been shared by school and college safeguarding professionals, or where wider systemic changes mean [the DfE has] an opportunity to better align school and college safeguarding policy, including the findings of Ofsted's ‘Big Listen’.

The results of the call for evidence will not be published

The views received in the call will be used to inform future updates to KCSIE and DfE policies to support safeguarding by staff in schools; however, the results of the call for evidence will not be published, with the DfE instead saying substantive changes made to KCSIE will be subject to consultation in the usual way.

The DfE wants to understand the size of wider support teams for DSLs in school

The first section covered is the role of the DSL. The DfE says it recognises the challenge and importance of the role, and that it is interested in learning the size of wider support teams for the DSL in schools and the volumes and type of DSL roles.

The questions asked aim to uncover information such as how accurate the job description in KCSIE is for the reality of the DSL role, what topics the DfE should cover in webinars to support DSLs, and how DSLs interact with local safeguarding partners.

The DfE is likely to consult on the future of safeguarding inspections

The call cites the Education Select Committee’s recommendation that the DfE should consult on how to increase the frequency of safeguarding inspections “through a less intensive compliance audit”, and whether this should be done by LAs or a separate independent body.

Ahead of a possible consultation in the future, the DfE is aiming to understand how regularly schools conduct an audit of their safeguarding practice and processes, as well as the method for this and whether other organisations are involved. Future updates to KCSIE could include links to appropriate quality assurance resources.

The DfE is considering being more prescriptive about the information recorded in child protection files

The DfE is seeking information to understand how the requirement for child protection files to be transferred to new schools or other education settings works in practice when a pupil leaves. In addition, the DfE wants to know what information schools share with other education settings to enable a better understanding of seemingly unrelated behavioural concerns. The DfE says evidence received will inform how it can best support education settings to share information more effectively.

The questions in the call for evidence indicate that the DfE is considering whether KCSIE should be more prescriptive about the types of information that should be recorded in a pupil’s child protection file. The DfE is seeking views on:

The difficulty of meeting the five-day deadline to transfer child protection files.
Whether DSLs at both settings should hold a conversation when a pupil transfers and there are issues or concerns relating to the child.
Whether schools are recording behavioural incidents that may indicate concerns about susceptibility to radicalisation and including this in a child protection file.
The types of incidents and level of seriousness that should be recorded in child protection files.

The DfE may introduce a template for the single central record (SCR)

The DfE is seeking views on how the SCR is maintained and pre-appointment checks. It says that it understands that there is demand for a template for the SCR to be included in KCSIE, and that this is under consideration. The DfE is aiming to understand the operational practices that are in place to maintain the SCR, such as how the template is sourced, who is responsible for maintaining it, and what training is provided.

The DfE also wants to know whether KCSIE could be updated to be clearer on the difference between pre-appointment checks and the information required on the SCR. In addition, the DfE aims to understand whether schools require employees to subscribe to the DBS Update Service, and whether schools request an enhanced DBS certificate with barred list information when recruiting staff who have worked in a school in England during the three months prior.

The DfE may produce further guidance on filtering and monitoring standards

In March 2023, the DfE published ‘Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges’ to support schools in limiting pupils’ exposure to inappropriate content on school ICT systems. The DfE wants to understand how helpful the standards and have been and whether further direction may be needed. This includes possibly expanding guidance in KCSIE and/or the standards, including on what training is required in relation to filtering and monitoring.

In addition, the call is seeking views on how schools assure themselves of the effectiveness of their filtering and monitoring systems, the frequency of reviews, and what procedures schools have in place if its systems are triggered out of hours.

The DfE is considering new guidance on dealing with child-on-child sexual violence

The DfE is seeking to understand the number of incidents involving child-on-child sexual abuse or sexual harassment in schools, ahead of potentially introducing further guidance on managing incidents, especially on decisions relating to the victim and perpetrator sharing classrooms and where a criminal investigation is ongoing.

The call for evidence asks:

Whether incidents are increasing.
The type of incidents schools are experiencing.
Whether schools have an issue relating to victims and perpetrators sharing classrooms.
How the DfE can best support schools to handle incidents.
If guidance in KCSIE could be improved on when child-on-child abuse should be reported to the police.
How schools use terminology for the phrase ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’.

The DfE wants to review how KCSIE functions for boarding and residential special schools

KCSIE is statutory for boarding schools and residential special schools. In addition to KCSIE, boarding schools must follow and meet the National Minimum Standards (NMS) for Boarding Schools and residential special schools must follow and meet the NMS for Residential Special Schools.

The DfE is aiming to understand how KCSIE and the NMS complement each other and what improvements could be made, such as avoiding duplication, addressing gaps, and expanding on certain areas.

The DfE wants to understand safeguarding risks from pupils bringing technology into schools

The DfE is seeking information on ‘bring your own device policies’ in schools and whether there are safeguarding risks due to pupils bringing their own technology into schools, including parent pay schemes. The call aims to understand the policies schools have in place, how many pupils bring devices in, safeguarding incidents that have arisen, and whether further guidance would be helpful.

The DfE is exploring how generative AI could present safeguarding risks

The DfE says it recognises that generative AI presents benefits for teaching staff and pupils, but that clear concerns also exist regarding the use of this technology. Accordingly, the call is seeking to understand specific potential safeguarding benefits and risks which may arise from the greater use of generative AI in schools. The DfE wants to learn how many schools are using generative AI, whether use has caused any safeguarding incidents, and any other safety concerns staff may have.

What’s next:

Read the consultation in full and have your say here.