The OSA’s popular CPD-accredited course, Online Safety for School Staff, has been comprehensively updated for the 2024-25 academic year. We strive to keep this course as accurate and current as possible, ensuring participants are well-informed of the latest statutory requirements, official guidance, and online risks that affect both children and school staff.
Although the changes to KCSIE for 2024 are relatively limited compared to previous years, Online Safety for School Staff has undergone its most substantial update since the course’s original launch.
Some of these updates are technical. Participants will notice that the learning management system has been significantly upgraded over the summer of 2024. Additionally, our online safety CPD courses have been transitioned to the new What2Learn CPD platform. However, courses for pupils and parents will continue to be delivered via the OSA’s platform. What2Learn CPD is an exciting new initiative that will offer a wide range of high-quality CPD opportunities for education sector staff. For more information on courses currently under development by industry-leading experts, please visit https://www.what2learn.com/index.php/courses-in-development/.
Below is a detailed change log outlining the content updates made to Online Safety for School Staff.
Change Log
Content Reorganisation
- Content has been thoroughly reorganised into logical sections, reflecting additions and edits.
Module 1 (Guidance and Statutory Requirements)
- Removed 3 slides on AI from Module 1. This content has been updated, expanded, and now resides in the new Module 3.2 (Navigating Digital Information).
- Removed 6 slides on GDPR from Module 1; content has been integrated into the Cyber Security module.
- Added 2 slides to Module 1, covering relevant content from the DfE publication Mobile Phones in Schools.
- Added 2 slides to Module 1 on the Online Safety Act and its implications for schools and children.
Module 3.2 (Navigating Digital Information)
- Added new content and case studies on misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, and hoaxes.
- Consolidated information on unreliable sources leading to grooming, with a new introductory slide.
- Updated to the most recent (2023) statistics on Prevent and terrorism-related arrests.
- Revised radicalisation case studies with two recent examples from the past year.
- Added a reflection point on helping children recognise and question unreliable information to reduce their vulnerability to radicalisation.
- Added a new introduction to the AI section.
- Introduced a slide on the sources of AI-generated text and another on the unreliability of AI-generated information, including outdated training data and hallucinations, with a link to a relevant case study.
New Module: Sexual Risks and Exploitation
- Created a new module to consolidate related content previously spread across several modules.
- Enhanced advice for primary settings in line with the latest government guidance.
- Removed a slide referencing the 2021-22 KCSIE terminology change due to time passed and module length.
- Updated the definition of “nudes” per the latest government guidance.
- Revised the discussion on the potential impacts of non-consensual sharing of nudes, incorporating findings from the NSPCC Evidence Review.
- Added a reference to ensuring children understand the school’s approach to managing disclosures related to nudes, emphasising a safeguarding focus.
- Removed references to viral Internet stories on sexual harassment, now covered in the Navigating Digital Information module.
- Updated to the most recent IWF statistics.
- Added recent case studies of online grooming.
- Introduced a new slide on financially motivated sexual extortion (sextortion), informed by recent NCA advice to schools.
Module: The Current Social Media Landscape for Children
- Renamed module to better differentiate it from the module on teacher use of digital technology.
- Updated introduction with the latest information on the average age of smartphone ownership from Ofcom.
- Removed a slide about adults’ familiarity with Facebook and X/Twitter due to broader platform adoption.
- Added data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales on children accepting friend requests from strangers.
- Updated OSA survey statistics on social media platform usage to reflect 2023-24 data.
- Added a reference to changes in policies regarding under-18s accessing harmful content on Instagram.
- Incorporated NSPCC findings on Snapchat’s high frequency of use in online grooming cases, removing a related slide from the Instagram section due to contradictory older data.
- Updated the minimum age for WhatsApp use (changed to 13 in April 2024).
- Added a summary of a BBC investigation into the dangers of WhatsApp groups.
- Introduced a new slide with guidance on managing the pressure to respond on WhatsApp.
- Updated the ‘new features’ slide on WhatsApp.
- Revised information on the risks of harmful TikTok content, including a reference to the December 2022 CCDH report.
- Added a warning about a recent viral TikTok challenge (Chroming).
- Supplemented the ‘Viral Mass Actions’ page with a reference to a planned shop robbery.
Further Online Safety Risks
- This new module was adapted from the previous Online Bullying and Health Issues module as part of the course restructuring.
- Updated the introduction to reflect the new structure.
- Revised OSA statistics on bullying to include data from the 2023-24 academic year.
- Added OSA statistics on the proportion of children admitting to posting potentially harmful content.
- Included information on Body Dysmorphic Disorder from UK Parliamentary Written Evidence.
- Added a reference to the National Centre for Gaming Disorders (NCGD).
- Updated information on the UK legal situation regarding the regulation of gambling features in video games.
- Included additional statistics from the Gambling Commission.
- Removed reference to skin trading in the gambling section due to a perceived reduction in this issue and to manage course length.
- Added a case study illustrating the potential impacts of online bullying (Mia Janin).
Cyber Security
- Updated statistics on data breaches in schools using 2024 government data.
- Replaced the Leytonstone School cyber attack case study with one from The Misbourne in January 2024.
- Updated statistics on data breaches through misdirected emails in education and childcare to April 2024 figures from the ICO (slide 35).
Teacher Use of Digital Technology
- Added a new case study: Communication Must Remain Professional and Follow Safeguarding Protocols.
- Introduced a new case study of a teacher dismissed after participating in a TikTok dance with pupils.
- Updated five TRA case studies to include reports published in the past 12 months.
Get access to the updated CPD-accredited online safety training for school staff here.
1: Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: advice for education settings working with children and young people (updated March 2024) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sharing-nudes-and-semi-nudes-advice-for-education-settings-working-with-children-and-young-people/sharing-nudes-and-semi-nudes-advice-for-education-settings-working-with-children-and-young-people
2: NSPCC: Evidence Review on Online Risks to Children, https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/ezjg0pjb/online-risks-children-evidence-review-main-report.pdf