Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
Paragraph: 26
Require head teachers to address harmful mobile device use; improve DfE/Ofsted monitoring.
Conclusion
The Online Safety Bill is a landmark piece of legislation with the potential to significantly tackle violence against women and girls, in part through the regulation of online pornography. It presents an opportunity to address issues such as boys cyberflashing hardcore pornographic images at girls, the Airdropping of nude images and other forms of sexual harassment. However, those responsible for the safety of girls in educational settings should not wait for the Bill to become law to tackle this behaviour. Head teachers must do more to address the harmful use of mobile devices on school and college premises. Government guidance should make clear the harmful effect such technology can have and the Department for Education and Ofsted should improve their monitoring of its impact in educational settings and the effectiveness of school leaders in tackling this corrosive problem.
Government Response Summary
The government states that existing Keeping Children Safe in Education and Behaviour in Schools guidance already provides information on online safety. Crucially, the Department is producing new guidance to support head teachers in banning mobile phones in schools, and highlights that the Online Safety Bill will also support these efforts.
Paragraph Reference:
26
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3. Keeping Children Safe in Education provides schools and colleges with information about what they should do to protect pupils and students online, including on different types of abuse and harm. 4. The updated Behaviour in schools guidance recognises the significant effect online activity amongst pupils can have, including making school feel an unsafe place. Online incidents including soliciting or sharing of nude or semi-nude images and videos and sexual harassment should be addressed in accordance with the same principles as offline behaviour. 5. The Department is producing guidance to support head teachers to ban the use of mobile phones in schools. 6. The Online Safety Bill has now completed its passage through Parliament and will support action taken by schools to keep pupils and students safe. All companies in scope will need to proactively remove and prevent users from being exposed to illegal content. There are additional safety requirements for services used by children. Ofcom will have enforcement powers to use against companies that fail to act.