Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Deferred
Paragraph: 82
Ofsted's current personal development metric inadequately evaluates broad PSHE curriculum content.
Conclusion
We welcome inspections of PSHE as part of a routine Ofsted inspection. However, a subject as broad as PSHE, which covers so many different topics including digital literacy, cannot be adequately evaluated solely within the current personal development metric.
Government Response Summary
The government deflected, discussing its support services for technology use in schools and general safeguarding efforts, but did not address the committee's concern that PSHE, including digital literacy, cannot be adequately evaluated solely within Ofsted's personal development metric.
Paragraph Reference:
82
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
We recognise that effective digital strategies help schools and trusts make better, more informed technology decisions. That’s why we have developed Plan technology for your school, a service which supports schools in their technology use and meeting the digital and technology standards. This service also helps schools and colleges fulfil critical statutory safeguarding obligations around filtering and monitoring, as outlined in Keeping Children Safe in Education. To help schools with purchasing technology including devices, DfE offers the ‘get help buying for schools’ service which provides the opportunity for schools in England to get free help from procurement specialists. This free-of-charge service helps those in schools responsible for buying goods and services to achieve the best commercial outcome and value for money. The service provides specific advice and support on buying a range of goods and services for their school compliantly, utilising, for example, DfE- recommended frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems. Our laptop, desktop and tablet standard for schools and colleges sets out considerations for to support schools with the sustainable disposal of hardware. Conclusion Protecting children online is a cross-government priority, and we recognise the Education Committee’s concerns about the impacts of screen time. We are taking action now, based on robust evidence and good practice, to provide guidance and support to schools, children and parents. We are taking strong action on regulation to ensure the technology industry is clear on the government’s expectations of how they should and must support children’s safety and wellbeing. We also acknowledge that this is an evolving environment, with gaps to address in evidence and analysis, rapid changes in the technological context such as the growth in AI-driven services leading to new risks and opportunities, and the importance of recognising the individual needs of and relationships between children, parents and schools. Technology could do so much for so many children, breaking down barriers and lifting up life chances. We will continue to listen to parents, children and schools to help us improve our guidance and our understanding of emerging needs and gaps and making sure that tech we use in our schools is safe. 19