Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Accepted
Paragraph: 130
Concerns arise over edtech and AI implications for children's data and privacy in schools
Conclusion
The UK’s edtech sector is the largest in Europe, and more schools in England are using edtech and AI than ever before. Although edtech has some benefits, we are concerned about the implications of edtech and AI on children’s data and privacy. The Online Safety Act 2023 is exempted in school settings, AI is not regulated, and digital technology can harvest huge amounts of data from its users.
Government Response Summary
The government commits to ensuring safe use of tech and AI in schools, outlining actions such as publishing AI safety expectations, developing online resources and guidance by 2025-2026, funding Ofsted insights, and providing guidance for schools on data protection, IP, cybersecurity, and content moderation.
Paragraph Reference:
130
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government is making sure that tech we use in our schools is safe, as set out by the Education Secretary in her Bett Show 2025 speech, government is working to ensure that generative AI products are safe for use in schools and colleges, and that teachers and leaders are supported to confidently use the technology to break down barriers to opportunity. DfE has published a big-tech backed set of AI safety expectations, outlining capabilities and features GenAI systems and tools should aim towards to be considered safe for users in education. To support a clear ask from teachers and leaders, we are developing online resources and guidance materials to help teachers and leaders use AI safely in their setting. The contractor, Chiltern Learning Trust, is now in place and we expect to publish the resources in before the new academic year 2025 to 2026. DfE is also funding Ofsted to gather insights from early adopter schools and FE colleges on use of AI and the role that school and college leaders are playing. This will indicate how AI is being used to ensure that future inspections promote safe AI use in education. Ofsted does not directly inspect the quality of AI tools and has no plans to do so in the future. But inspectors will continue to consider how AI tools affect provision and outcomes for pupils—such as safeguarding and the quality of education—as part of the wider process of inspection. DfE has published advice for schools and colleges regarding mitigating the risks of using Generative AI. The guidance sets out that schools and colleges should: • protect personal and special category data in accordance with data protection legislation • not allow or cause intellectual property, including pupils’ work, to be used to train generative AI models, without appropriate consent or exemption to copyright • review and strengthen their cyber security by referring to the cyber standards – generative AI could increase the sophistication and credibility of attacks • ensure that children and young people are not accessing or creating harmful or inappropriate content online, including through generative AI – ‘Keeping children safe in education’ provides schools and colleges with information on ○ what they need to do to protect pupils and students online ○ how they can limit children’s exposure to risks from the school’s or college’s IT system ○ refer to the filtering and monitoring standard to make sure they have the appropriate systems in place