The Department for Education (DfE) requires schools to limit students’ exposure to harmful and inappropriate online material, which includes text, videos and imagery. When it comes to images in particular, achieving compliance can be difficult, as harmful images can easily go unnoticed in school cloud storage.
This article outlines the specific DfE guidelines concerning harmful imagery, and introduces a new safeguarding tool that supports schools in achieving compliance in this area.
What does the DfE say about harmful imagery?
Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE)
Harmful imagery is largely addressed by KCSIE in the context of online content that poses a risk to students. Paragraph 134 explains: “It is essential that children are safeguarded from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material.” To achieve this, schools are required to establish “mechanisms to identify, intervene in, and escalate any concerns where appropriate.”
KCSIE also uses images as an example of how technology can be “a significant component in many safeguarding and wellbeing issues.” It states that staff should be aware of the role technology can play in child-on-child abuse, which “can take the form of (...) the sharing of abusive images and pornography to those who do not want to receive such content.” (Paragraph 22)
UK Safer Internet Centre (UK SIC)
The UK Safer Internet Centre develops guidelines for digital safety in schools that heavily influence the standards set by the Department for Education. In fact, resources from the UK SIC are referenced in multiple DfE publications, including Keeping Children Safe in Education.
KCSIE currently lists the following categories as examples of illegal, harmful or inappropriate content: “pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-Semitism, radicalisation, and extremism” - all of which can take the form of text, video or imagery.
The latest monitoring guidelines from the UK SIC expand these categories to include: bullying, child sexual exploitation, discrimination, drugs, substance abuse, gambling, hate speech and violence. This list provides a useful indication of what may be included in future Department for Education guidelines.
How addressing harmful imagery strengthens compliance
Reduce exposure to harmful content
Schools must have filtering and monitoring systems in place to mitigate exposure to harmful content. However, even advanced forms of these solutions are not necessarily designed to address the issue of harmful imagery stored on a school’s drive. Taking steps to identify and remove unsafe images in cloud storage improves protection for students and thus strengthens compliance with KCSIE.
For example, if a DSL is able to quickly detect and remove a pornographic image that a student has uploaded to the drive, they immediately prevent the image from being shared. This limits potential cases of child-on-child abuse.
Identify safeguarding risks early
When schools are able to detect harmful images in cloud storage, these files may act as early indicators of risk. Paragraph 18 of KCSIE states that “all school and college staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for early help for a child who (...) is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups or county lines (...) [or] is at risk of being radicalised or exploited.”
If, for example, an image of a weapon is discovered on the school drive, it could indicate that the student who uploaded it is at potential risk of gang involvement. Addressing the issue of harmful images on drives enables schools to catch such warning signs early and intervene before incidents can escalate.
Detect and remove unsafe images with Cloud Scan
Smoothwall Cloud Scan uses AI detection technology to quickly identify and categorise harmful images in a school’s cloud storage. When a harmful image is flagged, an alert is created and sent to the assigned member of staff (usually the DSL). The staff member can then make an informed decision on whether to remove the image or mark it as safe.
Cloud Scan securely stores all evidence of image event timelines. This data can be presented to the SLT, governing bodies, and Ofsted, to showcase clear timelines and actions taken to spot and eliminate concerning imagery.
Cloud Scan helps schools, colleges and MATs strengthen compliance by:
- Protecting students and networks from exposure to harmful content
- Identifying risk categories listed by KCSIE and the UK SIC, e.g., pornography
- Providing clear evidence of actions that demonstrate active risk management and fulfilment of child safeguarding policies
Strengthen compliance in your setting with Cloud Scan
Learn more about how addressing harmful imagery supports compliance - schedule your free demo of Cloud Scan by contacting enquiries@smoothwall.com.
