AI – Keeping Learners Safe
Keeping learners safe is at the heart of all education and training in Wales. As providers make increasing use of digital tools, including artificial intelligence, it remains essential that safeguarding arrangements continue to be robust, well understood, and consistently applied.
Digital and technological safety extends beyond the use of AI. Learners interact with a broad range of online platforms, devices and tools, including social media, gaming environments, cloud-based learning systems, biometric technologies and personal devices. AI-related risks should therefore be understood as part of this wider landscape. Providers should ensure that all technology used within learning environments is assessed for potential safeguarding implications, including privacy, data usage, content moderation and exposure to harmful interactions.
Providers should ensure that the systems and tools they use support a safe learning environment. This includes having clear policies on data protection, online behaviour and the use of emerging technologies, so that learners know how to engage with digital resources confidently and responsibly. AI tools should fit within existing safeguarding frameworks, rather than sit apart from them, and should only be used where they are transparent, age-appropriate and aligned with learners’ rights.
Many of the risks associated with AI are equally relevant to other technologies and include:
- misinformation
- inappropriate content
- data misuse
- online grooming
- digital well-being, and harmful peer interactions
Providers should adopt a holistic approach that considers how different tools and platforms may compound or overlap in shaping learners’ experiences online.
Learners benefit most when they are equipped to navigate the digital world thoughtfully and safely. Strong digital competence provision for all learners helps them evaluate information, recognise risks, and understand how the technology they use may shape their experiences. This broader approach supports their well-being and develops the critical skills needed to stay safe online.
Developing learners’ broader digital citizenship helps them navigate emerging and existing technologies safely. This includes understanding how algorithms on social media shape content, how data is collected across apps and devices, how to recognise manipulation and how to manage time and well-being online. Embedding these skills ensures that safety is not limited to any single technology but prepares learners for a rapidly evolving digital world.
Practitioners, too, play an essential role. They need access to up-to-date guidance and professional learning so they can identify safeguarding concerns linked to digital activity and respond appropriately. Working closely with parents, carers and relevant agencies strengthens this shared responsibility and ensures that any concerns are addressed promptly and effectively. Learners’ digital lives extend well beyond educational settings, as a result, strong partnerships between providers, parents, carers and external agencies are essential. These relationships support consistent messages about safe and responsible use of all technologies, not only AI-based ones, and help ensure concerns are identified and addressed promptly regardless of the platform or device involved.
As digital technologies continue to evolve, providers should adopt a forward-looking approach. Regular risk assessments, clear communication with parents and carers and ongoing professional learning help ensure that safeguarding remains robust as new technologies emerge.
Providers should also regularly evaluate the effectiveness of their arrangements to keep learners safe as they develop a wide range of digital skills. This includes reviewing how well safeguarding policies are implemented in day-to-day practice, monitoring learners’ experiences across different digital platforms and ensuring that any risks identified through digital activity are responded to promptly.
Estyn will continue to evaluate the progress pupils make in their digital skills and also how they develop their knowledge and understanding of keeping safe online. We will also continue to consider how providers ensure learner safety as part of their wider digital strategies.
Through our work, we are committed to supporting leaders and practitioners to create safe, respectful and inclusive learning environments where all learners can thrive.