Fortnightly briefing Policy · safety · AI · education
Keep sight of
the whole system.
Enforcement is gaining pace. Parents, pupils and educators are negotiating a changing digital culture. AI governance, products and school practice are developing in parallel. This issue brings together 22 selected reads to support proportionate, joined-up leadership decisions.
Editor’s note01The signal
Move beyond the
single-issue response.
Technology is threaded through our lives both professionally and socially. Whilst there may be well documented issues that regulation is attempting to rectify, it is hard to deny it has the potential to enhance professional reach and efficacy.
This edition is designed to help leaders look across that system. It pairs regulation with the lived experiences of children and families, and pairs new tools with the professional judgement needed to use them well.
Use the sources as prompts for the conversations that matter: what is changing, where is the evidence, who needs to be involved and what should remain non-negotiable for pupils.
Enforcement and family policy shape the setting around schools.
Young people’s lives, reading and wellbeing require a fuller view.
Deepfake abuse needs a clear, human safeguarding response.
Capability and policy change demand deliberate local boundaries.
Evaluate the conditions that make technology educationally worthwhile.
Peer and European work broadens the school improvement conversation.
Rules shape the conditions
around school life.
The policy signal is not confined to platforms. Enforcement priorities and family-facing pilots both affect the conversations schools need to lead with pupils, parents and governors.
Online
Safety
Enforcement
Ofcom Online Safety Enforcement Priorities: Key Compliance Milestones for 2026-2027
A legal-sector briefing on Ofcom’s enforcement timetable. Use it to test whether the school’s escalation routes, platform expectations and communications remain current.
Open the selected source ↗Children and parents to pilot social media bans, time limits and curfews at home, as government tests next steps to give UK kids their childhood back
A government update on testing family controls such as bans, time limits and curfews. It is a useful prompt for parent engagement and for separating school responsibilities from home controls.
Open the selected source ↗Listen for opportunity,
not just risk.
Evidence about online choices, reading, wellbeing and regulation helps schools test broad claims against young people’s real digital lives.
click
too
many?
One click too many? 75% of parents fear their kids aren't making safe choices online
The ICO’s parent-focused findings provide a starting point for conversations about confidence, privacy and the practical support families want from schools.
Open the selected source ↗mandating
and
enforcing
Why mandating and enforcing EU regulation is preferable to a social media ban
An LSE perspective on the regulatory case for Europe-wide enforcement rather than a social-media ban. Useful for governors weighing competing policy arguments.
Open the selected source ↗in
children
and
Trends in children and young people's reading in print and digital formats
National Literacy Trust trends in print and digital reading offer a grounded way to discuss how technology affects reading habits, access and curriculum choices.
Open the selected source ↗Schools
Brussels:
What
SMART Schools Brussels: What works in supporting adolescent digital wellbeing?
A Brussels adolescent-digital-wellbeing project offers a European comparator for approaches that join pupil voice, health and school practice.
Open the selected source ↗When harm is synthetic,
response must be human.
AI-enabled abuse is a safeguarding issue, not a technical footnote. It needs clear reporting routes, careful communication and proportionate support.
guidance
for
education
Image guidance for education settings
Practical guidance for education settings on managing, sharing and protecting pupil images online, including a checklist and response guidance where images are misused, altered or abused.
Open the selected source ↗Capability is moving fast.
Judgement must keep pace.
Policy arguments, global governance and major-model developments create useful prompts for school leaders: what is changing, who is accountable and what needs to be explicit locally?
The US is advancing AI safety through state and federal action
OpenAI’s policy position on state and federal action is a primary-source view of how one major provider frames AI safety and governance.
Open the selected source ↗Global
Dialogue
opens
UN Global Dialogue opens with urgent call for safe and inclusive AI that benefits all
UNESCO’s global dialogue places safe and inclusive AI in an international governance context—useful background for values-led school strategy.
Open the selected source ↗the
deadlock
on
Breaking the deadlock on AI governance
Chatham House considers the governance choices needed to move beyond stalemate. A valuable lens for leaders who need to distinguish policy principle from operational assurance.
Open the selected source ↗Gemini
Adds
Tool
Google Gemini Adds Tool to Make It Easier to Switch From ChatGPT
A report on Gemini making movement from ChatGPT easier. Product portability is a reminder to keep staff guidance and data choices adaptable rather than provider-dependent.
Open the selected source ↗V4
is
here:
DeepSeek V4 is here: How it compares to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
A comparison-led report on a new model release. It provides a horizon-scanning prompt, not a procurement recommendation.
Open the selected source ↗Make impact the test
of adoption.
Implementation sources and product reporting can inform decisions, but they are not a substitute for local due diligence on learning, workload, data, inclusion and safeguarding.
AI as ethical and pedagogical mediator in initial teacher education: a case study
A case study of AI as an ethical and pedagogical mediator in teacher education. It supports the view that professional judgement should sit at the centre of implementation.
Open the selected source ↗contender
just
joined
Another contender just joined the arms race over AI in schools
Reporting on competition among AI offerings for schools. Use it to sharpen product questions about evidence, data, access, age assumptions and educator control.
Open the selected source ↗the
impact
of
Measuring the impact of AI on teaching and learning
Google’s discussion of measuring AI’s impact on teaching and learning reinforces a central principle: evaluate outcomes and implementation conditions, not feature lists.
Open the selected source ↗Studied
How
AI
We Studied How AI Shapes Teachers’ Well-Being. Here’s What We Found (Opinion)
An Education Week opinion piece on teacher wellbeing and AI. It is a useful prompt to include workload, confidence and professional agency in evaluation.
Open the selected source ↗Keep the horizon
wide enough.
Peer-sector updates and European initiatives give leaders useful comparators for community engagement, professional learning and durable digital education strategy.
EU and OECD launch AI literacy framework for schools
A report on the EU–OECD AI literacy framework for schools. It offers an international comparator for curriculum, staff development and learner entitlement.
Open the selected source ↗free
digital
campus
The free digital campus training people in cutting-edge technologies
Euronews reports on a free digital campus for cutting-edge technologies. It is a useful example of how skills initiatives can widen access to technical learning.
Open the selected source ↗to
books
-
Back to books - Sweden's schools cutting back on digital learning
BBC reporting on Sweden’s shift back towards books offers a counterweight to technology-first thinking and a prompt to debate evidence, balance and purpose.
Open the selected source ↗Your
Support
for
Register Your Support for Safer Internet Day 2026
An SWGfL call to support Safer Internet Day 2026. It can help schools plan a visible, purposeful moment for pupil voice and community engagement.
Open the selected source ↗Safer
Internet
Day
New Safer Internet Day Research Has Launched
SWGfL’s research launch is a useful sector signal for leaders wanting to connect local practice with the wider online-safety evidence base.
Open the selected source ↗to
our
Online
Congratulations to our Online Safety Mark Schools
An SWGfL celebration of Online Safety Mark schools. Use it as a positive benchmark for sustained, whole-school safeguarding development.
Open the selected source ↗Five practical moves
Turn the signal
into action.
Use this issue to create a sharper whole-school conversation, not another disconnected reading list.
- 01
Bring the right people together
Connect safeguarding, curriculum, IT, data protection, wellbeing and governance around the same questions.
- 02
Audit the school’s image and reporting routes
Make sure pupils, staff and families know what happens if AI-enabled image abuse is suspected.
- 03
Test assumptions with pupil and parent voice
Use evidence and listening to distinguish policy headlines from local experience.
- 04
Set an evidence threshold for AI
Require a clear purpose, implementation support, safeguards and measures of impact before scale.
- 05
Keep international perspective
Use peer and European initiatives as comparators, while retaining accountability for local choices.
Need a clearer next move?
Make the next decision
with confidence.
Orca Advisory helps schools and children’s professionals connect safeguarding, digital culture, AI strategy and whole-school improvement.