Just 1 in 10 teachers think the Online Safety Bill will protect children online

• Teachers are very concerned about their students staying safe online – with just 1% confident that their students are safe
• 4 in 10 (40%) teachers feel the Online Safety Bill could do more to protect students online, while 15% think it’s done nothing at all to help
• Worryingly, 1 in 3 (33%) say they don’t know enough about online safety to judge whether the Bill would be effective, rising to 38% in younger teachers

Nine out of ten teachers in the UK do not believe the Online Safety Bill will make children safer online according to data released today by Bett, the world’s largest EdTech event. The research, which polled 8,000 teachers in UK schools, found that every teacher feels students need to be safer online, and only 1% of teachers surveyed are completely confident students will be safe now that the Bill has been introduced.

Unsurprisingly, most teachers believe the Online Safety Bill doesn’t go far enough in protecting children, with four out of ten (40%) feeling the Bill should do more to protect children, and 15% agreeing the Bill has done “nothing” to protect children online.

The research also revealed that almost a third of teachers don’t feel they know enough about the Online Safety Bill to judge whether it will be effective or not, irrespective of the school’s state or private status, Ofsted rating, size, or location. 

Younger teachers (aged 20-30) seemed to have the least knowledge of the Online Safety Bill, with 38% saying they didn’t know enough about it, compared to 30% of over 40s, and just 26% of over 50s.

Louisa Hunter, Event Director for Bett UK at Hyve Group comments:

“With students and teachers relying increasingly on technology both in and out of the classroom, the issue of student safety is clearly keeping teachers and parents awake at night. Much more needs to be done to ensure the safety of our children online. We urge schools, governments and EdTechs to better support each other by prioritising a focus on how students and teachers can use technology better and, ultimately, how we can improve the lives of students and educators with technology.”

Online safety is an important theme at this year’s Bett show, where educators and government leaders will connect and collaborate with each other and education technology solution providers. In March, Bett debuts its new offering, Connect @ Bett which will allow educators to discover the right solutions for their institutions, in a fraction of the time.