Safeguarding in schools in 2026: is ‘good enough’ still good enough?

There is a question that sits at the heart of child protection in 2026. It is uncomfortable for some, and it does not appear on any checklist or inspection framework. But every honest school leader knows what it is. 

It's not: do we have a safeguarding policy? Almost every school does. And it's not: have our staff completed the training? Most schools will tick that box, too. 

The real question is harder: if a student disclosed something to the least experienced adult in your building today, would the right thing happen? Every time, without fail, regardless of who happened to be on duty? 

That is the test of safeguarding culture – and the context in which schools are being asked to pass that test has never been more demanding. 

The external pressures 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that an estimated up to 1 billion children around the world have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect in the past year. In 2025, there were almost 633,000 referrals to children's social care in England: the latest data point in a long pattern of high and sustained demand. 

Schools accounted for around one in five of those referrals – they are not on the periphery of the child protection system, but rather they are at its operational core. 

At the same time, one in seven 10-19-year-olds around the world reportedly experiences a mental health disorder – yet the WHO states the majority of these remain untreated. 

Schools are bridging a gap between identified need and available support – and this gap is not narrowing. 

Online harms continue to evolve faster than most school systems can track them. The Internet Watch Foundation has documented an extraordinary acceleration in AI-generated child sexual abuse material that would have seemed unthinkable even two years ago. 

Moving from compliance to culture

Over the past few years, something meaningful has changed in how UK and international schools talk about safeguarding. 

The conversation has shifted from asking ‘are we compliant?’ to ‘have we built the culture?’. We’ve moved from annual training completion to genuine whole-school responsibility – from simply filing policies to examining whether every adult, in every interaction, is dependably doing the right thing. 

That shift is real, important, and for many schools, still incomplete. The aspiration of a culture-led safeguarding approach is now widely shared, but the infrastructure to deliver it reliably is still catching up. 

That gap – between what school leaders believe about their safeguarding culture, and what is actually happening when the pressure is real and the person in the room is not a safeguarding lead – is the territory that our new report will map. 

What we set out to understand 

Earlier this year, we conducted the most comprehensive safeguarding survey we have ever undertaken, gathering more than 4,500 responses from school professionals across the UK and international schools in more than 50 countries. 

We asked about: 

• Culture and confidence 

• Capacity and consistency 

• The real cost of the safeguarding lead role 

• Online harms and AI 

• What the sector wants from safeguarding reforms 

We have not published our findings yet. They will form the Tes Safeguarding Report 2026, which launches on 18 May during Safeguarding Awareness Week. 

But for now, we can say this: the picture is more nuanced, more honest and in some places more uncomfortable than the language schools typically use about themselves. It will give leaders a clearer diagnostic than most currently have. And it will evidence where the most important work of 2026 now sits.

“Safeguarding culture is not what you have built on the best day. It is what holds on the worst day, with the least experienced person, in the most ambiguous situation.” 

Tes Safeguarding Report 2026 (publishes 18 May) 

What to expect from our 2026 Safeguarding Report  

The Tes Safeguarding Report 2026 publishes in two editions: UK and International. 

Both combine survey evidence with the most current research from: 

• The Department for Education 

• NHS England 

• Ofsted 

• Ofcom 

• The Internet Watch Foundation 

• The NSPCC 

Plus, leading international frameworks, including: 

• Council of British International Schools (COBIS) 

• Council of International Schools (CIS) 

• International Taskforce on Child Protection (ITFCP) 

• Educational Collaborative for International Schools (ECIS)

The report includes a Safeguarding Confidence Index, a Proactive Safeguarding Culture Framework and a UK Safeguarding Best Practice Charter. Pre-register now to receive it on launch day. 

Pre-register now

The Tes Safeguarding Report 2026 publishes 18 May during Safeguarding Awareness Week.