Student voice in safeguarding: how to listen and act

Most safeguarding systems start when someone reports a concern. Children do not always report, even in schools with clear procedures.

Ofsted, the school inspectorate for England, reviewed sexual abuse in schools in 2021. It found that some children saw incidents as so common that reporting seemed pointless. Clear procedures and visible staff were not enough on their own.

Most children said they would feel most comfortable talking to friends. If they named an adult, it was more often a parent or relative than someone at school. When they did name someone at school, it tended to be a senior member of staff.

Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) 2026 is the UK statutory guidance for schools in England, and many international schools use it as a benchmark. It asks leaders to take a child's wishes and feelings into account when deciding what to do. It also expects children to know how to report and to feel safe giving feedback.

You cannot rely on reports alone to learn what students experience, so you need to ask them directly.

In 2021 the International Taskforce on Child Protection (ITFCP) published a student voice report. It surveyed leaders from 94 international schools in 48 countries. Student councils and student surveys were the most common ways those schools listened.

About 80% of the schools involved students little or not at all when they wrote the child safeguarding policy. About one in three had no student-friendly version of it.

The taskforce also ran small sessions with 23 students from three schools. Several said the school tells them how to stay safe and rarely asks them. Almost all doubted that the school would listen and make changes if they said it was not doing enough.

Some students said they gave feedback and saw nothing change. It was a small group, so use it as a reason to ask your own students.

Keep it to ten questions or fewer, in plain words, in the languages your students use. Make it anonymous, because the ITFCP guidance says anonymous surveys often bring more honest answers.

Say at the start who will read the answers and what you will do with them. Do not ask about personal experiences of harm. Ask about places, people and trust.

An anonymous survey cannot be followed up with one student. Add a line that tells students how to reach a named adult, and name one trained adult who is free on the day.

These sample questions suit older students. Use simpler words, pictures or a read-aloud format for younger children.

• Is there an adult at school you would go to if something worried you?
• Are there places at school or online where you feel unsafe?
• Do you know how to report a worry, and would you use that way?
• If you told an adult about a problem, do you think something would change?
• Do your teachers ask how you are really doing?
• What one change would make students feel safer?

A small group lets you ask follow-up questions that a survey cannot. The ITFCP guidance suggests sessions of four to eight students. In the Ofsted review, one school had a pupil group that gathered views from other students and passed them to leaders.

Choose members with care. Some students in the ITFCP sessions said the students who do more get asked more. Include voices that are not usually heard, and leave out anyone who might find the topic hard.

Ask for consent from the student and, where your law and school policy require it, from parents or carers. Explain what the group is for, how you will use what is said, and where confidentiality ends. No student should feel pressured to join.

Talk about topics, not cases. Good topics are safe and unsafe spaces on campus and online, trust between students and staff, how safeguarding is taught, and what stops students telling an adult.

If a student starts to share a personal experience, stop them kindly and offer a private talk afterwards. Tell the DSL the same day.

Trusted adult mapping means asking students who they would tell, then comparing the answers with your safeguarding system. KCSIE 2026 says a child is likely to tell someone they trust, and that this could be anyone on the staff.

Your poster may list the DSL and the counsellor. Your students may name a coach, a bus supervisor or a boarding assistant.

In the ITFCP sessions, one student said they would not contact a person on a poster because they did not know them. Another said they would go to friends, because they had not had the chance to get to know their teachers. Students need to meet the adults you name.

Use these steps each term.

• Ask each year group which adult they would tell, by name or by role.
• List the adults named most often and never named, then compare with your DSL team and posters.
• Brief every adult students name, including non-teaching staff, on what to do when told.
• Put the DSL team in front of students in classes and assemblies, as well as on posters.
• Teach students how to bring a trusted adult in when a friend tells them something.
• Add a national child helpline: Child Helpline International lists them by country, though not every country has one.
• For primary students, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) runs Speak out Stay safe in UK schools, one model for teaching who trusted adults are.

Plan for this before you start. A student may write something worrying in a survey, say it in a group, or stay behind to tell you.

Listen, stay calm, and do not promise to keep it secret. Follow your school's child protection procedure and tell the DSL the same day. The guide on how to respond when a child discloses abuse covers the steps.

If a child is in immediate danger, call your local emergency services first, then tell the DSL. Your country may have legal reporting duties, so ask the DSL or local counsel what applies.

If an anonymous answer worries you, tell the DSL anyway. The team can look at the pattern, check the place or group it points to, and remind students how to reach a named adult.

Asking sets an expectation that something will happen. Some students in the ITFCP sessions believed the school only asked for feedback so it could publish numbers.

Within a month, share a one-page summary with students: what you asked, what they said, and what you will change. Use plain words and put it where students will see it.

Pick changes you can finish. Examples are more supervision in a corridor, a clearer reporting route, or a short lesson on a topic students asked for. When you cannot change something, say so and explain why.

Compare the student answers with your staff safeguarding survey. If staff say reporting is easy and students disagree, you have found the next thing to fix.

A routine you can repeat each term is enough to start. The list below is one six-week plan. Adjust it to your calendar, because students notice when it stops.

Keep one page per term: what you asked, what students said, what you changed and what you could not change. Add it to your termly safeguarding report to governors.

Visitors from accreditation or inspection bodies may ask how you listen to students. Check which evidence your accreditor or inspector expects.

• Week 1: tell students, staff and parents what you will ask and why.
• Week 2: run the short survey and name the adult who is free that day.
• Week 3: hold one or two small group sessions to explore the answers.
• Week 4: check which adults students named and brief them.
• Week 5: share a one-page summary with students and staff.
• Week 6: report to governors and pick one change to finish before next term.