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AI and Online Safety for Designated Safeguarding Leads
AI has changed the safeguarding landscape faster than any technology before it: deepfake images made of pupils by pupils, AI companions children confide in, and generative tools that put convincing deception in every pocket. This course gives DSLs and deputies the working knowledge to recognise AI-related harms, respond correctly and update their safeguarding provision.
About this course
The safeguarding risks have changed. Your training should too.
Designated safeguarding leads are now dealing with situations their original training never covered: a pupil making fake explicit images of a classmate with a free app, a child in emotional crisis taking advice from an AI companion at two in the morning, sextortion attempts using cloned images and voices, and coursework disputes that turn out to conceal something more worrying. These are no longer edge cases. AI-generated child sexual abuse material is illegal to create, possess or share, including where it is made by children of children, and reports to the IWF and police involving AI imagery have risen sharply year on year.
This course is a focused, practical top-up for people who already hold a safeguarding role. It maps the AI tools children and young people actually use, then works through the harms in turn: nudification and deepfake imagery, AI-enabled sextortion, chatbots and AI companions, and AI-amplified misinformation and harmful content. For each, it covers recognition, the legal position, and the response: what to record, who to report to, when a device must be preserved and when a matter crosses the police threshold. It closes with the prevention side: updating your safeguarding policy, reflecting AI in your curriculum and staff training, and talking to parents.
The course is fully online and self paced, taking most learners two to three hours, with twelve months of access from enrolment. Pass the closing assessment and your CPD certified certificate is generated straight away, dated and named, ready to download and print.
What you’ll learn
What you’ll be able to do
By the end of this course you will be able to:
Describe the AI tools and platforms children and young people are actually using, and how they change existing risks.
Recognise AI-generated intimate image abuse, including nudification, and explain the legal position on AI CSAM.
Identify AI-enabled sextortion and blackmail patterns and respond in line with national guidance.
Assess the risks of AI chatbots and companions, from harmful advice to grooming-style dynamics.
Respond to AI-related disclosures and incidents: recording, evidence preservation and escalation.
Report correctly to police, CEOP and the IWF, and know when the threshold for each is met.
Update your safeguarding and online safety policies to cover AI explicitly.
Brief staff, educate pupils and engage parents on AI risks with confidence.
Course content
Six modules to work through
Each module builds on the last and ends with the material you need for the final assessment. Work at your own pace and return to any module during your twelve month access window.
1The AI Landscape Children Are Living InThe tools, apps and platforms in children’s hands, and how they change familiar risks.⌄
- Generative AI in children’s daily lives: chatbots, image tools and AI inside social platforms
- AI companions and character bots: what they are and why children use them
- How AI lowers the barrier to old harms: bullying, impersonation and deception
- What the research says about children’s AI use, and the gaps adults miss
- The DSL’s task: applying existing safeguarding duties to new technology
2Deepfakes and AI-Generated Abuse MaterialNudification, fake imagery and the law, including when children are the makers.⌄
- Nudification apps and deepfake imagery: how accessible they really are
- The legal position: AI-generated CSAM is illegal to make, possess or share
- When a child makes images of another child: safeguarding and criminal dimensions
- Impact on victims and why “it’s not really you” makes nothing better
- Immediate response: evidence, devices and who must not view what
3Sextortion and AI-Enabled ExploitationBlackmail at scale: recognising it early and responding in the golden hours.⌄
- How AI has industrialised sextortion, and who is being targeted
- Cloned voices, fake profiles and fabricated imagery in exploitation
- Warning signs in a child’s behaviour and digital life
- The response that saves lives: no blame, no payment, fast reporting
- Report Remove, CEOP and police: the routes and when to use each
4Chatbots, Companions and Harmful AdviceWhen the confidant in a child’s pocket is a machine with no safeguarding duty.⌄
- Emotional reliance on AI companions and parasocial attachment
- Harmful advice: self-harm, eating, relationships and what bots get wrong
- Grooming-style dynamics: bots and bad actors using AI conversationally
- Misinformation and AI-generated content that shapes beliefs and behaviour
- Talking to children about AI relationships without shutting the door
5The DSL Response: Record, Report, ReferFitting AI incidents into your safeguarding machinery without missing what is new.⌄
- Triage: harmful sexual behaviour, criminal content, exploitation or wellbeing concern
- Recording AI incidents accurately, including what was generated and where
- Evidence preservation: what to secure, what never to copy or forward
- Thresholds: police, children’s social care, CEOP and the IWF
- Supporting the child throughout, victim or instigator
6Policy, Prevention and EducationGetting ahead of the harm: policy, curriculum, staff and parents.⌄
- Updating your safeguarding and online safety policies to name AI risks
- Keeping Children Safe in Education and where AI now fits your duties
- Staff briefings: what every adult in the organisation must know
- Teaching pupils about deepfakes, sextortion and AI companions
- Engaging parents: the conversation guide for home
Who it’s for
Is this course a good fit?
This course is written as a top-up for people who already carry safeguarding responsibility and need their knowledge to catch up with the technology.
Designated safeguarding leads
DSLs in schools and colleges meeting their duty to keep training current.
Deputy DSLs
Deputies who take safeguarding decisions when the DSL is unavailable.
Headteachers & SLT
Leaders accountable for the safeguarding culture and policy AI now tests.
Early years & childcare managers
Nursery and childcare leads with safeguarding responsibility.
Youth, sports & faith organisations
Safeguarding officers in clubs and groups where children spend their time.
Residential & social care staff
Those safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in care settings.
Assessment
How it’s assessed
The course is assessed by a single online multiple choice test taken after the modules. It can be retaken as many times as you need at no extra cost.
End-of-course assessment
Study details
You can pause and resume at any point, and your progress is saved automatically. There is no time limit on the assessment itself.
Certification
Your CPD-certified certificate
AI and Online Safety for Designated Safeguarding Leads — CPD Certified
On passing the assessment, your CPD certified digital certificate is available to download and print immediately, with your name, the course title and the completion date. For a school or organisation it is dated evidence that safeguarding training reflects current online harms, the kind of currency Ofsted and safeguarding partners look for in a DSL’s professional development record. We recommend refreshing annually alongside your regular safeguarding updates, as this area is moving quickly.
FAQs
Questions people often ask
Does this replace DSL training?⌄
Is this only for schools?⌄
Does the course show harmful or explicit material?⌄
How long do I get to complete it?⌄
What happens if I fail the assessment?⌄
What other training pairs well with this?⌄
Ready to enrol?
Start your CPD-certified AI and Online Safety training for safeguarding leads today. Fully online, self-paced, with your certificate issued instantly on completion.
