Education: Social Media Bullying and Responsibility

Safeguarding and Social Media Bullying

Social Media Bullying and Safeguarding

I overheard a teacher describing a situation involving her pupils, social media, and bullying. Teachers play a big part in safeguarding children in their care. The parents of these children wanted the teacher to sort out the bullying. She said she talked to all the children concerned, but what else could she do? What should she do?

This has me thinking about who is responsible for protecting children from social media.

"If a child has a piece of equipment that is harming them, you would take it off them. Who allowed the child to have a phone?"

I am a parent who has children who have experienced bullying in person and online, and I wonder whether we are doing this in the right way. While our children are growing up and in our care, how do we keep them safe?

Who is responsible for Safeguarding against Social Media

In England, responsibility for a child's safeguarding and welfare is shared, but the legal responsibilities differ depending on the context.

1. Parents have the Primary Responsibility for Safeguarding.

Under the Children Act 1989, parents (or those with parental responsibility) have the primary legal responsibility to safeguard and promote their child's welfare.

Section 3(1) defines parental responsibility as:

Children Act 1989 and 2004 Guidance and Regulation—Department for Education.

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

The statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education states:

"all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property."

Parents retain primary responsibility for their child's upbringing and welfare.

This encompasses providing for the child's safety, health, education, and overall welfare.

2. The child's welfare is the paramount consideration

The Children Act 1989, Section 1(1) states:

"When a court determines any question with respect to—(a) the upbringing of a child; or(b) the administration of a child's property or the application of any income arising from it, the child's welfare shall be the court's paramount consideration."

This principle guides courts but does not transfer parental responsibility to the state or to schools.

3. Schools have statutory safeguarding duties

Once a child attends school, the school and its staff have independent legal duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils while they are in the school's care.

These duties arise from legislation including:

• Children Act 2004, particularly Section 175 (maintained schools and local authorities) and Section 157 (independent schools, academies, and free schools).

• Statutory guidance such as Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), which all schools in England must follow.

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Schools must:

• protect children from abuse and neglect;

• have safeguarding policies and procedures;

• appoint a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL);

• make referrals to children's social care or the police where appropriate;

• provide a safe learning environment.

These duties are owed by the school, regardless of parental responsibility.

4. Local authorities also have safeguarding responsibilities

Local authorities have statutory duties under the Children Act 1989, including:

• Section 17 – safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in need.

• Section 47 – investigating where there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.

Where necessary, they work with schools, police, health services, and other agencies.

"Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children is everyone's responsibility"

This means professionals who work with children must work together to protect them. However, this does not mean everyone has the same legal duties. Rather:

• Parents retain primary responsibility for their child's upbringing and welfare.

• Schools have legal duties to safeguard pupils while they are responsible for them.

• Local authorities, police, and health services have statutory safeguarding functions.

• Courts intervene when required, applying the child's welfare as the paramount consideration.

Summary

The legal responsibilities can be summarised as follows:

Responsibility	Primary legal responsibility
Child's upbringing and overall welfare	Parents (or those with parental responsibility)
Safeguarding children while at school	School and governing body/trust
Child protection investigations	Local authority and police
Welfare decisions in legal proceedings	Courts (applying the welfare principle)

Who is responsible for monitoring Social Media?

So, parents are primarily responsible for a child's welfare. Still, schools have an independent legal duty to safeguard children in their care, and local authorities have statutory duties to protect children where there are welfare or protection concerns. These responsibilities complement one another rather than replacing one another.