DfE proposes safety certificates for AI tools used by pupils
The Department for Education wants independent safety checks on AI tutors, chatbots and other higher-risk edtech used in English schools. Anyone can respond to the consultation until 4 February 2027.
The Department for Education proposed on 10 November 2026 that some AI and edtech products used in English schools should pass independent safety checks.
The consultation document names four kinds of product: web filtering, products that do high-risk processing of children's data, generative AI tools that pupils use and personalised learning tools. It says AI tutors, SEND platforms and school management systems are likely to count as high-risk data processing. Office software, PDF textbooks, hardware and AI tools used only by staff would be left out.
Safety is a non-negotiable part of that.
AI tools for pupils would be checked against eight of the department's existing generative AI safety standards. These include limiting the risk that pupils lose skills by relying on AI, avoiding emotional dependence and not using manipulative design. The checks would cover safety only, not whether a product helps pupils learn.
Accredited independent bodies would carry out the checks. The department proposes full checks every three years. Generative AI tools could need them yearly. It says setting up the scheme would take at least 18 months before any product could be certified.
Tes reported that the plans follow a minister's warning about a "Wild West" of edtech products. In the Commons on 10 November, education minister Josh MacAlister said AI tutors should not be widely used before their "full effects on cognitive development" are known.
For schools, nothing changes yet. The department says it has no power to make schools use certified products. It proposes an expectation in statutory guidance instead.
If the scheme goes ahead, the department would publish a register of certified products, for example on GOV.UK. AI tools that a teacher builds for use only in their own school would not need a certificate. Teachers, parents and pupils can respond until 4 February 2027.
The department has not said what certification would cost suppliers or named a body to run the scheme. It plans to publish its response in spring 2027.
Sources
- Department for Education (GOV.UK) Introducing an EdTech and AI product safety certification scheme
- Department for Education Introducing a certification scheme for assuring EdTech and AI product safety (consultation document)
- Tes DfE sets out edtech safety standards
- Hansard (House of Commons) Mobile Phones in Schools, statement, 10 November 2026