Whistleblowing in Schools Explained

What is whistleblowing in schools?

Whistleblowing is the act of disclosing illegal activity and impropriety within organisations and public bodies. Complaints that count of whistleblowing should be in the public interest.

Whistleblowing is also known as ‘making a disclosure’. People who work in schools can make a disclosure when they have concerns that an unethical or illegal activity has happened, is currently happening or is at risk of happening.

The law offers protection to people who blow the whistle in the public interest.

According to the law, you can make a whistleblowing disclosure to the following people:

• Your employer
• A legal adviser
• Government ministers (this applies if you work for a statutory body)
• A proscribed person or body
• The police or media (with reason or when the disclosure is extremely serious)

If you work in a school and you decide to make a disclosure, you should do so in line with your school’s whistleblowing policy. The policy should outline the procedures to follow and steps to take, including which member of staff to approach. We will outline whistleblowing policies in more detail later in the article.

Options of who to report to may include:

• An appointed member of staff within the school
• Your local authority
• Your academy trust

If you do not want to approach anyone in the school, academy trust or local authority, depending on the nature of the concern, you may make your disclosure to a relevant organisation, such as:

• Ofsted if your concern relates to regulation or inspection
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if you are worried about a health and safety breach
• Ofqual if you are concerned about maladministration of exams or qualifications

You can also raise your concern externally if you have tried to raise it internally and been ignored or not taken seriously. 

Disclosures do not have to be made in writing, although a written disclosure helps to keep everything clear and easy to follow. When you make your disclosure, you may want to include:

• Exactly what your concern is
• Any relevant information (including names, dates or times of incidents)
• Whether you have already attempted to raise this with someone else (and what their response was)
• Any relevant documentation (be aware when sharing documents of GDPR or any clauses about information sharing in your employment contract)

How are whistleblowers protected in schools?

Employees and workers (including agency workers and trainees) are protected by law if they make a qualifying disclosure. In educational settings this includes teachers, supply teachers and other school staff. You are protected from the start of your contract; if you are no longer employed by the school you want to blow the whistle on, you still have legal protection.

Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, whistleblowers, including those who work in educational settings, are protected from being dismissed or treated unfairly because they have made a disclosure.

If you are a whistleblower, the Act protects you from the following:

• Being dismissed from your job due to whistleblowing (this counts as automatic unfair dismissal)
• You cannot face ‘detriment’ due to whistleblowing, for example having your hours cut or being bullied or harassed

If you are treated unfairly due to whistleblowing you should seek legal advice as soon as possible as you may be able to take your case to an employment tribunal. If you decide to take your employer to a tribunal, you must do so within 3 months of your contract being terminated or your work-related issue occurring. ACAS can help you through the process.

Can you face disciplinary for whistleblowing in school?

You should not experience any detriment for whistleblowing in the school you work in. This includes threats, disciplinary action, dismissal, financial sanctions and damage to your career prospects or reputation.

Unfortunately, research from Protect, the UK’s whistleblowing charity, paints a picture of some worrying trends of schools failing and ignoring staff who blew the whistle. Their findings are based on the examination of 457 cases that their advice line dealt with over a two-year period, beginning in 2020:

• 72% reported that whistleblowing led to them experiencing detriment or harm
• 40% of those who raised concerns reported being ignored
• 36% said that whistleblowing led to them leaving their job
• Over three-quarters had attempted to raise their concerns internally first

Speaking out about unfair treatment after whistleblowing may be as important as making the disclosure itself, as it:

• Exposes gaps within the system
• May encourage others to speak out
• Can force institutions to make necessary changes  

Examples of Whistleblowing in Schools

Whistleblowing in schools relates to serious allegations in areas such as standards, conduct, unlawful behaviour or financial irregularity. 

According to gov.uk complaints that count as whistleblowing include:

• A criminal offence such as fraud
• A serious health and safety breach
• The environment is being damaged (or is at risk of being damaged)
• A miscarriage of justice
• A company is breaking the law in some way, for example it does not have the correct insurance
• You believe that someone is covering up serious wrongdoing

To count as whistleblowing, the wrongdoing should be in the public interest. Personal grievances, such as bullying and harassment in the workplace do not usually count as whistleblowing, however being bullied or harassed due to making a disclosure counts as ‘detriment’ and is unlawful.

Examples of situations that school staff may blow the whistle on include:

• They have uncovered a sex scandal within the school that is being covered up
• They have evidence that the school is misappropriating funds
• There is a serious concern relating to safeguarding, such as violence in the classroom that is not being addressed
• The school they work in is unsafe, for example due to serious disrepair or use of unsafe building materials
• There is a serious risk of fire, for example the there is no fire suppression system or fire alarm
• They have evidence of corruption or bribery happening within the school
• There are significant issues around data protection, confidentiality or the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information (relating to pupils, parents or school staff)
• The school is failing to comply with their requirements for assessment and delivery of qualifications, for example allowing students to cheat, tampering with examinations or illegally fixing or changing marks
• Pupils are being allowed to use dangerous or unsafe equipment

Why is Whistleblowing Important?

Whistleblowing can help to promote a culture of accountability, protect public safety, identify risks and damaging trends and prompt essential changes.

Whistleblowing is especially important in schools because pupils are often young and vulnerable and need to be taught in a fair, ethical and safe environment. Additionally, there is a significant problem with teacher recruitment and retention in the UK at the moment; whistleblowing may help to shine a light on some of the challenges and failures the education sector is experiencing, leading to better standards and improved welfare.

Making a disclosure in the public interest allows us to:

• Detect misconduct and fraud earlier
• Rectify issues and put additional safeguards in place
• Prevent further harm to pupils and school staff
• Signify to others that illegal and unethical behaviour will not be tolerated

If a school is exposed as having failed to highlight and investigate wrongdoing, they can suffer significant reputational damage and public scandal. Such issues may result in prosecution and schools can face significant financial penalties as a consequence of ignoring whistleblowing.  

Some of the benefits of whistleblowing and investigating allegations include:

• It provides a detailed insight into issues that are happening in schools from the people who are best place to understand them (frontline staff)
• Encourages a culture of accountability, transparency and trust
• Prevents issues from escalating and putting staff or pupils at further risk

To maintain high standards and encourage a culture of best practice and compliance, schools should:

• Have a thorough understanding of whistleblowing and why it is important
• Have a clear procedure and whistleblowing policy in place
• Take any concerns that are raised seriously and investigate them accordingly
• Appoint people to deal with whistleblowing concerns that are skilled and knowledgeable in the subject
• Conduct whistleblowing and compliance training for all staff
• Create a positive working environment where employees feel valued and safe
• Ensure that everyone knows how to report concerns and who is responsible for dealing with them
• Encourage a culture of accountability and good ethics

Based on almost 30 years of experience and providing advice, the charity Protect made some of the following recommendations to strengthen whistleblowing procedures in schools:

• Ofsted should be made ‘Proscribed Person’ for education under the law. This would give extra legal protection to people who blow the whistle and would require Ofsted to start publishing annual data on the number and types of concerns being raised and any regulatory action taken
• Schools should be required to acknowledge, investigate and give feedback to whistleblowers, with the process overseen at board or governor level
• Volunteers and school governors should be afforded protection from detriment under whistleblowing law
• Ofsted should add inspection of a school’s whistleblowing policy and procedure onto the list of points that they assess schools on

How a school should respond to whistleblowing

After an internal disclosure has been made in school, it should be handled fairly and compliantly. This includes:

• Handling any whistleblowing complaint in a fair and consistent way
• Following any internal processes or procedures that the school has for whistleblowing
• Keeping the identity of the whistleblower confidential

It is important to take disclosures seriously and not ignore them or try to cover them up because you are afraid of a scandal or because you are fond of the people involved in the wrongdoing. This is unethical and makes you complicit in the same bad behaviour.

Depending on the scope and nature of the complaint, you may need to notify other services or seek advice, for example legal advice.

If the complaint does not meet the standards for whistleblowing, it is still important to try to resolve it using the relevant channels, for example the workplace grievance procedure. The member of staff in the school who initially raised the complaint should be informed about the decision – this allows them to escalate the complaint to someone else if they still believe it is worthy of whistleblowing.

What the law says about whistleblowing

The law states that a whistleblower is a worker who discloses wrongdoing that is in the public interest. Workers cannot be sacked or treated unfairly because they chose to blow the whistle.

You can make an anonymous disclosure, for example by sending an anonymous letter or email, although it is possible that the claim may not be investigated or taken seriously, especially if you fail to provide sufficient information.

Whistleblowers can claim protection if they have:

• Made a relevant disclosure
• Reasonably believed that they were acting in the public interest
• Followed the correct procedure
• Were dismissed or experienced detriment as a result of whistleblowing

It is unlawful for any school, school authority or Trust to subject a school employee to poor treatment as a result of blowing the whistle. Although most school staff will be protected if they choose to blow the whistle, currently this does not include volunteers or people who are genuinely self-employed, although these people can still choose to make a disclosure.

Having a clear whistleblowing policy and procedure in place provides workers with knowledge on how and where to report concerns of illegality, bad practice or unethical behaviour. 

Whistleblowing procedure in schools

Schools that are maintained by the local authority (‘maintained schools’) are required to have a dedicated and clear whistleblowing procedure. Whistleblowing procedures are there to protect staff in schools when they report illegal or unsafe activities or wrongdoing.

Governing bodies of maintained schools must establish and approve the school’s whistleblowing procedure.

A school’s whistleblowing procedure should be based on their local authority’s procedure. The local authority will be able to provide a copy of their procedure for the school’s reference. It can then be tailored to the school’s needs and circumstances.

At least one member of staff and at least one school governor should be appointed as a point of contact when staff have concerns or want to make a disclosure.

Everyone who works within the school should be made aware of the school’s whistleblowing arrangements. They should also be told who to contact in the local authority in case they do not feel able to raise their concerns internally.

School staff (including temporary staff, supply staff and contractors) should be informed:

• What protection is available to them if they decide to report another member of staff
• Examples of the types of activities that are covered in the school’s whistleblowing procedure (these should align with the key areas listed in the Public Interest Disclosure Act)
• How the school will respond
• The different routes that they can use to make a disclosure, including who they can report to within the school and within the local authority

Depending on guidance from the relevant local authority, a school’s whistleblowing policy may cover the following areas:

• Introduction to whistleblowing – what it is and how it differs from a grievance
• How it can affect employees and managers
• Who the point of contact within school is for questions or concerns related to whistleblowing
• The procedure for an employee to raise a whistleblowing disclosure
• A statement that sets out the school’s attitude to whistleblowing (that they encourage public interest disclosures and respect the law)
• How the school protects whistleblowers and will not put employees at a detriment because they raised a concern
• The way in which the organisation responds to and investigates disclosures
• What whistleblowing support is available to staff
• How the organisation is open and trained to deal with whistleblowing

After you have blown the whistle, the person or organisation you made the disclosure to is responsible for deciding how to proceed. You may be asked for further information, proof or clarification relating to your allegations. Although you may be kept up to date with what is happening you will have no say over how the investigation goes or what conclusion is reached.

Depending on the nature of the wrongdoing, other public bodies or organisations may be notified and become involved, for example:

• The police
• HMRC
• The local authority
• Health and safety inspectors
• Ofqual

Creating a whistleblowing policy can help schools to better understand and recognise whistleblowing disclosures, handle them in a fairer and more consistent way and reassure staff that they will be protected and listened to.

School staff often feel daunted at the prospect of whistleblowing because they are afraid of facing consequences, do not fully understand the procedure or are reluctant to get their colleagues or managers into trouble. Good faith disclosures are in the public interest and should be encouraged in the pursuit of fairness, transparency and compliance.

In most circumstances, whistleblowers will be given protection under the law when they come forward, providing they have behaved in accordance with regulations.

Whistleblowing in the education sector can effect positive change and help to root out damaging and illicit activities, improving pupil and staff welfare and increasing levels of trust in our education system.