As a highly scrutinised industry with many layers of protection in place to protect students, whistleblowing in the education sector is critical to maintaining high standards. And while education reports make up a fractionally larger proportion of all whistleblowing reports, they have dropped year-on-year and have fallen below the global benchmark of one report for every 370 employees.
Despite the fact that reports dropped below both the previous year and the global benchmark in 2024, they are still considerably higher than the three years prior (2020, 2021 and 2022), marking a significant uptick of whistleblowing in the education sector.
Looking at the figures in detail:
Whistleblowing reports in the education industry average one report per 400 employees in 2024 – down from one in every 110 in 2023
However, 2023 and 2024 are significantly up from 2020 (1/1000), 2021 (1/860) and 2022 (1/1000) – though these figures would have been significantly impacted by the pandemic
Nearly half (48%) of all education whistleblowing reports are HR-related
Over a quarter (26%) are reports of dishonest behaviour
17% of reports are from general complaints, which covers data protection, regulatory compliance, failure to act on a previous report, policy, and corporate governance
9% stem from health & safety concerns
Anonymous reporting is preferred, making up nearly two-thirds (65%) of all education cases, compared to 23% which are named, and 12% which are semi-anonymous
Web reports are predominant across all industries, followed by phone reports and then email reports
Joanna Lewis, Managing Director at Safecall, comments: “Given the nature of the industry and the involvement of children and young adults, whistleblowing plays a critical role in maintaining the safeguarding and protection of those currently in the education sector.
“As an industry always under scrutiny, reputational damage and legal repercussions are a couple of the serious consequences that come with failing to report suspicious behaviour, wrongdoing and unsafe practices across the sector. The onus falls on businesses to ensure that their staff are fully up to date with industry regulations and adequate training, and have sound knowledge of whistleblowing procedures within their organisations. Employees need to be able to feel comfortable making reports and clear reporting structures should be in place – especially in an industry that involves a high proportion of minors and vulnerable people.”
