Schools show improved cyber security training rates

New data from Ofqual shows that schools and colleges across England are making progress in cyber security training, but are struggling to recover quickly from attacks when they occur.

The proportion of teachers who received cyber security training has risen by 11 percentage points from 61% during the academic year 2023 to 2024, to 72% in 2024 to 2025. Despite this, the time taken for schools to recover from cyber incidents has worsened - 55% of schools which experienced a cyber incident were able to recover immediately, compared to 63% the previous year.

Amanda Swann, Ofqual’s Executive Director of General Qualifications, said: "Cyber attacks can have a devastating impact on students’ academic work.

"Schools and colleges experiencing cyber security incidents reported losing entire classes’ coursework and facing weeks of disruption to teaching and learning."

The poll also found that 29% of schools experienced a cyber security incident in the past academic year, down slightly from 34% previously. Despite this modest reduction in prevalence among those surveyed, the severity of the impact was greater with 10% of schools reporting critical damage from attacks, up from 6% the year before.

As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, the regulator is urging schools to ensure they are protected from malicious software and backups are in place to restore students’ coursework and other vital systems in the event of an attack.