Responding to misleading accusations about our governor safeguarding training
Following coverage in The Telegraph, 5 November 2025, we want to offer clarity and reassurance about GovernorHub safeguarding modules for school governors and trustees.
The Telegraph’s allegation that a GovernorHub training module “encouraged” school governors to “dismiss” the issue of grooming gangs is not true and a gross misrepresentation of the facts.
We have written to The Telegraph about this, without reply.
We take our safeguarding responsibilities seriously
Safeguarding in schools is a serious and sensitive responsibility and any guidance on it must be:
- Unambiguous
- Rooted in statutory guidance
- Informed by experienced safeguarding professionals
- Focused on protecting children
What happened
The Telegraph article alleges that an individual question in one of our courses encouraged governors to “dismiss” concerns about real-world harms.
This question, in a refresher training course, was focused on what happens when known false information is circulated on social media. It read as follows:
“At a board meeting, your staff governor reports overhearing pupils in her class talking about a video they were sent, falsely claiming that men belonging to a particular religion are using tactics to commit violent crimes against women in your local area.
She says that pupils have sent the video to friends because they think it’s true and want to help girls in their class stay safe.”
Governors and trustees were then asked to identify whether pupils in this scenario were spreading misinformation, disinformation or conspiracy theories.
The question did not specify the religion mentioned in the video. However, The Telegraph article used the following language in connection with this question in our training: “grooming gangs”, “child sexual abuse”, “rape gang perpetrators of Pakistani origin”.
Our question did not use any of this language and was not testing how governors or trustees should address these risks.
Contrary to what is also being debated in some online commentary around The Telegraph’s article, the question was not about how school leaders investigate and address safeguarding issues (which is covered in our wider training offer).
The combination of school leaders knowing the information to be false, and pupils spreading it in good faith, was intended to signal to governors and trustees that this was misinformation.
We recognise that this question was not sufficiently clear. It should have made clear that senior leaders at the school knew the video was false because of their work with multi-agency safeguarding partners (including the police).
We also recognise that the question wasn’t well focused on what governors and trustees need to do if they encounter misinformation, disinformation or conspiracy theories in their roles.
What we have done
We stand behind the quality of the content we produce for governors and trustees, whether that’s in safeguarding or other topics. If that should ever fall short of the high editorial standards we set ourselves, we commit to putting that right in a quick turnaround.
To that end, we have now updated the question, with a clearer scenario and greater focus on the steps that governors and trustees need to take. We are also notifying members who have started or completed the course about the change.
If you have questions or feedback
We always welcome feedback from schools, trusts and their governing boards about the governance training, resources, and tools we provide. If you’d like to share feedback, about this issue or any other, please contact our team at support@governorhub.com.
