Digital Wellbeing in RSHE: What UK Teachers Need to Know for 2026

On 15th July the DfE published revised guidance on 'Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education' which will come into force on 1st September 2026. Among the most significant updates is a robust focus on digital wellbeing, reflecting growing concerns around online harms, social media influence, and the mental health of children and young people in the digital age.

🔍 Why digital wellbeing matters

Children today are growing up with digital technology, but navigating the internet, social media, and online relationships safely still requires deliberate education. The new RSHE framework acknowledges that digital environments are now central to young people’s identity, wellbeing and risk exposure.

💻 Key areas of digital wellbeing in the 2026 RSHE curriculum

• Online relationships and consent
• Sexting, image-sharing and digital abuse
• Incel culture and online misogyny
• Pornography and deepfakes
• Cyberbullying, trolling and hate speech
• Screen time and mental health
• Digital footprint and reputation

🧠 Safeguarding & support for teachers

• Schools will be able to apply for training grants to help train their staff to deliver the new content and handle the sensitive topics with confidence and sensitivity.
• The curriculum is being developed with input from child mental health experts and safeguarding professionals to ensure safe and effective delivery.

🗓️ What schools should do now

✅ 1. Audit your current digital curriculum

• Ensure existing digital literacy or computing lessons align with RSHE objectives.
• Identify where safeguarding, mental health, and relationships teaching intersect.

✅ 2. Plan cross-curricular delivery

• Work with computing, RSHE, and pastoral leads to embed digital wellbeing across subjects.

✅ 3. Engage parents and Governors

• Share planned content early to build trust and transparency.
• Provide support for parents around managing their child’s digital life at home.

✅ 4. Prepare staff for challenging conversations

• Ensure your team is confident discussing online harms without fear or misinformation.
• Signpost staff to updated DfE training resources and external support, for example
• CEOP Safety Centre
• NSPCC
• Childnet

✅ 5. Share and use resources from Computing at School and Barefoot to help plan lessons

• We’re currently going through the resources on CAS and Barefoot and will be creating a collection of lesson plans and activities that can support primary and secondary teachers prepare for and deliver the new content.
• And, we know you’ll also be going through your own resources in preparation, and encourage you to upload and share these with the CAS community as well. Simply log in to your CAS account and click on the 'Add a resource' button in the resource library here.