Summer/Autumn 2026 - Journal - Page 39
EDUCATION & LEARNING
Digital reputation is becoming
part of education: why the sector
must prepare students for a
future of online due diligence
Susie Thomson, Chair Elect of
the Professional Background
Screening Association (PBSA)
and former founder of Security
Watchdog.
Education has always evolved
to prepare young people for the
world they will enter. Today,
that world is increasingly digital,
and with it comes a new reality:
a student’s online footprint is
becoming an important part of
how they are assessed when
applying for higher education,
employment and roles of public
trust.
For today’s students, growing
up online has been the norm.
Every public post, comment,
shared video and online
interaction contributes to a
digital footprint that may remain
accessible for years. As employers
increasingly incorporate social
media screening into recruitment,
and organisations place greater
emphasis on safeguarding and
reputation, digital identity is
becoming an extension of a
person’s professional pro昀椀le. This
presents an important challenge
for education leaders. Alongside
academic achievement, schools,
colleges and universities now
have a growing role in helping
students understand how their
online behaviour may affect future
opportunities.
Preparing students for
modern working life
At this year’s Professional
Background Screening
Association (PBSA) Summit,
employers, educators and
screening professionals explored
how digital identity is becoming
an increasingly important
consideration in recruitment.
For more than a decade,
employers have been using
social media and open-source
intelligence (OSINT) as part
of pre-employment screening.
What once amounted to a simple
internet search has evolved into a
sophisticated process supported
by specialist technology,
compliance frameworks and
trained investigators.
According to insights shared
at the Summit by Martin Hardy
of SP Index, around 70% of
employers now use some form
of social media screening.
One in three have rejected a
candidate because of publicly
available online content, while
45% say a positive digital
presence has in昀氀uenced a hiring
decision. These 昀椀gures should
not alarm educators, but they
should encourage discussion.
They demonstrate that digital
reputation is no longer separate
from career readiness.
Behaviour, not personality
One of the biggest
misconceptions surrounding
social media screening is that
employers are searching for
perfect candidates with 昀氀awless
online pro昀椀les.
In reality, responsible screening
focuses on behaviour rather than
personality.
Recruiters are generally
looking for publicly available
content that may indicate
poor judgement, safeguarding
concerns or behaviour that could
present a genuine workplace
risk. Discriminatory language,
threats, harassment or evidence
of illegal activity are likely to
raise concerns. By contrast,
evidence of volunteering,
professional interests, creative
work, thoughtful discussion or
community involvement can
strengthen an individual’s pro昀椀le.
This distinction is important
for education leaders. The
objective should never be to
discourage young people from
participating online, but to help
them understand that public
digital activity carries long-term
consequences.
AI is changing the landscape
Arti昀椀cial intelligence is rapidly
transforming how online due
diligence is carried out. Modern
screening tools can analyse large
volumes of publicly available
information far more ef昀椀ciently
than manual searches, identify
connected accounts and highlight
patterns that may previously have
gone unnoticed. As technology
develops, publicly available
activity across a wider range of
online platforms may become
relevant where it is appropriate
and proportionate to do so. At the
same time, these technological
advances bring signi昀椀cant ethical
responsibilities.
Under UK GDPR and data
protection legislation, employers
cannot carry out indiscriminate
online searches without a
legitimate purpose. Responsible
screening providers operate
within strict legal and ethical
frameworks, reviewing only
publicly available information
that is relevant to a particular
role or safeguarding requirement.
Professional screening is not
intended to assess lawful
personal beliefs, political opinions
or lifestyle choices. Instead, it
aims to identify genuine, rolerelevant risks while helping
employers make fair, evidencebased decisions.
important role to play in helping
students understand how digital
identity is becoming part of
employability. Through Prospects,
the UK’s leading graduate careers
platform, Jisc is exploring ways
of supporting students to better
understand digital reputation
before entering the workforce.
The emphasis is not on creating
anxiety or encouraging selfcensorship. Rather, it is about
equipping young people with the
knowledge to manage their online
presence responsibly and to
understand how publicly available
information may be interpreted by
future employers.
For schools, colleges and
universities, this represents a
natural extension of existing work
around digital citizenship, online
safety and careers education.
Teaching students how to
think critically about what they
share online is becoming just as
important as helping them write a
CV or prepare for an interview.
As recruitment practices
continue to evolve, education
must evolve alongside them.
Digital literacy is no longer
simply about using technology
effectively. Increasingly, it is about
understanding that an individual’s
online reputation forms part of
their professional identity.
By helping students develop
responsible digital habits from
an early stage, education
leaders can ensure that young
people enter higher education
and the workplace not only
with the quali昀椀cations they
need, but also with the digital
awareness required to thrive in an
increasingly transparent world.
A new responsibility for
education
As Michael Hilton of Jisc
explained during the PBSA
Summit, education has an
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL SUMMER/AUTUMN 2026
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