S1-S6 Class teachers and parents: responding to AI-generated harassment — a four-step procedure, three situations and a first-24-hours timeline

• StageS1-S6
• SubjectClass teachers and parents
• Learning strandreflection on the application of AI
• Official documentsBlueprint for Digital Education Development in Primary and Secondary Schools · AI Literacy Learning Framework for Primary and Secondary Schools · Guide to Using AI in Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools · EDBCM No. 156/2026
• Time to prepareabout 30 minutes to introduce at a staff meeting beforehand; used as it stands on the day

When something happens, the first task is not to establish whether it is true but to make the affected student safe. Four steps in a fixed order — protect, preserve, report, handle and record — with three situations that only route the case, a first-24-hours timeline and a single page for parents.

• AudienceTeachers Parents
• ThemeResponsible AI use

• Equipmenttwo editable Word documents (the four-step procedure with its record form, and the one page for parents); the procedure and the record form print one page each and can be copied separately; the parent page prints single-sided and goes out with the school letter
• Version1.0
• Last updated2026-11-05

When something happens, the first task is not to establish whether it is true. It is to make the affected student safe: stop the contact, do not pass anything on, do not confront anyone alone. Four steps in a fixed order — protect, preserve, report, handle and record — and three situations that only decide who acts first.

What this solves

The gap in a school’s response to this kind of incident is rarely the absence of a policy. It is the first two hours:

• Establishing the facts first. A colleague’s first instinct is to ask whether it really happened, so time goes into checking, the contact that should have stopped carries on, and the same material keeps circulating in a group.
• Three reports, no record. The class teacher tells the discipline team, the discipline team tells the vice principal, and the vice principal hears a different account from a parent. By the end of the day there are three spoken accounts and not one of them states a time.
• The evidence does not survive. Someone screenshots the message and then deletes the original; someone captures the conversation but not the address, the time, the group name or the sender’s display name, so what happened that day survives only as other people’s recollection.
• The student who was named is never told. Only one side is informed; the other side hears it from classmates, and the incident spreads a second time outside school.

None of these is a colleague being careless. What is missing is a written answer to three questions: what is step one, who does it, and which single page exists by the end of the day. This resource puts four things together — a four-step procedure in a fixed order, three situations that only route the case, a four-part timeline for the first 24 hours, and a one-page note for parents (three things to do, three to avoid) — plus a one-page record form. The attachments are two editable Word documents to copy on the day.

Three statements belong on every page, and they come first:

1. The name, the four steps, the three situations and the timeline are this resource’s suggestion, not an Education Bureau requirement. The Bureau’s requirements are that AI must not be used for cyberbullying and that schools attend to student wellbeing. No document prescribes the steps, the form or a reporting deadline.
2. This page does not replace the school’s existing anti-bullying, complaints or personnel procedures. The school’s own arrangements decide. This page only sets out what happens in the first 24 hours and who does it; the authority, the deadlines and the consequences stay with the school’s documents.
3. This page gives no legal advice and does not characterise any case. A serious incident is referred on through the school’s own arrangements.

Three things this page deliberately does not contain: no description of any method, generation step or tool operation; no case, personal name, school name or group name; and no wording that blames the person who was targeted. The page has to be usable by a colleague on the day, so it carries actions, order and timing only.

Purpose

With this procedure in place, a school can:

1. Give the first colleague on the scene a first action: protect first, not verify first.
2. Have the evidence preserved the same way, on the same day: four details in every screenshot, nothing deleted or edited, an offline copy kept.
3. Keep reporting to one line: class teacher → named coordinator → principal, with a single one-page written record the same day instead of a chain of emails.
4. Run handling and recording together: handle the case through the school’s arrangements; give the student who was named the same procedural safeguards of notice, an opportunity to respond, and contact with their parents; record facts, times and actions only.
5. Let the three situations affect only who acts first and which reporting line applies — never the order of the four steps.
6. Put a single page in front of parents the same day, naming three things they can do and three they should avoid.

The page is written around the three learning strands of AI literacy and addresses reflection on the application of AI; the three strands are the basic operation of AI, human-machine communication and collaboration, and reflection on the application of AI. It sits between critical thinking and attention to student wellbeing: critical thinking means not confusing “this sounds serious” with “this has been established”, and attention to wellbeing means settling the person first. Of the four attitudes the framework names, the ones that matter most here are empathy and respect for others — and respect for the student who was named includes not characterising them while they are not in the room.

How to use it

The attachments are two Word documents: the four-step procedure with its record form (four pages) and the one page for parents (single-sided). Introduce it once in a 30-minute staff meeting and write the coordinator’s post and the name of the colleague who preserves evidence on the first page; on the day it is used as it stands, with nothing to negotiate.

Step 1: Four steps in a fixed order

The order is fixed. The steps are not reordered, skipped or merged. Each has one action, one owner and one time.

Four points that matter in practice:

• Protect is step one. It is not “verify first, then act”. Verification is not the first step and is not for the first colleague on the scene to decide. This page places it after protection and preservation, carried out by the school through its own arrangements. No page and no attachment may be written as “verify first, then deal with it” — written that way, the contact that should stop does not stop.
• “Pass nothing on” is part of protection, not a news blackout. Every forward makes another copy and another reader. The few people who have to act are enough, and one named colleague preserving the material is enough.
• “Do not confront anyone alone” is protection too. The school sets the time, the place and who is present. A student confronting another usually produces a second injury and a record that no longer matches what happened.
• All four details are needed. A conversation without the address and the time cannot later show which item, when, in which group, under which display name. A deleted or edited original is no longer that day’s evidence. One named colleague does the preserving so that all four are captured and the format is consistent.

Step 2: Three situations, routing only

The three situations do one job: they decide who acts first and which reporting line applies. The order of the four steps does not change with the situation. Nobody skips preservation because “this one was in a group”, and nobody skips the record because “this one involves a colleague”.

Three notes under the table:

• The commonest mistake in situation 2 is replying in the group. Even “everyone stop sending this” is another forward. One thing happens in the group: the colleague the school named preserves the material, and everyone else stops.
• The commonest mistake in situation 3 is “wait until we know more”. When a colleague is involved, the student side is the easiest thing to leave standing. “The student side continues to be supported by the class teacher” is written into the routing precisely so that it does not happen.
• In an impersonation case, record only that someone acted in a staff member’s name. Do not record who, and do not record a motive; the identity is pending and the procedure runs anyway.

Step 3: The first 24 hours, four cells

The timeline has four cells. Each states what is done, by whom, and what is left behind. There is no fifth cell; anything beyond the first week goes back to the school’s arrangements.

Two reminders:

• The “next day” cell is the one most often dropped. Once the first 24 hours are over, what the affected student wants to know is whether anyone is still on it. This cell is that answer; without it, the student reasonably concludes that the matter has quietly ended.
• The timeline gives the latest time, not the ideal time. Completing step one within two hours is enough; the whole truth does not have to be established inside two hours.

Step 4: Handle and record — facts only

Handling follows the school’s arrangements; this page does not alter their authority, deadlines or consequences. The record carries three things: facts, times and actions.

• Facts — what was seen, what was said, who reported it and when. No adjectives, no speculation, nothing about a student’s character.
• Times — the date and time of every step, including spoken handovers.
• Actions — what was done, by whom, and what happens next.

Three sentences that must not go into the record:

• “This is what they are always like” — a past impression written into the facts of the day.
• “It is probably a misunderstanding” — characterising the case before anyone has had the chance to respond.
• “Dealt with” — a conclusion with no action behind it is not a record.

The student who was named gets the same procedural safeguards: notice, an opportunity to respond, and their parents informed. These do not conflict with protecting the affected student. Declining to characterise either side is what makes the later handling hold up.

Step 5: One page for parents — three to do, three to avoid

The page prints single-sided and goes out with the school letter; the class teacher may also hand it to a parent on the day. It does not describe the incident. It gives three things a parent can do and three to avoid.

Three things to do:

1. Keep what your child received; do not delete it first. Preserve the message and the screen as they are, without deleting or editing, and tell the school. How it is preserved is handled by one colleague the school names.
2. Report it to the school in writing, with your child. Write it together, addressed to the coordinator the school names. The time and what was seen are enough; there is no need to describe feelings.
3. Ask the school to confirm the next step in writing. One sentence — when someone will contact me again, and what happens next — is the reply a parent most needs. A spoken assurance is easily lost in a handover.

Three things to avoid:

1. Do not forward or discuss it in a parents’ group. Every forward makes another copy, and every discussion gives the child one more audience.
2. Do not contact the other parent directly. The school arranges that conversation; direct contact between parents usually leaves the two accounts further apart.
3. Do not take the phone away as a punishment. The phone may be how the child reaches friends and asks for help. Removing it as a penalty teaches them not to say anything next time.

The parent page has three things to do and three to avoid, six in total, and no more. It has no space for describing the incident, no name or class field, and no reply slip; anything a parent needs to add goes through the contact route already on the school letter. Not one line blames the child, because this page reaches a parent on their worst day.

Review checklist

Check once before an incident and once after:

• □ All four steps are present, in the order protect, preserve, report, handle and record — not reordered, not skipped, not merged.
• □ No sentence reads “verify first, then deal with it”; verification sits after protection and preservation.
• □ Step 1 names all five: stop the contact, pass nothing on, confront no one alone, a safe place, one contact person.
• □ Step 2 names all four screenshot details: address, time, group name, sender’s display name.
• □ Step 2 states “nothing deleted or edited” and “an offline copy kept”.
• □ Step 2 names one colleague to preserve the evidence, not “everyone keeps their own”.
• □ Step 3 has a single reporting line — class teacher, coordinator, principal — with a one-page record the same day and no email chain.
• □ Situation 3 uses coordinator, principal, human resources, and states that the student side continues to be supported by the class teacher.
• □ The three situations change routing and the reporting line only; the order of the four steps is untouched.
• □ Step 4 names the three safeguards for the student who was named: notice, an opportunity to respond, parents informed.
• □ The record carries facts, times and actions only — no evaluation, speculation or character description.
• □ The timeline has four cells — 0-2 hours, 2-24 hours, the next day, within a week — and no fifth.
• □ The parent page has three things to do and three to avoid, six in total, with nothing added or removed.
• □ Nothing describes a method, a generation step or a tool operation.
• □ No case, personal name, school name or group name appears, and no commercial tool or brand is named.
• □ No line blames the person who was targeted, and the student who was named is not characterised either.
• □ The page states that the name, the four steps, the three situations and the timeline are this resource’s suggestion, and states the Bureau’s requirements — AI must not be used for cyberbullying, and student wellbeing must be attended to.
• □ The page states that it does not replace the school’s anti-bullying, complaints or personnel procedures, and that the school’s arrangements decide.
• □ The page states that it gives no legal advice and does not characterise a case, and that a serious incident is referred on through the school’s arrangements.

The test: a colleague can pick this up on the day and complete step one. If protection genuinely happens first, the other three steps have something to preserve, report and record.

Files

Responding to AI-generated harassment: four-step procedure and record form (editable Word document)

Five sections, each usable on its own: the five header facts (stage, subject, learning strand, official documents, time to prepare) with the four-step procedure, the three situations, the first-24-hours timeline, a one-page record form to copy separately with facts, times and actions only, and a one-page review checklist. A school fills in the coordinator’s post, the contact person and the date; the document has no field for a student’s name, class or number.

One page for parents: three to do, three to avoid (editable Word document)

Single-sided, sent with the school letter or handed over by the class teacher on the day. Three things to do and three to avoid, six in total; no space for describing the incident, no name field and no reply slip.

Official documents

Every resource in this library is written to the AI Literacy Learning Framework for Primary and Secondary Schools and falls within the policy scope of the Blueprint for Digital Education Development in Primary and Secondary Schools.

This resource maps to:

• Blueprint for Digital Education Development in Primary and Secondary Schools (three-fold leaflet, p.2): requires digital and AI education to be planned in the School Development Plan, with the arrangements explained to teachers, pupils and parents; a procedure that can be followed is part of explaining those arrangements.
• Supplement I: AI Literacy Learning Framework for Primary and Secondary Schools (p.1-4): sets out the three learning strands; this resource addresses reflection on the application of AI.
• Supplement II: Guide to Using AI in Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools (pp.2-2 to 2-5): the four principles, led by putting people first with technology as an aid, and the requirement that teachers exercise professional judgement; this page places protection under that judgement rather than leaving it to whoever happens to be on the scene.
• EDBCM No. 156/2026 (Supplement II, Teacher Information Pack, “4. Key messages, 4. For students”): compliance with the law and safety — AI must not be used for cyberbullying. The four steps are one way of meeting that in a school, but the steps, the form and the deadlines are this resource’s suggestion, not an Education Bureau requirement.
• EDBCM No. 156/2026 (Supplement I, section 4): critical thinking and attention to student wellbeing; the order of protect before verify, and the requirement to tell the student what happens next on the following day, both rest on this.

Learning strand: reflection on the application of AI

Official documents page: https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/applicable-to-primary-secondary/it-in-edu/debp.html

This page is an independent Beets teaching resource, not an official EDB document. The name, the four steps, the three situations and the timeline are this resource’s suggestion for schools to adopt, and a school may adjust them; they must not be presented as an Education Bureau requirement. The Bureau’s requirements are that AI must not be used for cyberbullying and that student wellbeing must be attended to; no document prescribes the steps, the form or a reporting deadline. This page does not replace the school’s existing anti-bullying, complaints or personnel procedures, and the school’s arrangements decide. It gives no legal advice and does not characterise any case; a serious incident is referred on through the school’s own arrangements.

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