Keeping children safe in education 2018

The Department for Education recently revised ‘Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges’, following a 10-week consultation earlier this year.

In addition to keeping up to date with the latest statutory guidance (Keeping children safe in education – September 2018), let’s take a look at what else schools and colleges can do, that goes beyond a tick-box approach.

Why is this important?

There is a need, throughout all organisations that have a duty to protect those at risk, to move beyond a tick-box approach to compliance, in favour of one that focuses on continuously improving safeguarding standards.

You can have a staff-training programme in place and a designated safeguarding lead, because every school is told it is compulsory, but if teachers are rushed for time when it comes to training and development, which they often are, is your training programme making the necessary impact?

We have been supporting the delivery of digital safeguarding solutions for over 10 years. As technology evolves, we are keen to share our thoughts and methods on training and development that is cost-effective, tailored to your educational establishment and can make a real difference.

Learning from your learners

Over the years, we have supported schools all over the UK and in order to ensure our courses are as effective as they can possibly be, we regularly seek feedback from those who have completed them.

By evaluating the impact of our safeguarding courses on our learners and the organisations we support, we are able to obtain a clear picture of how the courses have encouraged behaviour change, with practitioners saying they have felt more confident in their job roles and that the training had led to them changing their behaviour at work.

For instance, some practitioners said that our training course had led to them doing more to help or support children at risk, while others revealed that the training had encouraged them to find out more about a particular safeguarding issue.

How often does your school review its staff-training programme and the way in which it is delivered? Listening to your learners, your staff, and understanding what types of training they need is key, if you really want to increase your organisational safeguarding standards.

Training that changes behaviour

As teachers are in one of the strongest positions to notice and identity any issues that a child may be having at home, it is imperative that schools and colleges offer staff comprehensive training, which gives them the confidence they need to interact in such a way that children feel safe speaking to them.

In addition to supporting schools with digital safeguarding training courses, we also offer simulation training, which can be easily accessed from a web browser, with no specialist equipment required, to teach practitioners how to manage safeguarding issues effectively.

By creating a virtual reality that simulates potentially sensitive or highly pressured situations, participants have a safe place to 'fail' and learn. Simulation training provides authentic and safe experiences, where learners can immerse themselves in a situation repeatedly, making sure they have mastered the skills needed for successful safeguarding.

We have a wide variety of scenarios covering different sensitive discussions that teachers may have with pupils. If you are interested in exploring this type of training for your school or college, or if you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail to get the best results from your training budget, get in touch with Felicity Bagshaw at felicity.bagshaw@virtual-college.co.uk