Author: '112 Safeguarding' for Expatriate Communities

Has your organisation developed a ‘safe touch’ policy that is reviewed annually as part of your suite of child protection related policies? It may also be aligned to, or include your, ‘use of reasonable force (or positive handling) procedures’.

Safe touch is defined as physical contact that, if otherwise avoided, would be inhumane, unkind and potentially emotionally or physically damaging for the pupil. It should never be invasive, humiliating or flirtatious and always be reasonable, proportionate and necessary.

Consider inclusion of any relevant legal framework, a description of the types of safe touch, examples of unsafe touch and describe the potential link to the use of reasonable force or positive handling interventions.

One of the challenges in the governance of an international school, specific to safeguarding and child protection, is understanding the balance between a Board’s oversight responsibilities and the risk of any potential overreach into operational areas of activity.

Firstly, understanding the distinction is fundamental to operating in the right space. This is something that a Board should discuss routinely, particularly if members become involved in an operational child protection related crisis. It is good practice to ensure that when addressing ‘safeguarding & child protection’ on the Board agenda, that they only review strategic anonymised data – presented in a manageable form, such as a dashboard.

Secondly, ensure this is included in governance training.

Continuing Professional Development is important for international school safeguarding and child protection stakeholders. A unique aspect of CPD for this cohort to consider is that of one-off or regular external professional supervision or mentoring.

Social workers, counsellors and psychologists participate regularly in professional supervision. This is not a line-management task-focused activity, but a safe space provided by qualified supervisors to other professionals to reflect upon how best to perform their work and debrief its vicarious impacts and challenges. I would encourage those working in key stakeholder child protection roles to be supervised or mentored in this way.

To request more information, suggestions as to suitable supervisors – use this ‘contact us’ link.

The Annual Governance Survey 2023 (England) has been released, raising concerns around trends in behaviour and safeguarding. An alarming survey revelation is the substantial rise in safeguarding concerns within the past year (22/23). Over 55% of respondents reported an increase in safeguarding concerns, while only 3% reported a decrease. Neglect, domestic abuse, and bullying, including cyberbullying, emerged as the top three concerns. Notably, self-harm surfaced as a prevalent worry, with a noticeable upward trend.

School closures during the pandemic undoubtedly played a role in these trends. 71% of governing boards reported an increase in safeguarding issues during the 2022 survey.

Attendance and challenging pupil behaviour featured as additional concerns for governing boards.

Does your school provide child protection training and/or other safeguarding support for parents? Critical to the success of your child abuse prevention and intervention practice is the engagement of the parent body. This requires the delivery of basic training, information on your safeguarding policy and practice framework, behavioural standards, together with the provision of context for your professional and ethical approach to incidents.

Systematic child protection training should not only be considered for volunteers, contractors, faculty and staff – parents should be considered on this list. Working in collaboration with parents on such matters, whilst at the same time, keeping communication open, transparent and honest should be a feature of any school’s approach.

Following the success of the ‘online child protection training for support staff in schools’, ChildSafeguarding.com has developed and is about to launch its latest online course for teachers: Level 1 – Child Protection Fundamentals for Educators.

Join the launch 4 May 2023, of our new course which has already received accreditation from CPD.

The launch presentations – Session 1 and Session 2 –  will contain key details of the course, including:
– Instructional design
– Accessibility
– Usability at any school worldwide
– Content designed for preschool, primary, secondary, and whole school teachers
– In-depth case studies
– Blockchain Certificate of Achievement

The session will also preview upcoming courses and upgrades to ChildSafeguarding.com.

The most globally recognised model used for interviewing children and achieving best evidence is based on a UK program called:  ‘Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings – Guidance on interviewing victims and witnesses, and guidance on using special measures’.

The document dates back to 2011 and there has been some criticism since that time as to whether it is still fully fit for purpose. The guidance remains widely used.

Around this time there was a joint inspection reviewing the validity of the material as well as considerable academic research and training material being made available on the topic of interviewing children.

Where does your school stand with such interview training for staff?

‘High in criticism’ and/or ‘low in warmth’ are phrases often associated with a problematic ‘parenting style’, which can have adverse outcomes for children – and if persistent can reach the emotional abuse threshold.

When you examine the attributes of an ‘emotionally abusive’ parent you might notice behaviours directed towards their children that include high levels of criticism and/or a lack of physical or emotional affection.

Children thrive better in situations where the family environment is low in criticism and high in warmth, and family environments can be unfavourable for children where there is high criticism and low warmth.

What ‘parenting-styles’ and related behaviours do your staff notice and learn about in safeguarding training?

One of the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) Expectations for schools: ‘A values statement on child rights, aligned with the responsibilities set out in the …(UNCRC), has been developed and formally adopted by the school’.

Such values statement, either separate or integrated within already existing Mission, Vision, Values, Principles & Practices or similar statements – will be a decision for individual organizations. Good practice would include:

(i) In line with ITFCP Essential Question 6: ‘Does the school communicate publicly its child protection policy/procedure?’, consider publicly communicating a statement online as well as within recruitment, admissions and other areas of relevant business.

(ii) Include the statement within your Child Protection Policy.

Safer recruitment practices and procedures should be at the centre of an international schools’ safeguarding practices: through planning, shortlisting, assessment, vetting, induction and rigorous probation periods. All of this should be embedded in your safer recruitment policy and underpinned by your safeguarding and child protection policy. 

How then do you recruit the very best staff? Professional recruitment led by trained, informed and experienced staff is the way to ensure that those candidates selected are of the best caliber and reach the highest of safeguarding standards.

Start your preparation on this topic by looking at the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP): ‘Recommended Screening & Assessment Practices for the International School Recruitment’.