The role of safeguarding in international schools is complex and all encompassing. Every element of the school is involved in safeguarding and every adult has a role to play in protecting children from serious harm and danger. Safeguarding is the responsibility of every school department and all members of the school community. It also has a lasting impact that spans past events to the current situation to future considerations. And, as many in international education know, safeguarding has been a central focus of reputation, accreditation, and operations for several years.
However, few of us entered the profession with an eye towards safeguarding. It has become something we have had to learn and focus on in our roles as educators. And we have all learned that in the Maslow hierarchy of a school, child protection is fundamental, living both in ‘safety needs’ and ‘physiological needs’. While we strive to create an enriching learning experience, the fundamental needs of all children must come first. The who, how, when, and where of safeguarding is complex for teachers, employees, and parents.
Similarly, understanding the full scope of child protection and safeguarding can be quite daunting for schools and school leaders.
To help, we have put together an overview of child protection responsibilities for a school.
CHILD PROTECTION RESPONSIBILITIES FOR A SCHOOL
In this overview, we outline 12 categories schools need to account for in their safeguarding programs:
Schools and school leaders can use these categories as a guide to help foster leadership, management, discussions amongst key staff, personnel needs, and resource allocation. Schools who are most effective in their safeguarding programs have addressed or considered actions for each of these areas.
To fully manage a school’s safeguarding responsibilities requires structured leadership. However, where many schools run into problems with safeguarding leadership comes when the school relies on a single person as the safeguarding leader. A single person cannot effectively lead and manage all the 12 categories listed above.
Instead, schools should consider two complementary elements of safeguarding leadership: Strategic Safeguarding and Operational Safeguarding.
Strategic safeguarding bears the torch for a school’s commitment to protecting children. Strategic leadership of safeguarding ensures the school uses safeguarding language in communications, builds and maintains a culture of safeguarding, sets policy, allocates resources to safeguarding and child protection, and gives direction to the operational safeguarding leadership.
Strategic Safeguarding should include members of the school community with influence and ability to make large scale and long-term decisions, such as the Head of School and Senior Leadership. A visible and effective safeguarding program is guided by the words, attitudes, and actions of this group.
Operational safeguarding plays a different role. If Strategic Safeguarding is responsible for culture and commitment, then Operational Safeguarding is responsible for systems and management. It manages safeguarding procedures and resources, maintains data and documentation, monitors environmental security, and ensures that every member of the school community is adequately trained. They put the protection needs of the children at the forefront by focusing school operations on prevention, intervention, and support.
Typically, Operational Safeguarding is run by the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), or a similarly titled position. The DSL is most effective when they are a senior member of staff who has flexibility in their schedule to address issues as they arise and the authority to make decisions. We often see division heads or vice principals take on DSL roles in addition to their core job responsibilities. The amount of time needed to manage safeguarding operations varies from school to school. Some schools will have a full-time DSL and several appointed deputies, while others will give release time to a single leader to oversee safeguarding operations. Learn more about the role of the DSL.
Regardless of how a school approaches safeguarding, it is important to separate the strategic and operational roles. At times, Operational Safeguarding will need to focus on functional responsibilities or incident management while Strategic Safeguarding focuses on internal and external relations. When these tasks are handled by a single person, they can be done incorrectly, inefficiently, or at conflict with the best interests of the child.
Instead, by clearly defining Strategic and Operational Safeguarding in a school and by maintaining clear lines of communication and leadership, the school is best positioned to run a strong safeguarding programme that meets their legal, moral, and practical responsibilities to protect children.
To fully understand the breadth and depth of Strategic and Operational Safeguarding, it is best practice for leaders to partake in appropriate training. At ChildSafeguarding.com, we offer Child Protection Training for Board Members, Owners, and Senior Leaders course which clearly defines the Leadership, Management, and Governance Safeguarding roles for a school. Further, we help ensure that all members of the school community including teachers, support staff, volunteers and parents understand their role in Operational Safeguarding by helping them fulfil their duties to keep children safe. Learn more at ChildSafeguarding.com.
Items to consider for your school’s safeguarding programme
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Tes MyConcern – School Safeguarding Software
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Tryangulate – Teaching Tracker System
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