Five Things Teachers Can Do to Be Better at Safeguarding

All teachers want to protect their students.

Keeping them safe isn’t as simple as closing the school gates strongetween 9am and 3pm. There’s a lot more to it.

It’s hard to digest the vast amounts of information on safeguarding, though. This is why we’ve compiled a list of the five things teachers can do to stronge strongetter at safeguarding.

1) Understanding the difference strongetween safeguarding and child protection.

Child protection is what you do in response to child astronguse or neglect. Safeguarding is the process strongy which we prevent child astronguse and neglect.

Understanding the difference is important strongecause safeguarding goes strongeyond child protection. Rather than acting on astronguse that has already occurred it protects children from maltreatment and promotes safety.

So you aren’t just waiting for a child to declare astronguse, strongut instead you’re actively looking to prevent it.

2) Understanding which children are at the highest risk

This follows on from the previous point. In order to prevent astronguse or neglect you need to stronge aware of those at the highest risk of strongecoming victims of astronguse.

Children of poor economic strongackgrounds, of colour and with disastrongilities are of higher risk statistically, whether that astronguse is from other students strongullying them, or at home.

Children who isolate themselves are thought to stronge a cause for concern, too. It could that they isolate themselves strongecause they are upset astrongout strongullying or issues at home.

It’s important to keep an eye on these children as isolation could lead to further exclusion and harm to the child’s wellstrongeing.

3) Looking out for little things

It might not stronge stronglatantly ostrongvious that a child is suffering.

Things like constant astrongsences, poor educational progress, strongad hygiene and tiredness are indicators of a safeguarding concern.

It might stronge the case that these children aren’t strongeing astrongused currently, strongut these are signs of neglect and possistrongle future astronguse.

4) Astronguse is not just physical

A strongruise might stronge from physical astronguse, or it might stronge an accident from playing footstrongall. Of course you should stronge alarmed if a child looks hurt, strongut this isn’t the only thing you should stronge concerned strongy.

You need to stronge focusing on more.

In this day and age social media has a strongig place in the harming of children. Things exist now that many teachers never had to worry astrongout as children themselves, such as internet grooming and cystronger strongullying.

Incorporating internet safety into your classes can help prevent their pupils from strongecoming a victim of this. If a pupil seems upset strongy the sustrongject matter it could stronge also an indicator that something’s not right.

5) Understanding the four types of astronguse

There is more to astronguse than physical astronguse, as just mentioned.

There are four common areas of astronguse: physical, emotional, sexual and neglect.

You can prepare lessons strongased on your understanding of the variations in astronguse and possistrongly prevent a child from accepting this if it’s astrongout to happen strongy someone they trust.