1.30 Guidance on the Delivery of Basic Safeguarding Awareness
Current basic child safeguarding awareness is offered in five different programme types. These programmes have been written to meet the learning objectives outlined in statutory guidance. The five programmes are:
1. Full-day training: this training lasts 5 hours and covers the following four areas:
• What and how we safeguard
• Creating and maintaining safe environments
• Recognising, Responding, Recording and Reporting
2. Information sessions: these sessions are shorter in length (3 hours), and cover topics including the reporting procedures required under Standard 2.
3. Refresher sessions: These are shorter in length (3 hours) and cover the topics listed in the full day training for those who have already attended the full day training previously.
4. Mandated Persons Training: This is a short 1.5 hour session specifically for those who are defined as mandated persons in the Republic of Ireland. The content can be delivered as part of the other sessions above.
5. Training for Young Leaders: This is three hours in length and covers the same content as the information sessions but has been designed for young people who are taking on a leadership role with other children or young people.
Who delivers the training?
The child safeguarding committee of each Church body should coordinate training and its delivery. The Church authority must ensure that local child safeguarding audits are carried out by local safeguarding representatives, in order to identify Church personnel who require basic safeguarding awareness training. These audits should be examined by the child safeguarding committee, who will make decisions regarding what level of training is required for the personnel, as identified through the local safeguarding audit process. This process is completed using the training needs analysis guidance, which forms part of the strategic three-year plan for the child safeguarding committee.
Full-day training, refresher sessions, mandated persons training can only be delivered by trainers who have been registered with the NBSCCCI.
Information sessions and training for young leaders are primarily delivered by trainers, but these can also be delivered by local safeguarding representatives who have been trained by trainers registered with the NBSCCCI.
To whom is the training delivered?
Using the information gathered from the local audit, the child safeguarding committee must make a decision as to the level of training required for each person, depending on the extent of their involvement with children. To do this, the following guidance should be used as a minimum requirement:
• For each Church activity that involves children, at least one leader/coordinator must attend the full-day training programme once, thereafter they can attend a refresher session;
• All clergy/religious who are in active ministry with children must attend the full-day training programme once, thereafter they can attend a refresher session;
• Any personnel with a key position of responsibility for child safeguarding must attend a full-day training programme (e.g. DLP, advisor, support person, child safeguarding committee member, advisory panel member, local safeguarding representative) once, thereafter they can attend a refresher session;
• All other Church personnel must be given the opportunity to attend an information session every 3 years.
• Those that are designated as Mandated Persons by law must have attended the mandated persons session every 3 years (this content can be delivered as part of the full day, refresher or mandated persons training)
• Those that are young leaders should attend the young leaders training every 3 years.
Regardless of the level of training required, all Church personnel are required to abide by good child safeguarding practice.
When should personnel be retrained?
The NBSCCCI will update training and deliver this to registered trainers, in line with developments in best practice and new legislation. It is expected that if there are significant changes, the trainers will deliver updates to new and existing personnel in each Church body. How this is delivered can be decided on in consultation with the child safeguarding committee and appropriate child safeguarding personnel.
If updated training is not required, all personnel should be retrained at least every three years. It is the role of the child safeguarding committee to plan how training is delivered; however, this requirement can be fulfilled by shorter refresher sessions, delivered more regularly over a three-year period to cover the content of the full-day training.