Current basic child safeguarding awareness is offered in two programmes:
1.Full-day training: this training lasts one day (or six hours) and covers the following four areas:
- The seven safeguarding standards;
- What is safeguarding?
- Recognising, responding and reporting;
- How to safeguard, and roles involved in safeguarding.
2.Information sessions:these sessions are shorter in length, and cover topics including the reporting procedures required under Standard 2.
Delivery of training
The child safeguarding committee will coordinate training and its delivery. The Bishop will 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 will 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 (1.24 Training Needs Analysis), which forms part of the strategic three-year plan for the child safeguarding committee.
Full-day training can only be delivered by trainers who have been registered with the NBSCCCI. Information sessions are primarily delivered by trainers, but these can also be delivered by Parish Safeguarding Representatives who have been trained by trainers registered with the NBSCCCI.
Target audiences for training
Using the information gathered from the local audit, the child safeguarding committee will decide the level of training required for each person, depending on their level of involvement with children. To do this, the following guidance will 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;
- All clergy/religious who are in active ministry with children must attend the full-day training programme;
- 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, local safeguarding representative);
- All other Church personnel must be given the opportunity to attend an information session.
- Regardless of the level of training required, all Church personnel are required to abide by good child safeguarding practice
Retraining
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.
There may be those who have already attended information sessions but who will now require the full-day training. The child safeguarding committee should identify personnel who fall within this category and coordinate the trainers to deliver the additional content that is not provided in the information session, in order to bring them into line with this guidance
Role-Specific Training for Church Personnel
As part of the training needs analysis process the national training strategy will be used by safeguarding committees to identify relevant training for each child safeguarding role within the Diocese. Training needs will change continuously, and training in child safeguarding must be an integral part of the diocesan training plan.
Raising Awareness of Child Safeguarding with Children and their Parents/ Guardians
The participation of children and guardians in child safeguarding awareness initiatives is an important element in safeguarding children. Children and guardians will be actively engaged in Church child safeguarding initiatives, where possible and appropriate.
Child and guardian participation helps to empower children and guardians, to promote awareness of child safeguarding, and to create safe environments where children have ‘permission to tell’.
Children’s perspectives and experiences help to support efforts to consolidate effective child protection systems and uphold a culture of respect for children’s rights in society.
Designing workshops with children
When designing workshops for children involved in Church activities, the following should be considered:
- It is important to remember that the discussion of safeguarding with children must be appropriate to the age level and ability of the children in each group. Any information delivered to them must be designed with this in mind, and it is vital that parents/guardians are made aware of this information and encouraged to participate where possible;
- Safeguarding awareness workshops happen routinely in schools and during youth activities, but children do not always make the link between what happens in school and its applicability in a Church setting, therefore it is important to reinforce these messages in an age-appropriate way;
- Workshops should be focused on the importance of children telling someone if they are being hurt; they should not reinforce messages that frighten or upset them;
- Workshops should highlight a number of people whom children can go to report abuse, such as their parents/guardians, teachers, Church group leaders, the DLP, Childline, etc.;
- Attendance records of these workshops, and the plan for the workshop itself, should be retained and stored appropriately.
Skills
Not everyone has the required skills to work with children, and any work undertaken with them around safeguarding should only be carried out by people who have the necessary skills. Church authorities are encouraged to identify volunteers or professionals within their Church body with these skill sets, should they decide to undertake awareness-raising workshops with children.
Resources
When developing any work with children, it is important that links are established with relevant people and organisations in the locality. This is done so that their advice and support can be sought, and that any work carried out should be in line with the guidance provided in Standard 1: Creating and Maintaining Safe Environments.
Resources and a workshop for children have been provided for trainers registered with the NBSCCCI.
For further help or support, contact can be made with the NBSCCCI Director of Training and Support.