Guidance Update: Safer working practice for those working with children and young people in education settings.

The Safer Recruitment Consortium has updated the original Department for Education (‘DfE’) guidance published for schools entitled ‘Safer working practice for those working with children and young people in education settings.’ (‘Guidance’)

The Guidance was last issued in October 2015 and originally came about after members of staff in education asked for practical guidance about which behaviours constitute safe practice and which behaviours should be avoided. The Guidance does not have any statutory weight and is only intended to guide schools, ensuring that it assists staff in monitoring their own standards and practice and reduce the risk of allegations being made against them.

Amongst others, the Guidance covers topics such as;

• Standards of behaviour;
• Dress and appearance;
• Gifts, rewards, favouritism and exclusion;
• Infatuations and ‘crushes’;
• Social contact outside the workplace;
• Physical contact; and
• Behaviour management.

The recent updates have ensured that the Guidance is in line with changing legislation and changing attitudes. Those changes are reflected in the sections identified below:

6. Confidentiality:

New data protection laws under GDPR have meant that school leaders should ensure that staff who need to share ‘special category personal data’ are aware that The Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition. This ultimately may allow practitioners to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, it cannot be reasonably expected that a practitioner gains consent.

7. Standards of Behaviour:

This section includes the changes to The Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018, as reported widely last year.

12. Communication with Children:

the new Guidance seeks to strengthen the clear message that staff should not communicate with pupils outside of the context of their work by adding that adults should turn off 3G/4G data on school premises.

18. Sexual Conduct:

All Staff should be aware that as they are under a position of trust in a school, it is a crime for an adult to engage in sexual activity with a person under the age of 18. Teachers are still being prohibited from teaching for these offences, even though this is well-known information./p>

21. Transporting Pupils:

Only if previously agreed by a manager, staff should not offer lifts to pupils. It is also advised that at least one adult additional to the driver acts as an escort.

22. Educational Visits:

Staff responsible for organising educational visits should be familiar with the DfE’s advice on Health and Safety.

24. Photography, Videos and other Images:

Even if requested by children’s social care, adults should not take images of a child’s injury or make audio recordings of a child’s disclosure.

28. Curriculum:

Curriculums should be rigorously reviewed to ensure it complies with the setting’s policy on spiritual, moral, social, cultural (SMSC) education which should promote fundamental British values.

It is important that Employers, staff and teachers in education settings are familiar with this Guidance, as well as the recent updates that have been published so that they can implement such topics into their own policies.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) recommends that all schools have a similar staff behaviour policy in place, which staff should have explained to them during their induction. This Guidance, as stated, is not legally binding, but if adhered to, it is likely to illuminate many of the difficulties that lawyers are faced with each day.