Safeguarding and Wellbeing Issues
Safeguarding’ and ‘Wellbeing’ are not new concepts in schools but I have certainly not entered one without hearing these essential educational buzzwords. Key government policies from The Children’s Act 1989, Every Child Matters 2004, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 to individual school policies help inform teachers how to promote pupil’s safeguarding and wellbeing but that does not mean there are not significant challenges whilst doing this.
On reflection from my course’s lecture on safeguarding a key challenge for teachers or trainee teachers, like myself, is E-Safety. K.Turvey J. Potter and J. Burton’s recent book stated that the internet is a creative and useful space for children but it poses constantly changing risks ranging from cyber-bullying to pro-anorexia sites. Childnet reduces these types of issues children may encounter online into four categories: conduct, contact, content and commercialism. Conduct relates to how children need to know who can view their personal information and how to keep it safe. Contact highlights the importance of children knowing people on the internet may not be who they say they are. Some internet content can be inappropriate and harmful to children, therefore, children need guidance on how to search online. Commercialisms refers to marketing campaigns that target children so they can inadvertently spend money online. When looking at this safeguarding issue it seems daunting to me, as a trainee teacher, to know how to protect children online without banning it as a resource completely. However, the KS1 and KS2 curriculum both mention using the internet safely as a key aim. There are key strategies to enforce this including schools having an E-safety policy and a clear reporting system of harmful sites and any incidences. Furthermore, a culture which encourages children to report anything they may have found unsettling on the internet is essential and something I hope to strive for in my classroom. Using child-friendly-sites such as askkids.com and teaching advanced search techniques helps eliminate this risk but having a culture where internet safety is talked about openly is essential for protecting children online (Turvey, Potter and Burton, 2016).
On completing a recommended safeguarding course an issue I, a trainee teacher, had not considered is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). However, on reading the government’s FGM resource pack I found these statistics shocking “60,000 girls aged 0-14 were born in England and Wales to mothers who have undergone FGM. 10,000 girls aged under 15 have migrated to England have undergone FGM and FGM can be practised at any age but the majority of cases are 5-8-year-olds”. In spite of these statistics and FGM being a serious crime, it is still very difficult to safeguard girls at risk of FGM because the families involved may give no other cause for concern. The main strategy promoted by the government for safeguarding children against FGM is raising its awareness. People involved with children need to be taught the warning signs which range from a girl being withdrawn from PSHE to referring to a ‘special procedure’ to ‘become a woman’. Furthermore, indicators a girl has experienced FGM can range from problems walking, sitting and standing to bladder and menstrual problems( See a more detailed list here). It is reassuring that charities such as the Manor Gardens Health Advocacy are working with schools and the community to reduce FGM. One charity called FORWARD worked with 677 primary school students last year with age-appropriate and culturally sensitive material to educate them about FGM. I have confidence that throughout my teaching profession I will remain aware of this issue and support charities such as Manor Gardens Health Advocacy and Forward.
I hope that this has shed some light on two safeguarding and wellbeing issues I had not previously considered when entering primary schools.
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