The word 'Safeguarding' is being used for everything?

[Cocktailglass]

For me, the decades in the teaching profession we've always had whatever is the new vocabulary to adhere to. So much CPD on incorporating all new strategies into lessons and being scrutinised at micromanagement level to ensure this is done.

This includes applying Blooms for teaching factual subjects like Maths and sciences, where you really don't need a cross dimension discussion about the intricacies of the text.

Anyway, sorry, back to the point...

EVERYTHING has been referred to as a safeguarding issue, it's something that has stuck and because that word is serious it's a serious issue.

So many SLT and parents have jumped into naming everything as a safeguarding issue, which means a DC is in danger from being physically hurt, which will be acted upon immediately, to being offended by a trigger, told no, teacher trying to get students to follow the prescribed powerpoints, which indeed are boring.

Just one example, I have thousands more...

Sam, Y9 student, known as very difficult, I loved him as I 'get' them, purely understanding and patience. He was usually sent to me in whatever lesson I was teaching because I could integrate him into the class or spend time giving going over previous learning and a quick worksheet.

So, yes, getting to the point...

Sam was in our actual lesson and had come in late from issues from previous lesson, kept back and given detention for behaviour. He was clearly at the height of meltdown so I said just wait outside for a couple of minutes to calm down and I'll come and speak with you.
Of course SLT came past (which you never see when you need them) and shouted at him why he was outside the classroom. I immediately jumped in and said it's OK, I told him to, time out pass. SLT said I wasn't safeguarding because Sam was outside and couldn't be trusted. Ok, got that in the neck and brought him in.

At that point Sam was really struggling but stayed in his seat. Got on with the lesson, he said he didn't have a pen. Gave him one, he stood on it, pulled out part of it and stabbed himself in the hand!

The outcome for me? Being questioned why I hadn't realised and prevented Sam from doing this a safeguarding issue. I tried to, gave him space before coming in but he was bawled at by SLT and had to come in, with the send him to me if any problems. Yeah, trying to send Sam out to see you means he will run off and this will also be my responsibility and a tell off.

Apart from this type of situation, yes safeguarding is mentioned for everything, somehow anything can be linked to it. You looked away for a second, a fight starts. What makes it harder is parents have of course latched on because schools' priority to enforce it. So, why wasn't my DC safeguarded from falling over in the playground/trigger warning from watching a cartoon/saying a particular phrase.

So much, glad I'm out of full time teaching now because it really is so stressful having to second guess everything you say and do.

Our church has been destroyed by it.
The ‘if in doubt talk to safeguarding’ has left one woman with PTSD, at least two very hurt people, several resignations, fractured relationships and a very unstable and unsure future.
I can honestly say that a system put in place to protect has been overused to the point it has caused real harm.

Yep…. I don’t like you can easily be translated into you are a safeguarding risk. It’s laughable how many people without safeguarding training bandy the word around

I'm a social worker, it is infuriating to me and many colleagues that the term is overused. People know it's a trigger word to get involvement from social services and completely miss the fact that not being proportionate can make situations more risky. The stress families go through when they get the word safeguarding thrown at them does more harm than good if it's not a genuine safeguarding concern. Like with yourself, Sam was safe, but someone said 'safeguarding' then Sam's forced into a situation that causes him to be overwhelmed and then he is actually harmed. If he would have been left alone or SLT just had a gentle supportive chat with him/you he wouldn't have been harmed.

It definitely seems so to me as an outsider.

Here on MN the word safeguarding is used to support whatever opinion a poster have and make it sound the only acceptable way no matter what.

For example the discussion about locking the doors at clubs - so many posters called it safeguarding and didn't give any thought to escape routes in case of fire.

Agree,my other irritating word is boundaries! I find it patronising. I personally associate it with land ,not people!

I too have seen safeguarding used irrationally and in some cases maliciously.

This seems to be more about your SLT being arseholes than anything else.

SLT wanging on about safeguarding in your example just sounds like standard blame-shifting and piss poor management to me. A firm, “I am a professional and my safeguarding judgement was that Sam was safest outside the classroom but you disagreed” would have been appropriate.

I think it would be helpful if we could have a better grasp of the difference between general welfare issues (risky behaviour, lack of supervision and oversight, truancy, school absence etc) and true safeguarding issues (sexual or physical harm, neglect, etc).

But the whole “everything’s about safeguarding these days, it weren’t like that back in the 80s and we were all fine” is a bit too Daily Mail Reform- adjacent for me.

Policies are often more about being able to allocate blame than actually protecting people, sadly.

I don't think you're incorrect in that you're saying, and it's concerning because overuse of a term creates a risk in itself.

However, if you're going to post in AIBU, please don't use terms the vast majority of us are unfamiliar with such as 'Blooms' and 'CPD' (though obviously we can Google these). I find it annoying when teachers (and schools) use terms or acronyms with no expansion or explanation of their meaning.

CPD is used by a ton of professions not just teachers. It’s any job that requires regular training (Continued Professional Development) to continue working. But I do appreciate there are still lots of jobs that don’t. It’s definitely a term though that in my experience more people know than don’t.

YANBU

It seems to be MN's favourite word at times.

As an aside though, if Sam really was 'at the height of meltdown', was it wise to leave him alone outside the classroom?

I'm not saying it was a safeguarding issue, just a bit surprising as students in an actual meltdown are unpredictable.

Your example with Sam sounds annoying - the SLT should have trusted your skills with Sam.

In general though I think keeping people safe is vital and I do not subscribe to the ‘we didn’t need this health and safety nonsense in my youth’ brigade. However if people are using ‘safeguarding’ as a stick to beat you with unfairly that is wrong.

I've seen that on mumsnet. People will post things like "My dc was told off for messing around. I'm concerned they are not safeguarding him and am going to complain to ofsted." It's used as revenge when they'd be better off supporting the school.

As a teacher, the abuse of the word safeguarding drives me mad! As soon as a parent has the slightest complaint it becomes a safeguarding issue because they know that this will immediately attract serious attention…

Thanks all for your responses, glad it's not just me who thinks the word is being overused to apply to anything! Sorry about teacher speak, advice grateful taken. Xxx

They think it's a trigger word but half the time social services will do nothing beyond a screening check because it's really not a safeguarding issue as per the definition in the law.
You read it on mumsnet too - 'use the word safeguarding then they have to do something' 🙄

Well it shouldn't attract serious attention. It's just a word. It doesn't have magic powers that it invokes by being uttered and if parents are claiming something is 'safeguarding' when it isn't, schools should be pushing back.

This is not a term used by my employer, although I'm not going to disclose what I do here (it's a niche highly skilled professional role requiring regular training, development and continuous assessment) it's very definitely an area in which this occurs, we just don't call it that
All I was trying to say was be aware of the wide reach AIBU has, and that not everyone works, never mind being familiar with terms used in some job roles

I work in social care, its the same thing. We are losing much needed staff as every tiny thing is now safeguarding and high levels of stress for staff. Has it improved standards of care? I dont think it has. We are meant to have a positive approach to risk taking, but staff try to make it look like they're promoting that while too scared to do it for real. A 1p size bruise - if unexplained,safeguarding and investigation. Any incident, assumption that staff are always the cause - safeguarding and investigation. Always jostive, blameassuming approaches. The safwguarding team seems to attract power hungry unpleasant people. I respect the need for safeguarding and monitoring massively, but we have gone terribly wrong somewhere. The word makes me shudder nowadays, and I'm planning to retire on yhe first day that I am able to do so. This is a big part of the reason.

Yup, the lady who comes in to do our annual safeguarding training always starts by defining safeguarding, abuse, harm and preventing harm.

I saw someone on a thread the other day saying their child sitting behind rather than next to on a plane was a “safeguarding issue”. It doesn’t mean what some many parents think it does!

It does feel like some pupils are set up to fail.

I arrived at school with a pupil who had on black trainers. I checked in at reception. He was shouted at by a SLT memer about his trainers. Immediately back up. Up to that morning black trainers were fine. Apparently the day before (he was absent) school decided black trainers were no longer acceptable. No contact to say that. Set up to fail, had to leave and go purchase black shoes!

I completely agree, I work in child protection and it is regularly used as a trigger word by people who want to get their own way on some issue. I am dealing with a case at the moment where a child was involved in a very minor incident in school. There is a conflict in the accounts over what happened and the parents are calling every tiny issue or conflict a safeguarding issue. The have complained over the way staff in the school and social services have handled the matter and called their behaviour a safeguarding issue because they wont side with the parents - basically everything they dont agree with is a safeguarding issue. No wonder we cant get social workers

The problem, OP, is that you failed to be in two places at once. Shame on you.

Seriously though, I recognise a lot of what you describe. Safeguarding is obviously essential, but in some settings the word gets stretched until it becomes a managerial catch-all for anything that has gone wrong or might go wrong.

What you describe with Sam is exactly the sort of impossible bind that drives good staff to leave their jobs. I left a job in education which I loved and was good at after 9 years of working under the ridiculous expectations of a top heavy SLT team.

With Sam you used your professional judgement, you noticed he was dysregulated, gave him space, and tried to reduce the risk. SLT then overrode that judgement, escalated him, and when the predictable consequence followed, responsibility was pushed back onto you.

There can be such a gap between what staff are expected to manage on the ground and what SLT seem are willing to understand or care about the actual job. The expectations on me often felt impossible, the support was non existent, and then the language of safeguarding was used as if it settled everything. But there is a real difference between safeguarding as a thoughtful, proportionate and shared responsibility, and safeguarding as a stick to beat staff with after the fact. That does not make children safer, it makes staff more anxious, more defensive, and less able to use the kind of calm judgement that young people need. Under the guise of safeguarding I found myself acting in ways that I knew full well caused harm to the students I was meant to support, mostly neurodivergent ones, and in the end I had to leave.

I am a teacher too and I am planning to leave either at the end of this year or next, partly because of a similar situation to what you described. The blame game by SLT. As soon as anything goes wrong, usually involving a child becoming dysregulated for reasons I can't avoid, fingers are pointed and I hear, 'you didn't safeguard blah blah blah'.

I can't be in two/three/four places at once. I can't do it. I'm a good teacher but I'm leaving because of SLT.