Would you consider a male teacher charging girls' phones for them to be a safeguarding issue?

[qumquat]

I have found out that the teacher who is the darling of the head is charging students phones for them (phones not allowed out at all in school and need to be off before entering school gates). Obviously this is against all sort of the school rules but would you say it was also a safeguarding issue? I'm debating what route to go down in reporting it as I know he'll be very well protected. (Ie gets away with murder on a daily basis) Thanks.

Organisations that have favourites or turn a blind eye to charismatic individuals breaking policy are likely to be a haven for grooming and abuse.

I’ll charge your phone for you, don’t tell anyone. Why don’t you add me on social media.

I have had a lot of safeguarding training and an awful lot of it has been a pile of shite.

Have you fed this back to the trainer? If not, how do you expect them to develop their training to meet the needs of the school?

And it’s not a buzzword fgs. It has a specific meaning in the context of keeping children safe. Read the government documents on this if you’re struggling to understand how it works in schools.

Last year I used to regularly the phone of a student. She was living in a home with an abusive stepfather who often take her charger as 'punishment' for some perceived infraction. She had a sixty minute walk home (11 years old!), and the phone was to ring her bio dad in case of emergency. If you'd have told me not to, I'd have told you to piss off.

I think it is wrong simply because he is breaching the school rule about no phones out for some students.

Also I agree a teacher with private access to a student’s phone is potentially worrying - this isn’t like confiscating but rather the phone is on and charging for some time and if he is doing it it is presumably in ‘his space’ somewhere.

There are data security issues re charging in unsecured ‘public’ spaces. See all the advice against charging phones at airports etc. I am absolutely no expert (at all!) so may be wrong but that advice comes from or through reputable tech and media sources regularly.

I do think it is inappropriate.

Not sure what you mean by that! Do you mean it's a non issue?

OP I'm.not sure why you cant understand my response. I said it's a school issue (ie professionalism) but I cant see why it's a safeguarding one.

And as the former chair of the personnel committee of the governing body of a school I can tell you that this teacher you dislike so much did not get your colleague fired. He may have raised a concern about the colleague, which if substantiated led to their dismissal, but one single teacher can't get another teacher fired even if he is the "darling of the head". There are policies and procedures about misconduct which have to be followed and school staff can't be fired willy nilly.

I have had a lot of safeguarding training.

In that case, you’ll know that if you have concerns about a safeguarding issue, you pass your concerns to a DSL. That’s your job done.

It’s not your job to investigate and certainly not your job to seek views on an internet forum. Stop wasting your time on here and report any concerns you have in accordance with the school’s safeguarding policy.

I can't put it any better than this. You should know darn well that if you have a concern, you don't analyse and post on the internet about it, you report it then let it go.

From the information given I wouldn't find it a safeguarding concern, but you who is there in the situation have wondered if it is, and that means that your only correct course of action is to report it.

🤔 ‘he got my colleuege fired for less’

Ding ding ding- there we go. Safeguarding issue?...not unless he’s taking inappropriate pictures of his junk with their phones 🤔 but he sounds like an arse and I get that he got your friend fired/you think he’s a hypocrite.

Are you being unreasonable to think he’s a total hypocrite? No - he absoloutley is one.

Are you being unreasonable to think he’s a ‘safe guarding’ issue - 😂 YABVU - but you know that already. You’re trying to justify it to yourself but bringing children’s sexual safety into it is a VERY low blow.

Take this from a woman who was assaulted by a teacher at 14. And no it was not the one who let us charge our phones in class 😂🙈

Yes. If the girls are unable to charge their phones they might find themselves in a dengerpis situation on the way home with no way of calling for help.

It doesn't sound like a safe guarding issue to me; possibly a professionalism one but tbh doesn't sound like a big deal to me unless he is targeting a specific group of girls over other students.
Sounds a bit of a witch hunt.

In context, I have allowed a student to charge their phone (while off) during the last lesson of the day. They had no battery and had to catch a school bus home in the dark. If I had refused they'd have had no battery to call their parent in an emergency so I used my professional judgement. The phone was with me, not the student, and was off while it was charging. I'd be pretty pissed off if I was Reported for this.

Could you report it to the DSL, not so much as this is a definite safeguarding issues but that this is happening and you are concerned that it could end up being an issue (i.e. the child/parents could accuse the teacher)?

Otherwise just report, especially if someone was already sacked for less. If the school want a policy where the teachers can charge phones in certain circumstances then the head can decide on that - that way at least everyone has the same boundaries to protect the children but also to protect the teachers.

I would be thanking him

I hate it when my sons phone has died incase there's an emergency on the way home.

I don't see the issue at all. Seems like a reasonable thing to do and is helping to safeguard the children by ensuring they are able to contact their parents after school if needed.

The background is the 'poor bloke' got my colleague fired last year for less

What on earth is less than charging a phone (unless he is only charging certain students mobiles, or taking them away etc)

OMG YES, All the children are clearly in immediate danger from this sexual predator...tell the head, in fact No call the Police, the Army maybe even the Avengers!

I have had a lot of safeguarding training.

So what is it you think is a safeguarding issue?

familyofaliens erm...yes? What has that got to do with it

I'm not struggling to understand what safeguarding training is in schools. Nowhere in my post did it say that.

I meant that 'safeguarding training' is often used on mn as a way of putting down the poster, because we all know that if the OP works in a school she has had safeguarding training. A way of saying "I know because I've had safeguarding training" when in reality I am aware that a fair amount of the training I have had hasn't been great. And therefore potentially so has other posters.

Training isn't infallible and it doesn't mean there aren't situations where you might be unsure. Just because you have had a lot of training in something doesn't mean you are going to be confident you are doing the right thing. As I said in my pp there are situations which can appear innocuous but your gut is telling you something else, that's why I said if in doubt report

Anyone in a position of authority doing 'favours' for A student is a safeguarding risk. Report it. Again and again if necessary.

however, OP has not cleared up if that is the case or not, no matter how many times they are asked

OP stated charging students phones for them which would indicate more than one student

I am aware that a fair amount of the training I have had hasn't been great.

So the way to rectify that is to feed back to the trainers.

If I undertake training that I feel could have been better and I have constructive criticism to offer, I include that on my feedback form.

familyofaliens I have? I said that in my last post ffs. It's really completely irrelevant to my point

I’ve read your last post twice now and can’t see where you’ve written that you fed back your comment to the trainer.

You said
Have you given feedback back to the trainer

I said yes of course

FamilyOfAliens
There is no need to be so agressive! You might want to look at your own safeguarding understanding if you really think that safeguarding is report to the DSL and ‘job done’
That is absolutely where safeguarding falls down! You should never just hand it off like that!
OP - as others have said if this member of staff is breaking school rules in order to do ‘favours’ for pupils particularly if it’s of one sex, then that is a classic RED flag. On its own, it may just be incredibly stupid, a male ego thing to ‘prove’ he’s cool/young whatever however you would question why a teacher would prioritise that, however it may be something worse. Speak to the DSL and have a discussion about what happens next.

Phones will have passcodes so it's not safeguarding.

🍆

You might want to look at your own safeguarding understanding if you really think that safeguarding is report to the DSL and ‘job done’

Ignoring the fact that I didn’t say safeguarding was complete when you report concerns to a DSL, we are all responsible for keeping children safe. However, we all have different roles in that.

DSLs are responsible for acting on concerns raised by staff or parents in school. We have a variety of ways in which we respond to those concerns. The local authority training that I deliver makes it clear that it is not the role of every member of staff to decide how to respond to concerns. It is their job to report them.

I’m sure you can imagine the chaos that would ensue if safeguarding policy in schools was a free-for-all with no clear boundaries with respect to different people’s role in the process.

And please do report any posts where I’ve been “aggressive”, as it’s against talk guidelines.