Child Safeguarding: What Every Parent and Educator Should Know

Today, we are exploring a subject that sits quietly behind every positive learning experience a child has, yet is often spoken about far too little. Child safeguarding.

Many of us can trace our development back to a teacher, mentor, or coach who believed in us and guided us along the way. Teaching, in any form, is a privilege. When someone entrusts you with their child’s development, they are also entrusting you with their safety and well-being. That responsibility reaches far beyond the classroom.

Our guest today, Claire Murphy, works with Merlin Tuition, a British tutoring agency built around the values of strong academic standards, professionalism and respect. At the centre of their approach lies a commitment that should exist in every place where children are taught, coached, or mentored. Safeguarding.

In schools across the United Kingdom, safeguarding is embedded into professional practice. Staff are trained to recognise concerns, maintain appropriate boundaries and understand how to respond if something does not feel right. But outside formal school environments, in private tutoring, clubs, coaching and enrichment activities, the picture is often far less clear.

Many people working with children are dedicated professionals with the very best intentions. Yet without clear safeguarding practices, training and accountability, both children and practitioners remain vulnerable.

In this conversation, we explore what safeguarding really means, why it matters beyond the classroom and how parents can feel more confident asking the right questions when choosing activities or support for their children.

This discussion is not designed to alarm anyone. Its purpose is far simpler and far more constructive. To raise awareness, to encourage transparency and to help create environments where children can learn, grow and flourish safely.

#ChildSafeguarding
 #ChildProtection
 #SafeguardingChildren
 #ChildSafety
 #SafeLearningEnvironments

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Oh, there we are. Show self-view. Brilliant. Right. Okay. So, what I'd love to do, ladies and gentlemen, is I have this great honor of introducing a very dynamic young lady who we've had the privilege of knowing for just over six months now. This young lady approached us a while ago to join us on our Train The Trainer and was part of the first cohort to be hosted here in North Florida. And it's with great joy that we welcome uh Claire Murphy into this uh podcast room. And it's something that a lot of us do not really consider uh on our journeys as coaches and as trainers, and it really does affect us all in one way or another. Not only that as coaches and trainers, but as teachers, as lecturers, and as adults and as parents. And you know, the most important thing that I truly know for a fact as we live in this digital space, uh, AI, artificial intelligence, or IA intelligence assistance, we have very scary uh opportunities. And I use that word opportunities because people are using these opportunities to cause chaos and cause great harm to people uh right across the board. It was just the other day that I was listening to a lawyer uh talking about how children at school alone are using AI to create pornographic images of people who've never in their wildest dreams would ever do that or be exposed to that sort of thing. So we're living in a very precarious world and and a very, I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, very unsafe. And in this journey today, Claire is going to be giving us some real insights, A, into her background and B, her passion for working with uh students. But not only that, Claire has taken on her shoulders to understand the intricacies behind the importance of how we as human beings, as coaches, trainers, teachers, parents can really, really identify what's going on, how we can safeguard, how we can hopefully put fires out. In other words, preempt a risk and put that fire out on the specific journey. Uh, before we really get into this, I really would love to just take this opportunity to introduce Claire. And as I said, uh Claire came to us a while ago and focused on training the trainer with hopefully the view to be delivering coaching and training in the space that we are so passionate about, and that is really the power of etiquette, manners, emotional intelligence. How do we show up every single day? And Claire began her professional journey of all things as an ecologist, and uh she studied animal behavior and from there moved into a space which, in my opinion, makes a lot of sense. I think, as human beings, we didn't fall too far from the tree. Uh, our DNA is only well one chromosome away from, let's say, a chimpanzee, for example. But animal behavior and human behavior, there's a lot to be said for this, and so much so that there's such a fantastic podcast that human beings react the same way as animals do when they're scared, or when they're feeling very confident, or very bold, or they're going to attack or be very aggressive. So, literally going through that journey, uh, she started focusing on human beings and how we as human beings communicate and how we develop and establish our relationships, not just professionally, but also amongst each other as couples, as friends. And as we stand today, uh, Claire is now the director and uh of of Merlin Tuition, which is a private tutoring agency specializing predominantly in the UK. But having said that, there are UK standards and international baccalaureate and GCSEs and A levels that are delivered from many organizations around the world. So, for example, for those of you who are not familiar with these uh style or type of education uh symbols, this is very much based around the United Kingdom and the system that sits around the United Kingdom. But there are companies and organizations who've uh uh planted an establishment in places around the world. For example, if you go to Hong Kong, you will find that there are organizations which represent the British schools, the British system. And in doing so, Claire has taken it, as I mentioned earlier, on uh the power and importance of safeguarding uh our children as we go through this journey as coaches and tutors. And in the United Kingdom, it is actually a legal requirement for you to have the ability and the now and the knowledge to understand the ins and outs of dealing with children. Uh, we have a very strong foundation organization called the NSPCC, which again Claire will elaborate on. And Claire, a very warm welcome. I hope that introduction paints a strong picture for the audience.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Thank you so much, Philip. That was absolutely beautiful introduction into um my work and um safeguarding in the UK as well, and how education systems in the UK work too. And I am going to admit there's been a very roundabout journey going from ecologist to director.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

That's wonderful. And I've got to know you, Leanne's got to know, we've got to know you here at the British School of Excellence. And you put on the most incredible presentation for our fellow alumni on our on Changemakers Collective the other day, and the response was phenomenal. And this is, by the way, ladies and gentlemen who are listening out here, this is a global audience. These are train-the-trainer students from all over the world, and the safeguarding guidance and and uh the stimulation was huge, the feedback was immense, and many or all of the uh alumni that were in in attendance of of the presentation just earlier this week were were really bold over and understood the intricacies behind it, the things they'd never ever uh thought about. So, for those of you listening uh uh from all over the world, I would love you, Claire, just to give people a very dumbed-down version of what does safeguarding uh mean in these pr in in practical terms.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Okay, so um in the UK, by definition, child safeguarding are all the practices and procedures we have in place to ensure children are kept safe from harm and are supported in the right way. And this includes how staff and volunteers are recruited, ensuring we're hiring the right sorts of people, the policies and procedures organisations have in place, ensuring staff are properly trained, to ensure that children are listened to and that staff know what to do if they see something that doesn't feel right. And this is what would be called a safeguarding concern. Child protection, on the other hand, refers to a very small percentage of children in the UK that need extra support and intervention. And as a note, I have seen safeguarding child protection as terms used interchangeably to mean similar things, and I suspect this depends on the country. So the definitions I'm using are specifically the UK definitions that I'm familiar with. And I think it's important to note that during the podcast I will be using the term child, but in the UK, a child is anyone under the age of 18. So child includes teenagers as well. And um all organisations, so not just schools, but all organizations and individuals that work with or come to contact with children should have safeguarding policies and procedures in place to help keep these children safe. And that means that in the UK, safeguarding is considered everyone's responsibility because no one person can have a full understanding to what's happening with child's life, and that's why it's so important that we all work together to keep children safe.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

And I think just what you shared there, Claire, it's so important that we are all very situationally aware and also socially present when it comes to working with children, be it online or be it actually physically in person. And I think what you just shared there is so on point. What you may see, uh I may not see. So I think just if I may reiterate in the way I understand it, is that it's fundamental that we are all very switched on when it comes to focusing and working with children.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yeah, absolutely right, Philip. Spot on.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

That's really, really wonderful. That's really, really wonderful. And tell me, when it comes to um the whole journey of what we shared about, it's everybody's responsibility. Uh what does so, for example, as an organization with MERL, when you are delivering coaching and training, and I know you've got a fantastic operation and you do global coaching and training, what what would be a specific signal or sign that you might be able to pick up on, for example?

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Oh, so like a possible um safeguarding concern.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

That is correct, yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Ah, sure. So I mean safeguarding concerns they can take all sorts of forms, so the sign itself can be very subtle. They could be something quiet, like a behavioural change. Um, perhaps the students a bit quieter, a bit more withdrawn. Sometimes they could be things like bruises, or maybe the child is um says something to you, makes a disclosure. Or perhaps you hear someone around you say something that doesn't quite feel right, and that are all things we consider a safeguarding concern, and they can range from things like mental health to bullying to more serious cases of abuse.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Okay, and if I may ask a very open and very personal question, obviously everything that you do as a coach and as a trainer, and I think any organization out there, especially in the private coaching sector, we are not legally bound to follow certain rules of engagement. Am I correct in saying that?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

So um I think it's it would be helpful to explain the difference between schools and the private sector. So with schools, safeguarding training is mandatory for staff and teachers in UK schools, and every year they receive safeguarding training to ensure that they know what to do if a safeguarding concern comes up. And this is statutory safeguarding guidance, this is legal guidance they have to follow. By comparison, the legal the sorry, the private sector or out-of-school settings, which involves tutors, coaches, clubs, sports, dance groups, religious groups, there is no single legal framework that governs how these settings can actually operate. Now there is guidance available, but they're more of a you should follow these rules rather than a must. And why is that the case? Well, possibly because this sector is so varied. A teacher is pretty much defined, but a private tutor can range from a kid uh tutoring their next door neighbour all the way up to a professional. So where do you draw the line? And a reason why this is a safeguarding risk is because so many truce and coaches aren't aware that they have a legal duty to safeguard children because, as we mentioned earlier, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, so they may not know what to do or have the confidence to know how to actually handle a safeguarding concern when it happens, which if you're not prepared for can be both very distressing to both the child and the coach, and I think what really surprises everyone I talk to is that when I tell them every candidate we have interviewed has experienced a safeguarding concern.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Claire, I mean, we can open up a huge can of worms here. One of the can of worms I really want to open up, why, in your opinion and and again from your experience, do you believe or feel that this has not been legislated and and and put into place? Because again, anyone working with children, A, should be looking for potential areas of potential harm or abuse from that side, but also as a coach and as a trainer, we can also have a finger pointing at us as well. I know from my experience when I've in the past worked at schools or gone in and worked, and that's teenagers or children. I I was legally required to hold uh a couple of uh specific uh certificates. One of them was a police report, and the other one was uh I had to um go through, I can't remember the exact you'll know the term, but I had to go through paperwork in order to certify that I was legally allowed to be present in and around children. And the other thing that I I know for a fact is uh the situation where even now in schools in the UK, and you mentioned schools, and I know this is a bit long-winded, but uh a teacher needs to be present with another teacher when they're with a child. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 14:17

That's absolutely correct. Um, you should um always have another adult present or around when you are with children.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

And and and that now going back to the my, and that was very long-winded, double sort of a double question. With regard to what in your opinion, why do you think that we the legislation has not been hit hard with a hammer and that we that all people engaging with children in in especially predominantly we've obviously uh taken away the the the school side of thing because that's that's a legal requirement, but more in the private sector, why has that not been policed and put into place uh to date?

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Gosh, that is a big question, and I think it's it's a challenging one to answer. I think firstly, it's such a varied and difficult complex area to form a set of uh to form a framework around, but it is gaining more attention. So uh the BBC recently released a um an investigation where they found that 90 people with the previous offences against children were caught private tutoring over the past 20 years, and these are just the people who have been caught. And from what I understand, this sparked has been one of the cases that sparked a large debate. Um, what more could we be doing to safeguard children against cases like this? Uh, recently there has been new guidance released for parents, and this helps parents to know what questions to ask when they're approaching an out-of-school provider, which I think is very empowering for parents. I know I'm one of the few people that might see policy as empowerment, but I think it's good to know where the boundaries are, what is acceptable, what's not acceptable, and I think what questions you can be asking of these people that you're approaching to help support your children.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, that that that that's gonna lead into my next question. Actually, it's perfectly you placed that very well. What now, okay, so so again, what uh from a parent's perspective, before we go into you know the coach at the coaches and the teachers' side of things and what they should be looking out for and what they should be doing on the safeguarding front, with regard to parents, uh just a few little bullet points would be really useful. What should they be looking for before uh they even consider a coach or a trainer or a private tutor? What should parents be looking for or and what direct questions could they be? And I know there's obviously going to be a long list, but if you could just pinpoint, you know, give me a give give us a handful of really poignant questions uh that they could put out there uh in an email as well as verbally.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

I think that's an excellent question to be asking. So um, what parents can ask for is a child protection policy depending on the environment you're going in? Is there someone in charge of first aid? Is there a parental consent form with emergency details that they had to fill out? How are they storing information about your child? Is it secure? Who has access to this information and will they share it with anyone? How do they recruit their staff volunteers? Are there checks and background background checks and how do they interview them? Um what training does the duty staff have afterwards? Do they have some form of safeguarding or child protection training? Are there other are the adults there? And if so, how regularly does if they are providing internet, um will the child be using internet unsupervised? Do they have online safety policies? These are the kind of questions that you can be asking. And the document which is called Using After School Clubs, Tuition and Community Activities has a list of questions that parents can be asking, and even though it's for the UK, I think that the considerations extend far beyond the UK.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Well, I I remember uh just earlier this week when you were connecting and engaging with uh chain with the ChangeMakers Collective, you the the information, even though it's so-called English or British, uh uh the UK based, uh from what I've read and what I've seen, it it really is a global uh almost a global dossier that you one could lean on. Uh because no disrespect to one country versus another country, if one follows those guidelines, I would imagine you will be in pretty sod you'd be put on pretty solid ground uh and and it'd be a fantastic.