New safeguarding support from the ETF

The Education and Training Foundation (@E_T_Foundation) has launched a range of new and revised support for safeguarding, focusing on helping practitioners to create safe spaces for online teaching and learning, digital safeguarding, and safely recruiting staff and volunteers.

Creating a ‘Safe Space’ Online for Teaching and Learning

Creating a ‘Safe Space’ Online for Teaching and Learning is a new resource that aims to equip practitioners with the knowledge, skills and confidence to safely facilitate sessions online with learners in a variety of different contexts and settings. It deals with topics including recognising the importance of looking after yourself, how to be more in control of delivery, and what might be driving behaviour.

Designed to be practical and full of easy-to-implement thinking and activities, it will help users both engage with the theory behind the creation of safe spaces and reflect on what they have learnt to apply it. The resource has been written to be complementary to our guide Understanding and promoting positive behaviour in the FE sector, which considers how FE professionals can cultivate a positive environment for staff and learners.

Access Creating a ‘Safe Space’ Online for Teaching and Learning

Another new resource – the online Digital Safety module – is aimed at those responsible for digital safeguarding in work-based learning, community, FE colleges and independent training providers. It is divided into three sections that focus on identifying an effective approach to mitigating online harms and risks, developing a risk mitigation approach to them, and ensuring that your organisation adopts a best practice approach to online harms and risks for its learners.

The module will help those in digital safeguarding leadership positions develop their approach to mitigating risks to learners online. It contains a selection of case studies and videos and can be accessed on the FutureLearn platform.

The ETF has also published an updated version of its Safer Recruitment module. The resource looks at safer recruitment processes, making the right decision, and induction, exploring why they are important and how safer recruitment can be embedded in organisations. It includes links to further reading, Government guidance and templates. On average, the module will take around three hours to complete, with questions and a certificate at the end. It can be accessed on the ETF’s Foundation Online Learning platform.