Safeguarding Children and Young People: Education Essay

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
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Safeguarding Children and Young People
Various quarters responsible for policy formulation are currently working around the clock to ensure that children and young people are safe within the school environment. Safety in school is essential because a safe environment allows learners to absorb what they learn without hindrance from other factors. It is everyone's responsibility in the learning environment, including teachers and other staff members, to ensure that children are always safe whenever they are in school. This goal is often achieved by training the relevant staff to detect and respond to incidences that may jeopardize a learner's safety within the learning environment. The Protection of Freedoms Act of 2012 introduced new regulations where authorities required a thorough vetting and selection of staff working with children and young people in regulated areas such as schools. As a response, various educational centers have rolled out plans to ensure that they implement this act to the latter. In turn, schools have become more secure today than before, thanks to the education docket's efforts. Therefore, the following paper discusses how policy guides educationists to implement safeguarding children and young people in schools.
The terms safeguarding and child protection are often used interchangeably. However, it is worth mentioning that they are broadly different and are hinged on varied principles. The term protection can only be used when the child or young person is at risk or vulnerable to harm within the school environment (Pearce 2014, p.86). On the other hand, safeguarding is a broad term that means taking care of all learners regardless of their vulnerability. Safeguarding in schools is based on three significant ideals. The first is that there has to be a straightforward safeguarding ethos. Secondly, there must be an established policy structure that sets out clear expectations and processes that would guide the safeguarding process (S.C.P.H.N., J.B.R.R.D. 2013, p.28). Finally, there has to be a presence of qualified staff who understand their roles and know what to do to effectuate children's safeguarding and protection in an education setting. As mentioned before, there is an official document that education authorities have availed to various learning institutions to help these institutions formulate a comprehensive plan to protect children and young people within these environments.
The policies that protect and safeguard children have been revised numerous times to ensure that the content always conforms to prevailing situations. According to the Children Act of 1989, a child is defined as "anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday, even if they live independently, are a member of the armed forces, or are in hospital (Lloyd 2018, p. 2024). This definition effectively places individuals from kindergarten to college level as children who need to be protected while at school. In expounding what safeguarding a child means, the department of education noted that,
"Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone's responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with chil...