When something is everyone’s business, sometimes we adopt the attitude that we don’t need to do anything, assuming that someone else will have noticed and reported it. This can be the case whether it is a health and safety concern, such as water on the floor that all staff walk past in the morning, or a safeguarding concern about a child that you know is always late to school because they’ve told you they are caring for someone and says everyone knows.
I was with a colleague, Maria from LimeCulture, who was delivering a Sexual Misconduct Liaison Officer course. I was meant to be shadowing, but those who know me know I find it very hard not to open my mouth! During the training session, this point was raised, and Maria’s reply was a good one: the problem with making safeguarding everybody’s business is that it can then be nobody’s priority.
This notion revisited me on a recent Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) course on safeguarding in education that I implemented. A participant recounted that one of the main things he would take from the course would be to report all concerns and not assume that others had already reported it.
So, please, can we create and maintain a safeguarding culture where safeguarding is a priority for all?