This is probably the most important part of a DSL/DSPs role, yet it is the one that we rarely do. I’m just as guilty as I haven’t really spoken a lot about it on my courses. The Welsh Government introduced Supervision in ‘Keeping Learners Safe 2020’, but didn’t provide any details on how it would be funded, or how it might look in practice. In England they mentioned it in the consultation for KCSiE but then it didn’t appear in the final version and hasn’t since.
On all the courses I co-deliver with LimeCulture we always talk about self-care in safeguarding. The whole point is that if we don’t look after ourselves how can we then look after others. Don’t get me wrong – I wish we lived in a world where our work level and content did not require this, and it was a nice extra.
Self-care can take many forms; personally I am not a mindfulness-type person, I keep trying it but it’s simply not for me. My self-care is more active such as riding, walking the dog, swimming, etc. This gives me time alone to process things and clear my mind.
On the LimeCulture Sexual Misconduct Liaison Officer training we ask participants about a song that either takes them to a happy place, makes them get up and dance, makes them feel safe, etc. What would your selection be? Mine so far has been Metallica – Enter Sandman (it takes me to the Principality Stadium and Wales coming out onto the rugby pitch), Survivor – Eye of the Tiger (it reminds me of the fun we used to have during school hockey matches).
In my mind, supervision is one part of the puzzle for ensuring that staff do not burn out. Headteachers really need to consider the workload of DSL/DSPs because if they were to go off with stress and burnout you would have to cover the whole of their role. Asking staff when they feel they might be starting to struggle and having SLT take action is, then, a far better proposition for the school, pupils and families.
The main point is that staff need to feel able to have open and honest conversations and know they will be listened to. In safeguarding, we often say that it isn’t the child’s responsibility to tell us, but for us to create opportunities for them to talk. This same rule should be applied to staff in order to promote a culture of openness and to safeguard everyone in our setting.