Safeguarding Policy
1. PURPOSE OF THIS POLICY
2. WHAT IS SAFEGUARDING?
3. SCOPE OF THIS POLICY
4. POLICY STATEMENT
5. PREVENTION OF HARM
6. STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PERSONNEL RESPONSIBILITIES
7. INCIDENT REPORTING
8. DESIGNATED PEOPLE
9. RESPONSE TO REPORTED INCIDENTS
10. INTERNAL REVIEW
11. CONFIDENTIALITY
12. GLOSSARY OF TERMS
1. Purpose of this Policy
The purpose of this policy is to protect people, particularly children, at-risk adults, and beneficiaries of assistance, from any harm that may be caused due to their coming into contact with Inspiring Teachers. This includes harm arising from:
- The conduct of staff or personnel associated with Inspiring Teachers; and
- The design and implementation of Inspiring Teacher’s programs and activities.
The policy lays out the commitments made by Inspiring Teachers and informs staff and associated personnel of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding. This policy does not cover sexual harassment in the workplace.
2. What is Safeguarding?
Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect.
At Inspiring Teachers, we understand safeguarding to mean protecting people, including children and at-risk adults, from harm that arises from coming into contact with our staff, associated personnel or programmes. Further definitions relating to safeguarding are provided in the glossary below.
3. Scope of this Policy
This Safeguarding Policy applies to the following persons in all work and activities they carry out in association with Inspiring Teachers, both during and outside of working hours:
- All staff contracted by Inspiring Teachers, as employees and as consultants;
- Inspiring Teachers Fellowship Partners, unless otherwise agreed with those partners (for example, if Partners already have their own Safeguarding Policies in place);
- Associated personnel whilst engaged with work or visits related to Inspiring Teachers. “Associated personnel” includes but is not limited to the following: consultants; volunteers; Fellows; team leaders; filmmakers; contractors; programme visitors including journalists, celebrities and politicians.
The obligation to protect people, particularly children, at-risk adults and beneficiaries of assistance, extends to conduct beyond the work environment.
4. Policy Statement
Inspiring Teachers’ mission is to get all children learning by improving teaching and our vision is to create a world in which every teacher is empowered to engage every child in learning.
Inspiring Teachers believes that everyone we come into contact with irrespective of ability, ethnicity, faith, gender identity, sexuality and culture has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation. LRTT will not tolerate abuse and exploitation by staff or associated personnel.
Inspiring Teachers programs work directly with teachers and not with children but the staff and associated personnel will come into contact with children and possibly at-risk adults. Therefore, accepting and following this safeguarding policy is a compulsory part of working, volunteering or visiting any LRTT programme.
While the diverse locations of our programmes may have different levels of safeguarding standards, Inspiring Teachers commits to upholding global standards of best practice. In the event of any inconsistency in global standards, UK best-practice standards shall be adopted.
In the event of any inconsistency between this policy and other Inspiring Teachers policies and guidance, or the policies of any of Inspiring Teacher’s partner organisations, this policy is assumed to prevail in any case where a person or persons are at risk of harm.
5. Prevention Of Harm
Inspiring Teachers will:
- Ensure all staff and associated personnel have access to, are familiar with, and comply with their responsibilities within this policy.
- Compliance with this policy is a requirement within all Contracts, voluntary agreements, Fellowship Term and Conditions, Code of Conduct, and Partner MOUs
- Staff and associated personnel receive a copy of, and agree to comply with, this safeguarding policy upon commencement of their relationship with Inspiring Teachers, and are reminded of the terms of this policy prior to participating in any Fellowship program.
- Ensure Partner Organisations have access to, are familiar with, and know their responsibilities within this policy.
- Partnerships are not approved with individuals or organisations whose investments or operations (both past and present) expose children and young people to abuse or exploitation.
- Due diligence checks of Partner Organisations include a review of the policies, procedures, and processes that are in place to safeguard children and young people.
- Where a partner does not have an adequate safeguarding policy, the partner agrees to comply with Inspiring Teachers’ policy as a requirement for partnership.
- Partner Organisations receive a Safeguarding briefing which includes detailed information of Inspiring Teachers minimum requirements for safeguarding.
- Written agreements exist between partners (normally an MOU or a contract) and detail the safeguarding commitments required to meet Inspiring Teachers standards.
- Design and undertake all its programs and activities in a way that protects people from any risk of harm that may arise from their coming into contact with Inspiring Teachers including:
- Where possible reducing activities that take teachers out of school and increase the risk of harm to their students
- Following Inspiring Teachers guidelines on taking photos and use of media
- Ensure that information about individuals in our programs is gathered, stored, and communicated in a way that respects and protects the privacy and personal information of those individuals, including:
- Pre and post-Fellowship teacher surveys
- Personal stories collected from Inspiring Teachers participants
- Research completed through Inspiring Teachers programs
- Risk assessments which include any specific child protection or safeguarding risks
- Implement stringent safeguarding procedures when recruiting, managing, and deploying staff and associated personnel, including:
- Use of safer recruitment practices according to NSPCC guidelines
- A requirement that Fellows, Team Leaders and other volunteers joining Programmes have a successful reference check, with no indicators of previous unsafe or inappropriate conduct. For Fellows and Team Leaders who are teachers, this will also include collecting a DBS number and a copy of their teaching certificate (where relevant).
- Team Leaders will be asked a range of situational questions during the interview to determine their suitability for the role; and will receive safeguarding training prior to commencement of their Fellowship program.
- All other staff and associated personnel must provide Inspiring Teachers with details of two referees who must not be family members, including at least one from a previous place of employment who has known the person for a minimum of 12 months. Referees will complete the reference request form. LRTT reserves the right to call referees to seek further information about the candidate’s practice in relation to children.
- Ensure staff receive training on safeguarding at a level commensurate with their role in the organization. Training needs to be completed prior to visiting an Inspiring Teachers program.
- For staff members: completion of safeguarding training module prior to visiting their first Inspiring Teachers program; and completion of refresher training if or when this safeguarding policy is updated.
- For Team Leaders: completion of safeguarding training module prior to commencement of Fellowship.
- For Fellows: completion of E-learns and Webinars that include child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures.
- Follow up on reports of safeguarding concerns promptly and according to due process as set out in this Policy document.
6. Staff and Associated Personnel Responsibilities
Child Safeguarding
Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel must not:
- Engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18
- Sexually abuse or exploit children
- Subject a child to physical, emotional or psychological abuse, or neglect
- Engage in any commercially exploitative activities with children including child labour or trafficking
- Spend time with children alone. This includes, but is not limited to, staff or associated personnel at a school or in the community or visiting other children they may have a connection to
Adult Safeguarding
Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel must not:
- Sexually abuse or exploit adults, including at-risk adults
- Subject any adult, including at-risk adults to physical, emotional, or psychological abuse, or neglect.
Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse
Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel must not:
- Exchange money, employment, goods, services, support or assistance for sexual activity.
- Engage in any sexual relationships with beneficiaries of assistance, since they are based on inherently unequal power dynamics.
Creating a safe and supportive environment
Additionally, Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel are obliged to:
- Contribute to creating and maintaining an environment that prevents safeguarding violations and promotes the implementation of this Safeguarding Policy.
- Report any concerns or suspicions regarding safeguarding violations by an Inspiring Teachers staff member or associated personnel to the appropriate staff member (in most cases, this shall be a Team Leader, Program Manager, or Director).
Photography and media guidelines
Filming and taking photos:
- All Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel must always ask permission when taking photographs of or filming people and/or their possessions.
- Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel should not take identifiable pictures or films of children or at-risk adults without parents’ or guardians’ permission.
Meaning of consent:
- Consent to take images of children or at-risk adults is only meaningful when the children or adult and their parents/carers understand the potential risks associated with the use and distribution of these images
Publication:
- Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel should not publish identifiable pictures of children or at-risk adults without their parents’ or guardians’ consent. ‘Publish’ in this context includes any form of social media, website or print publication, and includes temporary publication (for example via Snapchat).
- Where images of children or at-risk adults are taken and published with consent as set out above, the identity of those children or at-risk adults shall be protected by:
- changing the names of children or at-risk adults whose images are being used in our published material whenever possible (and only using first names if we do need to identify them)
- never publishing personal information about individual children or at-risk adults including removing any geo-location tags so the GPS coordinates remain private
- reducing the risk of images being copied and used inappropriately by:
- only using images of children or at-risk adults inappropriate clothing (including safety wear if necessary)
- avoiding full face and body shots of children or at-risk adults taking part in activities such as swimming where there may be a heightened risk of images being misused
- using images that positively reflect the person’s involvement in the activity
Reporting misuse of images:
- If any Inspiring Teachers staff or associated personnel become aware of misuse of images of children or at-risk adults taken or published in associated with LRTT’s programs and activities, they shall report it to the Designated Person.
Storing images:
- Inspiring Teachers will store photographs and videos of children securely, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and relevant data protection laws.
- All Inspiring Teachers staff and associated personnel must ensure that any images/films they take of children or at-risk adults are stored securely on password-protected devices.
7. Incident Reporting
Inspiring Teachers will ensure that safe, appropriate, accessible means of reporting safeguarding concerns are made available to staff and the communities we work with. Any allegation or concern regarding safeguarding must be treated seriously.
Any staff reporting concerns or complaints through formal whistleblowing channels (or if they request it) will be protected by the Inspiring Teachers Whistleblowing Policy. LRTT will also accept complaints from external sources such as members of the public, partners, and official bodies.
How to report a safeguarding concern
Staff members or associated personnel who have a complaint or concern relating to safeguarding should report it immediately to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. If the staff member or associated personnel does not feel comfortable reporting to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (for example if they feel that the report will not be taken seriously, or if that person is implicated in the concern) they may report to another senior manager or Director.
The procedure for reporting is outlined in figure 1 below which follows best practice from “Keeping Children Safe, UK”. Any safeguarding concern(s) raised shall be recorded using the serious incident report template (refer to “Associated Documents” section) by the person who is informed of the safeguarding concern(s) with support from the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Fig 1: Reporting a safeguarding concern or complaint, KeepingChildrenSafe.org.uk. 2014
8. Designated People
Safeguarding Lead
Simon Graffy
CEO & Co-Founder
simon.graffy@inspiringteachers.org
Deputy Safeguarding Lead
Tom Lewis
Head of Product & Co-Founder
tom.lewis@inspiringteachers.org
Where a Fellow, Team Leader, Program Manager, or other associated personnel becomes aware of a safeguarding incident, they should report the incident to the Designated Person as soon as possible. In some cases, Fellows or other associated personnel may first report the incident to their Team Leader or Programme Manager. That Team Leader or Program Manager should inform the Designated Person of the incident as soon as possible.
Abuse arising within the community may not be due to Inspiring Teachers’ programs or operations. However, Inspiring Teachers still has a responsibility, where appropriate, to report on suspected or actual child abuse taking place and respond to it according to the process set out in Figure 1. Prior to reporting any such harm or abuse, advice and guidance must be sought to ensure that people and their communities are not put at further risk or made vulnerable by the very act of reporting harm and/or abuse.
9. Response to Reported Incidents
LRTT, led by the Designated Safeguarding Lead, will respond to any safeguarding reports or concerns in accordance with this policy and any relevant legal and statutory obligations. Inspiring Teachers will also apply appropriate disciplinary measures to staff and associated personnel found in breach of this policy. Such response shall include any of the following actions that are deemed by Inspiring Teachers and the Designated Safeguarding Lead to be appropriate in the circumstances, together with any additional actions that Inspiring Teachers and the Safeguarding Lead consider to be necessary and appropriate:
- removing staff or associated personnel from a Fellowship programme;
- reporting the breach or safeguarding concerns to the relevant authorities in that person’s home country, as well as in the country the breach occurred;
- reporting the breach or safeguarding concern to that person’s employer (if not employed by Inspiring Teachers);
- reporting the breach or safeguarding concern to the relevant partner school or Partner Organisation;
- if employed or contracted by Inspiring Teachers, termination of that person’s employment or another contract for work;
- offer support to survivors of harm caused by staff or associated personnel, regardless of whether a formal internal response is carried out (such as an internal investigation). Decisions regarding support will be led by the survivor.
10. Internal Review
Inspiring Teachers Directors will review any serious incident forms relating to safeguarding and the responses at least twice a year, as part of the review of Fellowship programs. This safeguarding policy will be reviewed annually.
11. Confidentiality
It is essential that confidentiality is maintained at all stages of the process when dealing with safeguarding concerns. Information relating to the concern and subsequent case management should be shared on a need-to-know basis only and should be kept secure at all times, in accordance with Inspiring Teachers’ Data Protection and Privacy Policy.
Associated Documents
12. Glossary of Terms
Associated Personnel
All persons involved in delivering Inspiring Teachers programs, including (but not limited to) consultants, volunteers, Fellows, team leaders, program managers, filmmakers, contractors, and program visitors including journalists, celebrities, and politicians.
At-risk Adult
Sometimes also referred to as a vulnerable adult. A person who is or may be in need of care by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation.
Beneficiary of Assistance
Someone who directly receives goods or services from the Inspiring Teachers’ program, for example, in-country teachers and students.
Child
A person below the age of 18.
Child Safeguarding
For the purposes of this policy, ‘child safeguarding’ refers to Inspiring Teachers’ responsibility to make sure that their staff, Fellows, Team Leaders, and their operations and programs do no harm to children, and they do not expose children to the risk of harm or abuse.
Designated Person
Is the Inspiring Teachers staff person/people identified in the ‘Incident Reporting’ section of this policy as the main point of contact for reporting any safeguarding incidents?
Harm
Psychological, physical, and any other infringement of an individual’s rights
Partner
An organization that works in partnership with Inspiring Teachers to design, deliver or fund LRTT’s work. This may include organizations that have signed an MOU with Inspiring Teachers or those who support the programs less formally.
Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)
Refers to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse of children or any other beneficiaries of assistance by Inspiring Teachers staff or associated personnel. The term derives from the United Nations Secretary General’s Bulletin on Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (ST/SGB/2003/13).
Psychological harm
Emotional or psychological abuse, including (but not limited to) humiliating and degrading treatment such as bad name-calling, constant criticism, belittling, persistent shaming, solitary confinement, and isolation.
Safeguarding
Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. The purposes of this policy include protecting people, including children and at-risk adults, from harm that may arise from coming into contact with our staff, associated personnel, or programs.
Sexual abuse
The term ‘sexual abuse’ means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions.
Sexual exploitation
The term ‘sexual exploitation’ means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially, or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. This definition includes human trafficking and modern slavery.
Survivor
The person who has been abused or exploited. The term ‘survivor’ is often used in preference to ‘victim’ as it implies strength, resilience, and the capacity to survive, however, it is the individual’s choice how they wish to identify themselves.
Last updated: 25 May 2021