Research into contemporary safeguarding practice in schools
ESRC funded research project: Supporting and engaging schools in decision-making and multi-agency working for the protection and safeguarding of children
Colleagues are encouraged to respond to the survey by 22 June to help with the request to understand the pressures facing schools in relation to safeguarding/child protection.
Schools should already have received an email from Adrian Over explaining that Warwickshire County Council has agreed to participate in research, along with a number of other Local Authorities, looking into safeguarding practice in schools and schools' engagement with partner agencies in undertaking safeguarding activity. The research is being conducted by Dr Carl Purcell, Research Associate at King's College London
John Coleman, Head of Service for Children and Families, and Adrian Over, Education Safeguarding Manager, have already responded to detailed questionnaires and are keen for as many schools as possible to also respond. It should take no more than 5 minutes to complete.
Information provided by Dr Purcell provides more information:
The overall aims of the project are to investigate the nature and quality of:
- contemporary safeguarding practice within schools
- schools’ engagement with other agencies in child protection and safeguarding practice.
More detail about the project can be found at:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/scwru/res/knowledge/EdProt.aspx
The research team is planning to carry out case studies in 5 local areas. Warwickshire children’s services have agreed participate in one of these case studies. These case studies will help the research team to understand the pressures schools face in relation to safeguarding/child protection. The case studies will involve:
- a short questionnaire for local schools.
- follow-up interviews/discussions with staff at 10 schools.
- Interviews/discussions with local authority staff.
- Feedback on findings.
The short questionnaire can be accessed via the link below. This has been sent to all maintained schools in Warwickshire. We hope you feel able to contribute to this research by completing this questionnaire by 22nd June 2018.
https://kings.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/schools-and-multi-agency-safeguarding-schools-questionn-4
All the information you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be shared outside of the research team. Any report on the questionnaire will not identify any school or individual. A privacy notice explaining how the data will be handled by the research team is attached to this email.
The research team have shared documents with the local authority evidencing approval for this work from King’s College London’s Ethics Panel and from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services Research Panel.
If you have any further questions about the research please contact:
Dr Carl Purcell: carl.purcell@kcl.ac.uk or 07949296640.