Standards and advice for commissioners, and things to consider.
Who this guidance is for
This guidance is for:
- anyone who commissions or appoints paid trainers to run safeguarding training in Wales to the workforce for children and adults at risk
- people who want to run specific or generic safeguarding training
- people who commission in-house trainers
- people who run safeguarding training as part of a wider job role.
It should help you appoint effective and appropriate trainers.
You should use it in addition to the organisational standards for commissioning procedures.
Why it’s important to have the right trainer
Safeguarding is a very particular and demanding topic to deliver.
Trainers need to be sensitive, knowledgeable and credible.
It’s important that practitioners get the right training, so they’re competent to do their safeguarding role.
Choosing the right training
Organisations are responsible for choosing the relevant training for their staff.
Organisations have a responsibility to make training, learning and development opportunities available for their staff.
Employees have a responsibility to make sure they take part in training, learning and development opportunities.
But there may be occasions when:
- a learner attends a course or event that doesn’t fit their current safeguarding role
- a learner hasn’t done enough learning before a course or event to prepare properly.
Trainers on these courses may want to have a discreet conversation with the learner about other, more appropriate courses, and invite the learner to leave the course or event.
Trainer standards
To make sure everyone gets the same quality of training, it’s important that trainers keep to the same set of standards.
Standard 1
Trainers need to be appropriately experienced practitioners or qualified trainers.
They should have extensive practical knowledge of safeguarding from a relevant background (for example: social care, social work, youth work, education or police).
Standard 2
All safeguarding training is linked to the Wales Safeguarding Procedures, which are reviewed and updated.
Trainers must demonstrate that they know the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) 2014 Act, specifically Part 7 (Safeguarding).
Standard 3
Training needs to have clear aims and objectives. It also needs to meet agreed learning outcomes, and have a positive impact on learners’ practice.
Standard 4
Training and development needs to:
- informed by current research
- be based on evidence
- include lessons from child or adult practice reviews (Single Unified Safeguarding Reviews), local and national policy, and practice development.
Standard 5
Training materials must be clear, accurate, relevant and up-to-date.
They must be available in English and Welsh.
Standard 6
The training will be done by trainers with relevant training experience, who can prove their skills and competencies.
Trainers should have completed, or be working towards, a ‘Train the Trainer’ programme or an equivalent professional qualification.
Standard 7
Training will be done in an accessible environment that’s appropriate for learning.
Anyone who has to do the training should have the opportunity to attend.
Standard 8
Training should have an ethos that values working collaboratively with others, respects diversity.
Training should also meet standards for Welsh Language, race, religion and disability, and promote equality.
Standard 9
Training will be evaluated to make sure that standards are being kept, and that it enhances practice in the long and short term.
Standard 10
Training should place the child or adult at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child’s or adult’s daily life experience.
Standard 11
Training should encourage healthy debate and appropriate challenge, and support peer learning.
Standard 12
Training should give learners an opportunity for learners to share concerns, be supported with sensitive issues and be referred to, or told, the right service.
Trainers should explain and keep the appropriate confidentiality level.
What trainers need to consider
The trainer should know the commissioning organisation’s safeguarding policies and its reporting procedures.
Trainers should also know the policies, procedures and protocols for the Regional Safeguarding Board in the region they’re training.
The trainer may need to pass concerns raised by anyone during the training to someone more senior.
Proving you’re meeting the standards
The training commissioner should consider what evidence could be presented to support each of the standards.
Trainers may need to provide evidence before or after training.
For example, Standards 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 should appear as requirements in a tendering or commissioning process.
The trainer’s evidence or credentials could answer Standards 1, 2, 6, 10, 11 and 12.
Evidence could include:
- training certificates
- a CV
- testimonials
- previous course evaluations.
It would be helpful for trainers to:
- give a sample of their own training materials
- describe how they use recognised learning resources
- show they understand how the safeguarding courses they deliver relate to the bigger picture (for example: the All Wales Induction Framework for Health and Social Care).
Training commissioners will consider the trainer’s broad understanding of:
- the Wales National safeguarding training, learning and development standards
- the Group A e-learning module
- group B content from the All Wales basic safeguarding awareness training pack.
Evaluating the training
The commissioner should ask the trainer:
- how they’ll evaluate the learning that takes place during the course
- how they’ll evaluate the learners’ experience of the course
- how they could evaluate the long-term effect of the learning on practice.
The commissioner may wish to drop in or watch some, or all, of the training.
They may do this in person, or send someone to attend on their behalf, and ask for direct feedback from the learners.
The commissioner may use the feedback and evaluation to decide if they’ll hire the same trainer in the future.
GDPR, confidentiality and raising concerns in training
The trainer will be expected to treat all learners’ personal information with respect in line with GDPR. They can only use this information for the training they’re about to run.
Learners may raise issues or asks questions in the training which may need to be considered by the commissioning body.
The trainer should share these with the commissioner.
First published: 9 November 2023
Last updated: 13 November 2023
Series last updated: 10 December 2024
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