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Reducing the risks faced by adults working with children and young people in Education, Care and Health Service Settings.
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As Director of Team Teach, l believe that there is a serious need for the education and committed involvement of key players, managers and leaders, who can impact significantly when it comes to decisions involving the actions of professionals who are often acting in good faith, in the best interests of children, making an “on the spot” dynamic risk assessment and using force reasonably, proportionately and through necessity. I acknowledge there are a few times when adults use force inappropriately from which children need to be robustly safeguarded.
Accredited training provides a structure by which both outcomes can be achieved.
I strongly recommend that within a school context as part of Governor’s training, a presentation on the use of force / physical interventions should be provided to every Governing Body. I am happy for the PowerPoint presentation (it can be found in the Let’s Share Area on the TT web site) to be used for such a purpose. Equally, each Governor should have a copy of the DCSF Use of Force Guidance. This too can be downloaded from the same area. This same principle applies to care and health service settings.
In addition, those charged with the responsibility for Safeguarding in a local authority should be invited to attend a 6 or 12 hour TT course. The Local Authority Designated Officer should be able to contact their local Team Teach trainer in order to access the Let’s Share Area http://www.team-teach.co.uk/guidance/ in order that they too are fully aware of what the techniques look and when attending training, feel like – otherwise it is impossible for them to carry out a fair investigation into staff actions where TT techniques may have been involved.
I suspect that if we are able to carry out the above two actions in each local authority then potentially a great deal of misery and stress can be reduced and minimised.
Best wishes for 2010
George |
01 Jan 2010 by George Matthews
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