Perspectives on safeguarding and child protection in English schools: the new educational landscape explored

ABSTRACT

Background: Changes in England’s education policy have increased the autonomy of schools, thus substantially altering the nature of the role played by local government. Concurrently, a sharp rise in referrals to children’s social care services, together with budgetary pressures, have led local authorities to seek to manage demand by emphasising the role of other agencies in providing early help to children and families.

Purpose: This article focuses on schools’ engagement with safeguarding and child protection from the perspective of senior education and children’s social care professionals employed within local authorities. It considers the effect of policy developments on the relationship between local authorities and schools in meeting their statutory duties to identify and support vulnerable children and families (safeguarding) and intervening in those considered to be at risk of significant harm (child protection). This research was undertaken as the preliminary stage of a study investigating schools’ decision-making in child protection, their engagement in multi-agency working and the support available to schools.

Methods: Scoping interviews were conducted with 68 professionals working in children’s social care or education services in 20 local authorities across England that varied in terms of geographical location and socio-economic diversity. Interview transcripts were analysed qualitatively, using a two-phase process. The analysis included the identification of a thematic framework, mapping and interpretation.

Findings: In-depth analysis of the rich interview data allowed exploration of the participants’ perspectives, which elucidate and give insight into some of the emerging pressures that are challenging schools and local authorities, as well as the agencies supporting them. Key factors identified were: increasing school autonomy; the upward trend in the rate of referral to children’s social care services and rising thresholds for accessing those services; and the availability and nature of ‘early help’ for children not meeting the threshold for social care intervention.

Conclusions: Pending later data gathered through surveys and directly from schools, the findings from this preliminary study suggest that local authorities face new challenges in working with a fragmented educational community: while their statutory responsibilities remain, the channels by which they are carried out have been severely weakened.

KEYWORDS:

• Safeguarding
• child protection
• decentralisation
• local authorities
• education management
• child social care

Acknowledgments

We are most grateful to all participants for their co-operation and time, as well as their willingness to share their experiences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In England, local government authorities (such as county councils and unitary authorities) hold responsibilities for local services including education and social care (see further https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works).

2. In England, Academies (see further https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/academies) and Free Schools (see further https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/free-schools) are independent schools that are publicly funded.

3. In June 2018, Local Safeguarding Children Boards were abolished by the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and replaced by multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

4. Following the Children Act 2004, the term ‘LEA’ became obsolete in practice. It is still used in legislation passed since 2004 to distinguish local authorities with education functions from those without. See further details in Thomson Reuters, Practical Law, 2019 https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/Browse/Home/Practice/LocalGovernment?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&bhcp=1 Accessed 21 August 2019 .

5. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review and Relevant Agency (England) Regulations 2018, SI2018/789.

6. Organisations that were deemed relevant by way of their work on the subject, as well as relevant national organisations, were also approached to contribute to the scoping stage. Data from these 20 interviews will be reported elsewhere.

7. Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills in England. It inspects services providing education and skills for learners of all ages and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

8. The Troubled Families Programme (England) is a government ‘programme of targeted intervention for families with multiple problems, including crime, anti-social behaviour, truancy, unemployment, mental health problems and domestic abuse.’ See further https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7585 Accessed 21 August 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The views expressed are those of the authors alone.