Non-school providers - child safety knowledge, skills and awareness

About the Standard

This Standard seeks to ensure staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.

Providers must provide training to staff and volunteers so they can protect children from harm and:

create child safe environments
respond to allegations of abuse.

How to comply

Under the previous Standards, non-school providers had to provide child safety training to staff and volunteers. There are new requirements on what the training must cover.

A non-school provider must ensure that their child safety training includes:

how to build culturally safe environments for children
information sharing and recordkeeping obligations
identifying and managing child safety risks
how to recognise indicators of child harm including harm caused by other children
how to support and implement the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct
the procedures for responding to complaints and concerns about child abuse
ensuring staff understand their reporting obligations
how to respond effectively to issues of child safety and wellbeing and supporting colleagues who disclose harm.

Provide child safety training to volunteers that work with children. This doesn't mean that volunteers receive identical training to staff. Training should be appropriate to the nature and responsibilities of the volunteer’s role.

If in doubt whether a volunteer works with children, assume they do.

Examples of compliance

A non-school provider complying with this Standard may:

promote continuous learning and provide regular ongoing education and training
ensure staff build their knowledge and ability to keep children safe
have and maintain a register of staff and volunteers trained to identify signs of child abuse
make sure leadership and governing body members:
- model and champion child safety
- receive child safety training
review and revise existing child safety training to ensure that it meets requirements.

In complying with Child Safe Standard 8, an organisation must, at a minimum, ensure:
- staff and volunteers are trained and supported to effectively implement the organisation’s child safety and wellbeing policy
- staff and volunteers receive training and information to recognise indicators of child harm including harm caused by other children and young people
- staff and volunteers receive training and information to respond effectively to issues of child safety and wellbeing and support colleagues who disclose harm
- staff and volunteers receive training and information on how to build culturally safe environments for children and young people.
- The Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP)(opens in a new window) — provides resources and support for the Child Safe Standards including a 'Guide for creating a Child Safe Organisation' which contains information on the knowledge, skills and awareness staff and volunteers need to keep children and young people safe.

Education

Updated 24 October 2022