The significance of Safer Recruitment and how it impacts your child.
What is safer recruitment and why is it so important for educational settings to follow this rigorous process for all staff, volunteers, and other professionals working with or meeting students in their setting?
Safer recruitment is a set of practices, that need to be followed, to help make sure your staff, volunteers, and other professionals are suitable to work with children and young people. It's a vital and essential part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keep children safe from harm, in whatever form that may take.
Wondering what are the best way to ensure this happens?
We have got you covered on the list below:
- Have a safer recruitment policy statement in place and known.
2. Establish clear written procedures and make sure everyone who is involved with any form of recruitment understands them fully and can follow them.
3. Plan any recruitment process in advance to make sure there is a consistent approach every time a new staff member or volunteer is recruited.
4. Always define the role for any position within the setting. The job description and the person specification must highlight the importance of understanding safeguarding issues.
5. Ensure a clear safeguarding message is sent out when advertising the role. Every advert for a role that includes work with children should include a statement about the settings commitment to keeping children safe. If the role requires a criminal records check, this should be included in the advert.
6. Every position advertised should have an accompanying application pack. The application pack ensures that people interested in applying for a role have all the information they need about the organization and the vacancy.
7. Use a standard application form for all roles, whether it be paid or unpaid. This helps make sure all the information needed from each candidate is obtained.
8. A self-disclosure form gives candidates the opportunity to confidentially disclose about any unspent criminal convictions, child protection investigations or disciplinary procedures they have on their record. If the role requires an enhanced criminal records check, applicants should also be asked to disclose any unprotected spent convictions and cautions. More guidance on this can be sort from the region in which the setting is located.
9. References are an essential part of the process and applicants should be asked to provide the details of at least two referees and references must be checked as part of the vetting checks. It’s best practice to use a standard reference form for all roles, to make sure all the information needed is obtained.
10. The shortlisting process of selecting applicants for interview should be carried out by at least two people. They should each be clear about what their role involves and should assess each application form according to how well it meets the criteria set out in the person specification.
11. All applicants should be assessed on their ability to carry out the role, based on justifiable and objective criteria. Plan a range of selection methods that are clearly related to the person specification and have at least three people on the interview panel, one of which is the chair. Agree beforehand who is responsible for ensuring all assessments are conducted fairly and candidates are treated equally. Involving children, young people and their families in recruitment can be a useful way of finding the right people for the role.
12. Interviews to recruit people to work with children should always be conducted face-to-face. Plan the questions in advance and choose questions that relate to items in the person specification that enable the panel to explore the candidate’s suitability to work with children, their attitude, and their motivations for applying for the role.
13. Check each candidate’s identity when they first start the interview process and arrive at the setting or before the virtual interview. Each candidate must be asked the same questions so that they are all treated equally. The candidates during the interview should establish and maintain professional boundaries and professional integrity
14. If the candidate be successful, make it clear that any job offer is still subject to satisfactory completion of all the vetting processes undertaken.
The process, if followed ensures that any setting safer recruits. For more information, training and support please do contact Zen Khan Professional Development and Education Services. We support your team on all professional development requirements and needs, including Safer Recruitment guidance and can help you to establish a Safer Recruitment Policy in your setting and step by step easy to follow procedures. Reach us at [email protected]. Contact:- +97144049629