Safeguarding Policy and Safer Recruitment and Selection Process

REd (Recruitment for Education) Safeguarding Policy - Keeping Children Safe in Education

REd (Recruitment for Education) is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and teachers to share this commitment and to be fully aware of the importance of child protection.

REd (Recruitment for Education) strictly adheres to the specific recruitment and vetting checks which must be made on all people who wish to work with children and young people. These requirements, outlined in the DfE document Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2016), have statutory force and are incorporated into REd’s Safer Recruitment and other relevant policies.

Further, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2009 outline specific duties and responsibilities for an employer in relation to barred persons, and to the sharing of information about individuals to the Disclosure and Barring Service. REd (Recruitment for Education) is committed to ensuring that its obligations here are met.

REd (Recruitment for Education) confirms that the following checks are completed before any teacher employed by REd starts working at a client school:

  • Proof of Identity
  • Proof of Address
  • Eligibility to work in UK
  • Qualification / Teaching Licence verification
  • Employment History Check
  • Prohibition from Teaching Check through the National College of Teaching and Leadership's (NCTL) Employer Access Online service
  • Disqualification and Disqualification by Association declaration (where applicable)
  • Professional Teaching Reference checks, at least two including one from most recent employer
  • Overseas Police Clearance (if applicable)
  • Up-to-date, valid, enhanced DBS check (including Barred Lists check) / Update service check
  • Fitness to teach
  • Suitable Level of fluency in English

Full clarification of the above requirements can be found in the company’s Recruitment and Selection Policy

Teacher Expectations:

REd (Recruitment for Education) expects its teachers to fulfil their duty to keep children and young people safe and to protect them from physical, emotional and sexual harm.

All teachers are required to agree to our specific Child Protection Policy, confirming that they will contribute to:

 providing a safe environment for children and young people to learn in, and

 identifying children and young people who are suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, and taking appropriate action with the aim of making sure they are kept safe both at home and at school.

Further, at induction, teachers are provided with initial safeguarding training and we also offer online safeguarding and Prevent Duty training to our teachers.

All teachers are provided a link to the current version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2016) and a booklet of both Part One and Annex A to read before they start at their school.

Dealing with Allegations:

REd (Recruitment for Education) strives to ensure that any allegations of abuse made against its teachers is dealt with fairly, quickly, and consistently, in a way that provides effective protection for the child/young person and at the same time supports the person who is subject to the allegation. We require our teachers to:

report the allegation to REd as soon as possible arrange to meet with REd to discuss the allegation prepare a written statement which provides his / her account of the situation in which the allegation was made.

Teachers are advised that during the investigation of an allegation they will not be placed into a school until the allegation has been satisfactorily resolved. REd (Recruitment for Education) will keep teachers informed of the progress of the case and will consider what other support is appropriate for the individual.

REd (Recruitment for Education) will work closely with all parties involved, including the school, Local Authority Designated Officer, social services and police. It will act on any requirements put in place during the process, whether to support the teacher's return to work or referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service and/or the National College of Teaching and Leadership.

Please forward any further queries about our safeguarding policy to:

Siân Beytell   sian@redteachers.com

Updated Feb 2018

 

REd (Recruitment for Education) Safer Recruitment and Selection Process

  1. Introduction

REd is an education recruitment company which specialises in introducing and employing teachers to work in schools.

REd recognises the importance of ensuring that all members of our client schools’ communities are safe, that their welfare is promoted and that students are able to learn effectively. A key aspect is in the recruitment and selection of teachers that we introduce or employ to work in those schools.

  1. Aims

The purpose of this policy is to set out the minimum requirements of the REd recruitment process that aims to:

  • provide full confidence in our intention to ensure we introduce or employ quality candidate to support the needs of all children and young people in our client schools
  • to identify and reject candidates who are unsuitable for work with children and young people
  • to confirm our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people
  • to confirm our expectation for all REd staff and candidates we introduce or employ to share this commitment
  1. Vetting Checks

All advertisements include the following statement:

“Our client school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. You will need a recognised teaching qualification and the right to work in the UK in order to be considered for the post.”

Initial telephone/Skype interview to establish minimum standards can be met and to ascertain initial suitability using the REd telephone vetting form.

Online search to establish whether further questions should be asked.

Prior to working in a school the following checks are completed:

  • Proof of Identity
  • Proof of Address
  • Eligibility to work in UK
  • Qualification / Teaching Licence verification
  • Employment History Check
  • Prohibition from Teaching Check through the National College of Teaching and Leadership's (NCTL) Employer Access Online service
  • Disqualification and Disqualification by Association declaration (where applicable)
  • Professional Teaching Reference checks, at least two including one from most recent employer
  • Overseas Police Clearance (if applicable)
  • Up-to-date, valid, enhanced DBS check (including Barred Lists check) / Update service check if REd will be the employer
  • Fitness to teach
  • Level of fluency in English

If a client school wishes a teacher to start with them before all the checks are completed, the client must agree in writing to the placement on these terms.

Proof of Identity/Address/Eligibility to Work in the UK

Every candidate has a personal interview/induction with a member of REd staff where identity, proof of current address and eligibility to work in the UK is verified. Documentation such as passport, birth certificate, driving licence are checked as proof of identity/eligibility to work in UK in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and DBS Code of Practice Regulations. All international teachers have their passports and relevant entry clearance vignettes or biometric residence permits verified.

Qualification / Teaching Licence verification

Original/certified copies of qualifications are verified (degree/teaching qualification).

(1) Teachers with a Teacher Reference Number (teachers trained in UK, EEA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand or USA) are checked against the NCTL’s Employer Access Online service to verify the award of QTS, the induction status and any sanctions in place.

(2) Overseas trained teachers (OTTs) are checked to ensure their qualification is equivalent to a British PGCE or B.Ed. NARIC (The National Academic Records Information Centre) checks should be completed for confirmation. The ‘four year rule’ should also be checked (ability to teach for 4

years in the UK, after which they must hold QTS in order to continue teaching in a maintained school, pupil referral unit or non-maintained special school).

(3) Instructors / Unqualified Teachers are accepted in some shortage subject areas at the discretion of the Directors and agreement of the school.

Employment History Check

Any gaps in employment history are identified, explored, answered satisfactorily and noted on the candidate’s file.

Prohibition from Teaching Check

A Prohibition Order check will be made using the NCTL Employer Access Online Service to ensure that:

  • there are no sanctions or prohibitions against them
  • that they do not have any EEA member state restrictions / sanctions
  • that there are no Section 128 barring directions against them

Disqualification and Disqualification by Association declaration

Where relevant, teachers are required to complete a self-declaration form in relation to the Childcare Disqualification Regulations 2009. Teachers declare that they have read the relevant DfE guidance regarding disqualification, that they are not disqualified, to the best of their knowledge they do not live with anyone who is disqualified on any of the grounds set out in the guidance and that they understand their specific responsibilities to safeguard children.

Reference Checks

A minimum of two satisfactory references are obtained, one of which should be the current employer. References are sought directly from the referee; testimonials provided by the candidate will not be accepted.

Referees will be asked specific questions about whether:

they know of any reason why the candidate should not be engaged to work with children during their period of employment, the candidate suffered from any illness or disability affecting their suitability to teach children  the candidate has been subject to any child protection allegations or concerns to the best of their knowledge the candidate has no criminal convictions and that they know of no reason why the candidate is not safe to work with children.

Police Clearances

All teachers employed by REd are required to have a current Enhanced Disclosure and Barring

Service (DBS) certificate, which includes Barred Lists' Checks.

REd applies for DBS checks through Atlantic Data Ltd, a registered DBS Umbrella Body; we comply with the DBS Code of Practice. Where a teacher has obtained an Enhanced DBS certificate through another employer, REd will conduct a check through the Update Service. If the Update Service check indicates a change to the certificate presented by the teacher, a new Enhanced DBS application is processed.

REd shares information noted on teachers’ DBS certificates with clients as required by the DfE.

Anyone applying to work with children is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of

Offenders Act 1974 and the supporting regulations so teachers must provide details of all convictions, cautions and warnings which are not subject to current filtering rules.

Teachers who have lived/worked abroad for 6 months or longer in the past 5 years must provide a police check or certificate of good conduct from all the relevant countries.

Where a local police check is not available, or cannot be validated, a satisfactory certificate of good conduct relating to time spent living outside of the UK will be obtained. This may be in the form of an additional reference from a person in a position of authority to gain reassurance that the candidate had no convictions that would preclude them from working with children.

Fitness to Teach

A confidential pre-employment health questionnaire is completed to verify the teacher’s mental and physical fitness to carry out their work responsibilities, in line with the Education (Health Standards) (England) Regulations 2003.

Level of fluency in English

Teachers are expected to demonstrate a level of fluency sufficient to be able to manage a classroom, support behaviour policies and ensure progression.

  1. Initial induction and training

Teachers attend a registration and induction session with REd before starting at their school. All of the checks mentioned above are completed and some initial training undertaken which includes (but not limited to) classroom management, use of ‘reasonable force’, safeguarding, advice around the use of social networks, personal/professional conduct, dress codes. For OTTs there is also some training around the UK education system, exams, NI numbers, the NHS service etc.

  1. Progress meetings with teacher and school

Contact maintained with teacher and client school and school visits conducted in order to support and assess.

Please forward any further queries about our safer recruitment and selection processes to:

Siân Beytell   sian@redteachers.com

Updated Feb 2018

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