All staff - welfare

4 – welfare

Welfare is a wide-ranging area that affects all staff, at all times. The staff member with designated responsibility for student welfare is the Assistant Course Director. However, welfare issues can crop up at any time.

You may be the person that notices something wrong: a student who seems to be upset, inappropriate behaviour from a staff member towards a student, or from one student towards another, or unusual behaviour from a student that gives you cause for concern. In all of these circumstances, that issue becomes your responsibility by virtue of the fact that you have noticed it. Do not ignore it. Your key decision is when and to whom to pass on your concerns.

Knowing Elac's welfare systems will help you to:

	spot issues before they become serious
	know who to go to with a welfare issue
	keep our students safe and happy

Key issues

	Safeguarding the children in our care is a serious concern of Elac, as you would expect. In line with this, we would now like you to visit and external site where you can take a short course in the most important issues and get a certificate once you have completed the process. Please e-mail the certificate to Elac as soon as you have completed the course. Click to go to the site now.
	If you become aware of a welfare issue (homesickness, antagonism between students, lack of sleep, lack of food) you may want to inform the Group Leader concerned, as well as the Assistant Course Director. If, however, it is a Child Protection issue (mental, physical or sexual abuse, drug-taking) then you should direct your concerns in the first instance to the Assistant Course Director alone.
	You may be unsure whether what you have witnessed or heard is a cause for concern or not. If it is appropriate you may want to ask a few questions (directly or indirectly) to confirm any concerns that you have, without involving yourself too much.
	If you are not convinced that there is a cause for concern, you should still pass on the information (as long as it isn’t a child protection issue). No action will be taken unless there is other information which supports yours, but a note will be made of it, so that if further instances come to light later on, it can be referred to.
	If you are convinced that there is a cause for concern, you should pass the information on for further action as soon as possible. Decisions about who should be informed and involved will be taken by the Assistant Course Director, so please treat the information as confidential.
	If you become aware of a student welfare or child protection issue because a student takes you into their confidence, you must pass on this information. Make it clear to the student that if they confide in you, you will be required to pass the information on. Try to do so in a manner that does not prevent them from sharing their concerns.
	Remember: student welfare is your responsibility, and is one you share with every other Elac staff member.

Take a test

This little test is designed to sensitise you to issues. Getting the answers right is less important than getting you to think about possible welfare issues before they arise. Even if you get an answer right, click on the alternatives to see what feedback you get. There are no prizes for the highest score.

Click to start. Click on the red button at the top of the quiz to return to this page.


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