Child Safe Environments Training or Responding to Risks of Harm Abuse and Neglect Training: Which one do you need to be able to work with children? The Educators SA office gets calls on this every day so we thought, it’s time to shed some light on this!

First of all, why do those trainings exist? Because there are national principles for child safe organisations which define what makes institutions safe for children and how to improve child safety. There is also a SA legislative context. In South Australia a wide range of people are required by law to notify the Department for Child Protection of situations where child abuse and neglect are suspected.

The Responding to Risks of Harm Abuse and Neglect Training is essential for all teachers and staff working with children and young people on the Department for Education sites. To work in those settings you must do this training about your child protection responsibilities. In many cases you won’t need to complete a Child Safe Environments Training in addition to this. However, many institutions, such as schools and pre-schools, see the benefits of this course and encourage their staff to complete a Child Safe Environments Training as well. Plus it does look good on your CV and can make a difference when applying for a job! 😉

But what happens when you are not in an education setting? If you are a state authority or if your organisation provides services for children under 18 years old, you must provide child safe environments to act in line with the National Principles for Child Safe organisations. So what does it mean to provide those services? This is actually quite broad and covers the following categories:

• Health
• Welfare
• Education
• Disability
• Sporting or recreational
• Religious or spiritual
• Childcare or residential
• Cultural
• Entertainment or parties

According to the list, this can be a Surf Life Saving Club as well as a church or a council. Even a venue that occasionally runs events for children. The Child Safe Environments Training was developed by the Department of Human Services. They strongly encourage organisations to consider requiring their staff and volunteers that work with children and young people to attend a safe environments training course. Why? Because employees need to understand their mandatory notification obligations. This is in line with the National Principles for Child Safe organisations. Organisations also need to have child-safe policies and procedures in place which reflect those National Principles. They can do this by lodging a compliance statement. One part of the statement outlines how the organisation trains their staff and volunteers and what kind of training is provided. By doing the Child Safe Environments Course, the organisation can tick this box easily!

At the end of the day though it’s all about the safety of our children. A safe environment is not only the absence of physical abuse. Risks and harm can be so much more! There is neglect, psychological harm, emotional harm, online grooming, domestic violence… We need to take a preventative, proactive and participatory stance on child protection issues. The Child Safe Environments Training enables participants to recognise, report and respond to children and young people who are facing risks, harm or even abuse.

Educators SA is a certified provider of the Child Safe Environments Training. It’s a full day course that runs from 9am-4.30pm. It’s $88 per person and is facilitated face to face and online. You can find all training dates here.

Educators SA also runs the Responding to Risks of Harm Abuse and Neglect Training; you can book a RRHAN training here.

Interested in doing a training for your staff at your site? Let us come to you! Please contact our office: 8463 5875 or write an email: admin@edsa.sa.edu.au.