Child protection in schools: an evaluation of a training course for Fife schools' co-ordinators of child protection

The incidence of reported episodes of child abuse has risen in recent years in Scotland and the importance of multi-agency collaboration is widely recognised in achieving an effective response to this problem. We have identified that school teachers are the single largest professional group which refer children with a history of suspected abuse to child protection units in Fife. Priority was therefore given to the training of co-ordinators of child protection within all Fife schools. An evaluation of this training carried out approximately 12 months after the training course showed that the child protection training course for co-ordinators of child protection in Fife schools has been well received. Co-ordinators attending the training reported a number of positive outcomes both in terms of their own personal confidence in dealing with child protection issues and also on progress made with developing school policies on child protection. However, the follow-up survey suggested that the course has not generally had a major impact on teachers from the same schools who had not attended the training course. This is in turn due to the low level of effective dissemination of the course to other teachers. It is recommended that a session on how to disseminate information, knowledge and skills gained during the course be incorporated into the training course and that a further follow-up evaluation of a sample of teachers who did not attend the training course be carried out.Our experience suggests that if the training courses are based on a knowledge of the training needs of schoolteachers and are run by professionals from all of the various agencies involved in child protection then these courses can be successful in improving the performance of co-ordinators of child protection in primary and secondary schools. This can then lead to better, support for classroom teachers and promote the development and implementation of school child protection policies. In addition these courses helped develop inter-agency links and facilitate a true team approach in response to episodes of disclosure of child abuse. Regional child protection committees and education departments should consider giving priority to training co-ordinators of child protection in schools within their region as an important element in the response to the growing problem of child protection in their region.