reviews, but there is much to be learned from these documents. Jessica Johnson, co-author of a report on the subject, explains.
It may come as a surprise to learn that the majority of serious case reviews (SCRs) - two-thirds - concern children under the age of five. Many practitioners will be aware of the Vanessa George abuse case, where the nursery worker was jailed for sexual abuse of children, as well as making and distributing indecent images of them. But how many practitioners pick up SCRs, look at them and learn from them as part of their professional development and training?
SCRs are not just important training guides. They have also directly influenced the policies that many early years practitioners work by. As a result of the Vanessa George case, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) changed. The catastrophic failures of management that were identified in the resulting SCR led to the recommendation that safeguarding and accountability procedures be strengthened in law.
The EYFS was amended to read: 'The safeguarding policy and procedures must include an explanation of the action to be taken in the event of an allegation being made against a member of staff, and cover the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting.'
In the early years teachers' standards, SCR recommendations also had a direct impact, particularly for Standard 7 on safeguarding, as well as Standard 8's recognition of contribution to multi-agency working and ongoing related professional development.
Yet in our experience, colleagues in social care, police and health services are more likely than early years staff to think SCRs are relevant to them.
If a child is being abused, the fact that a nursery worker or childminder is in close proximity to the child means they could well be the ones to hear about it. Key person relationships allow for astute observation and active listening to all the signs - non-verbal as well as verbal. Yet early years expertise on safeguarding is conspicuously under-reported in these documents.
Ask an early years practitioner for a definition of an SCR and you will be greeted with a range of answers, often mentioning processes for gathering and recording information about a particular child of concern, such as the Common Assessment Framework, and the team around the child.
According to Government guidance, a serious case 'is one where abuse or neglect of a child is known or suspected' and 'either the child has died, or the child has been seriously harmed'. There also has to be 'cause for concern' as to the way in which the relevant authorities 'worked together to safeguard the child'.
Early years may not be mentioned in the guidance explicitly, but all early years practitioners could one day be 'relevant persons'. The aim of an SCR is to establish what lessons are to be learned from the case, improve intra-agency working and improve the safeguarding of children.
Responsibility for carrying out SCRs sit with Local Safeguarding Children's Board (LSCB) in England. Each has responsibility for 'reviews of serious cases and advising the (local) authority ... on lessons to be learned'.
LSCBs, which were established in the Children Act 2004, include local authorities, police, probation services, NHS bodies and voluntary organisations. Each setting's safeguarding 'lead practitioner' must also liaise with the LSCB.
How to use an SCR
SCRs can and do improve practice by giving practitioners a chance to 'think the unthinkable' about their practice. Professionals in our study told us that SCRs help identify gaps in knowledge, tailor training to fit individual staff members or lead to additional training being sought as a result.
However, learning from such complex and important cases isn't easy. Last year, our team undertook a 'study to investigate barriers to learning from SCRs and identify ways to overcome these barriers'. This arose because of Government concern that lessons learned 'have not been embedded in policy and practice'.
Our findings highlighted that SCRs don't help practitioners by being written in a way that makes them inaccessible, and they are lengthy, making them seem more meaningful for directors and managers. The sheer number of recommendations, which in turn lead to new policies and procedures, can also be overwhelming.
When using SCRs, managers should bear in mind the following common mistakes, and tailor training accordingly. We identified these barriers to learning from SCRs:
- (Current) learning from SCRs is repetitive and can lead to lack of attention and engagement.
- There is insufficient regular, appropriate and purposeful training.
- Not all training is appropriate for different roles and responsibilities of staff.
- Frontline staff have limited involvement in the generation of learning and ensuring relevance.
Conversely, here are some recommendations arising from the report that students have found useful in their own settings.
- Listen to the child - the child's voice should be heard.
- Invite other professionals to staff meetings or training sessions to share roles, and consider work shadowing.
- Create a leaflet on the role of the 'early years practitioner' to leave with other services.
- Use 'critical incidents' as a training focus as they occur.
Early years education could lead to an increasingly holistic approach to supporting vulnerable families. Is it time now for the safeguarding expertise within early years to be increasingly developed, valued and used?
Jessica Johnson, senior lecturer in education at Kingston University, is co-author of A Study to Investigate the Barriers to Learning from Serious Case Reviews and Identify Ways of Overcoming these Barriers
CASE STUDY: SCR TRAINING
Sarah Howard, Early Years Teacher and manager of Stepping Stones Pre-School in Surbiton, was one of Jessica Johnson's students on the Kingston University graduate employment-based course.
'We had a session on SCRs as part of our training.' says Ms Howard.
'I felt it would be valuable to deliver a training session on the Vanessa George review with staff. There was a general feeling of "It's so extreme, it wouldn't happen here". But SCRs are coming out all the time and it is obviously happening in some places.
'We looked at the lessons learned and what resonated in our setting. For example, it is especially difficult to raise something if you are a new member of staff. We also did a lot on the fact it is everyone's responsibility.
'We talked about the conversations that take place in the staff room. There was a lot of desensitisation in the Vanessa George case - she would show staff pornographic pictures of adults on her mobile phone and view Ann Summers catalogues in the staff room.
'Technically, your lunch break is your own, and we don't want to take away people's ability to have fun, but we want to make sure this is emotionally appropriate. We didn't have those kinds of things happening, but we decided that in general people wouldn't share jokes or messages that contained sexual innuendo.
'We came up with a new code of conduct. We use it all the time, not just for safeguarding but in staff supervision as well. Because we created it together it became less about the piece of paper and more about the culture we've created. When you do something collaboratively it really becomes embedded.
It makes it easier to say "that is what we are about".
'I now aim to do it once a year as we got so much out of it. The training session took a full day and involved all nine staff. To do it well I would say you have to know the SCR well yourself, which could be time-consuming.
'You need to have a good safeguarding knowledge as a manager because some there are some staff who have not had that and might get stuck on certain points. 'Ten years ago, things that were happening on Facebook weren't in the policies and procedures. Legislation and social media use and the way you are engaging with each other is changing all the time and you have to make sure you are aware of what is going on.'
For further details, email jessica.johnson@kingston.ac.uk
MORE INFORMATION
A Study to Investigate the Barriers to Learning from Serious Case Reviews and Identify ways of Overcoming these Barriers, by Anne Rawlings, Paty Paiokosta, Daryl Maisey, Jessica Johnson, Jenny Capstick and Professor Ray Jones (2014)
The NSPCC provides an SCR data bank here
