Tag: education

Key Challenges in Safeguarding for International Schools: An Overview of the Literature

School safeguarding, within the context of international schools, encompasses a broad range of practices and concerns aimed at protecting children’s health, well-being, and human rights. Initially, the focus of safeguarding in these settings was primarily on preventing sexual abuse by educators through measures like safer recruitment and criminal background checks. However, this understanding has significantly broadened over time to include other forms of harm and comprehensive well-being. The evolving scope of safeguarding in international schools now covers:

• Harm between children (peer-on-peer abuse)
• Affluent neglect
• Online harm such as bullying, sexual harassment and exploitation
• Identity-based harm such as racism, Islamaphobia or homophobia
• Student mental health and well-being, including issues like suicidal ideation and self-harm
• The impact of transition on well-being for internationally mobile students (Third Culture Kids or TCKs)
•Fostering a sense of belonging and respectful, trusting relationships within the school community.

This broadened approach also recognizes the interlinkage with data protection and the need for whole-school strategies.

Challenges to Safeguarding in International Schools

International schools, despite often having significant resources, face unique and complex challenges in implementing effective safeguarding practices due to their diverse populations, mobile nature, and varied legal and cultural contexts.

Affluent Neglect:
This is a particularly challenging area, as affluent families are often perceived as “low risk”. However, children in these families can experience severe emotional neglect due to parental isolation, excessive pressures for achievement, and a focus on material provision over emotional needs. This neglect is often masked because physical needs are met. Independent boarding schools may struggle to identify these children as being “in need or at risk of significant harm, and designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) can be reluctant to raise concerns due to parents’ transactional arrangements with schools or their power and influence.

Peer-on-Peer Abuse:
There is limited academic research specifically on peer-on-peer abuse in international schools. Forms of harm include cliques, gossip, anti-snitching cultures, sexual harassment and assault, peer pressure, social exclusion, physical assault, and specific issues related to nationality hierarchies or geopolitical tensions. Addressing harm that occurs outside school premises, including online, is complex and unclear, with many schools lacking adequate policies or legal clarity on their intervention scope.

Cultural and Legal Barriers:
International schools operate across 159 countries with diverse cultural and legal contexts. Conflicting cultural norms around discipline (e.g., physical punishment), care-giving, sexuality, and reporting can cause confusion and undermine safeguarding efforts. Some laws criminalize behaviors like certain sexualities or mental health issues, increasing student vulnerability and schools’ reluctance to report.

Relationship with External Agencies:
Many international schools are isolated from their surrounding communities and local agencies, operating in a “grey legal and political area. There can be a lack of trust and cooperation with local law enforcement and child protection services, with some agencies perceived as ineffective, corrupt, or even potentially causing greater harm to the child if abuse is reported. This leads schools to manage issues internally or rely on embassies and NGOs instead of statutory services.

Parental Power and Influence:
Affluent and influential parents can exert considerable pressure on international schools, sometimes undermining investigations or demanding specific outcomes to protect their family’s reputation or status.

Transitions and Staff Turnover:
Frequent student mobility (TCKs) and high staff turnover can hinder the development of trusting relationships and effective information sharing, making it difficult to identify patterns of harm or transfer safeguarding concerns between schools.

Application of Western Models:
Many international schools apply child protection models that originate from Western countries (e.g., UK, US, Australia), which may not align with local cultural and legal contexts. This can lead to resistance from local parents and professionals, perceived as a “western imposition,” and may be less effective than culturally contextualized approaches.

Safeguarding Practices and Enablers

Despite these challenges, international schools employ various strategies and leverage specific roles to support safeguarding:

Role of Counsellors and DSLs:
School counselors are identified as key personnel for supporting students’ unique developmental and mental health needs, particularly TCKs. They are often seen as trusted adults and play a critical role in developing and delivering student education and transition support. However, clarity on the division of roles and collaboration between counselors and Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) is important. DSLs are responsible for overseeing safeguarding, and strong leadership by principals and DSLs who prioritize safeguarding and empower staff is a powerful positive force.

Policies and Procedures:
Clear, written safeguarding policies and procedures are crucial. Centralized, digital record-keeping systems for safeguarding concerns help identify patterns and intervene early.

Student Voice and Education:
Involving students in co-constructing safeguarding strategies and providing education on topics like consent, healthy relationships, and online safety is vital. However, time and resource constraints can be barriers to effective curriculum delivery.

Team Approach:
A team approach to managing safeguarding concerns, involving multiple professionals, is valued as it shares the burden and strengthens practices. Regular multi-disciplinary meetings help discuss student concerns.

Networks and External Support:
Engaging with local networks of international schools, international accrediting bodies (like CIS), training providers, and other external organizations provides valuable guidance, support, and external validation. Building relationships with individuals in local law enforcement, child protection agencies, and community-based NGOs can also strengthen practices

Culturally Responsive Strategies:
Developing strategies to work in partnership with families on sensitive issues, such as physical discipline in the home, by aligning with school values and educating parents can be effective15221. The need for cultural matching and contextualization of safeguarding approaches is particularly strong when Western professionals serve non-Western communities19….

In conclusion, school safeguarding in international schools is a complex and evolving field, moving beyond traditional concerns to encompass a holistic view of child well-being. While progress has been made in establishing foundational practices, significant challenges persist, particularly related to the unique cultural, legal, and social dynamics of globally mobile communities and the influence of affluent families. Addressing these challenges requires culturally informed, collaborative, and adaptable approaches, along with continued research to understand the diverse experiences of students and optimize safeguarding interventions.

Staff Wellbeing in Schools: Burning Out

I will always remember my first term working in a school. I couldn’t believe how absolutely knackered I was – I don’t think I had ever been so tired in my life. The job itself – school counsellor -didn’t hold as much responsibility as I had assumed in my previous roles managing charities. I wasn’t responsible for staff, or finding funding, or for keeping the organisations afloat. The problems I helped with, for the main, weren’t ‘heavier’ than in previous roles where I had worked with young people in crisis. It was something else. Something else that I had never felt before – the feeling of being part of a huge machine that just doesn’t stop for breath. I laugh about it now – my caseload at the time was tiny in comparision to how many students I saw the year I left, but it wasn’t the amount of work as such, it was feeling like you could never stop – there was always something or someone that needed your attention. If you got distracted for even a second you would miss something important. And the emails – my goodness the sheer volume of emails!

I don’t find it surprising therefore that a 2019 study found that 40% of British teachers were considering leaving the profession – and this was pre-Covid. My guess is that it is much higher now. When I left my international school in 2022, a third of the teaching staff went at the same time. After 18 months of being locked into the country, many wanted to be closer to their families in Europe. Many left the profession altogether.

I have facilitated a number of staff wellbeing groups for both teaching and non-teaching staff recently, and the struggle is the same for both. The long first term has all school staff clinging on for dear life, struggling to get to the end. 14, 15 even 16 week terms are normal, and exhaustion is normalised. “What do you like best about your job” I ask people – “the holidays” are usually the reply. Term time is full of demands. Parents demanding that their children get the right extra-curriculas or that the buses run on time. Students demanding that their teachers give them advice about essays and homework over the weekends. Senior Leadership ‘dropping’ a last minute activity or task upon already overloaded staff. A never ending stream of emails demanding to be read.

Unsurprisingly then, burnout is all too common amongst people who work in schools. I have seen it firsthand with a colleague I valued greatly. Sadly, by the time we realised what was happening for her, it was already too late and she ended up leaving. It starts with an expectation on yourself that you must prove yourself and you must do more. It ends with you physically unable to go to work. In between you feel guilt that you are letting people down, anger and irritability with colleagues and students, and, feeling unable to face colleagues you isolate yourself. It is possible to bounce back from burnout, but for many this means a change of school, or leaving the profession altogether.

There are a number of factors which affect the likelihood of burning out which are not just about the workload someone is faced with. These include staff members feeling unappreciated by their management, not feeling they have autonomy or control over their work and a lack of community and support.

So what helps? When asked that question, school staff routinely say ensuring they do things outside of work, like hobbies or exercise. But they also acknowledge that these can be the first things to go when they start feeling tired. Asking for help from colleagues, and taking the time to check in with each other during the day can be a lifeline. Seperating home from school by deleting your school email account from your phone is a controversial one, with some staff too scared to do so despite their being no requirement to have it on there. If you can’t delete it, don’t answer emails after 5pm. Or if you have to, schedule send them for 7am the following day – this will reduce the expectation on you that you are available 24/7. And, finally, if you start to realise you are struggling, seek professional help from a counsellor or other mental health professional. Burnout is tough – understand the signs to get the help you need early.

If you would like to find out more about burnout in education you can download our free Anti-Burnout Book for Teachers here.