Building my NSPCC portfolio....reflecting back

Over the last two years I have been completing my NSPCC portfolio for trainer training. Having just sent my folder off, I thought I would share some of my reflections……..

After all - sharing is good for the soul!

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 The main responsibility of my role at work is to develop the proactive elements of the organisation’s safeguarding strategy. A core part of this is developing and delivering trainer training, and professional development for volunteers who deliver safeguarding training within the organisation. I am also responsible for developing and supporting new resources and training programmes for both adults and young people that focus on the wider remits of creating a safer organisation.

          My journey

Part of building my portfolio meant reflecting on my own personal journey and how that links to my values as a trainer. My journey is underpinned by family, career and personal drives. I belong to a large, wide and diverse family, therefore my values are firmly grounded in appreciating the diversity that life has to offer, and trying to recognize and value different perspectives. As a teenager I travelled the country and worked with other teenagers helping adults to engage young people, which made me passionate about empowering others. Over the years, I have been presented with myriads of opportunities in life, which I have seized and learnt from. Whether deferring University to be a youth worker in London, becoming University Welfare Officer or becoming a personal assistant for a disabled woman, I have always looked to get the most out of life.

My core skills developed when I embarked on an eight year role as a pub manager, which took me from Wales, to Bristol and back to London again. Working in a pub teaches you about people, as you see them at their best and worst. Managing behaviour is about good communication, understanding people’s background and experiences, and patience. It is also about stepping in and doing things for the good of others, which can be challenging emotionally and physically. This is a crucial skill in training and particularly in safeguarding. Being a pub manager taught me how to manage a team and train in a non-formal ways; skills that helped when I joined an organisation which values learning by doing.

My Training Journey

When I started my NSPCC journey I had just joined the safeguarding team from the

training team and was keen to ensure that I received the best quality training in order to fulfil my role. I also wanted to make sure that training modelled the behaviours and theories that are I felt were important for the organisation, but also reflective of good training practice.  My three years in the training team taught me the importance of ‘getting it right’ for our volunteers, but also that they value passion, honesty and integrity; as well as learning by doing. Upon my journey I have learned to be confident in my own abilities. I am passionate about whatever I do, but it has been personally rewarding to be able to truly link my practice to my values, especially in such an important area.

I hope that I have practiced what I preach by role-modelling positive training behaviours in order to build confidence in those I am training. By approaching people with openness and understanding in order to empower them and change safeguarding into something that they need to be aware, but not scared of.

My Values

My journey links to my values both as a trainer and within safeguarding. I strongly believe in a proactive approach to training and safeguarding. Safeguarding can never be just reactive. If we want to make a difference we have to be proactive and focus on positive ways that we can improve the welfare of young people. Without a doubt, young people should always be at the heart of what we do, but I believe this is not just about being recipients. Young people are active participants in keeping themselves safe and we should always be involving them. Adults and young people have a role to play in role modeling positive and appropriate behaviour, whether in the training room or in a weekly meeting. Therefore empowering adults and young people, so they know they can make a difference, creates active participants who own and shape their environments. Among all of this we have to work with honesty, integrity and humility, recognizing that each of us brings different skills and experiences.

Safeguarding is an emotive subject that is bombarded with negative media stories which creates disassociation. In other words, most people don’t want to engage because it either scares them, is not their responsibility or they feel helpless. I passionately want to change this and work with volunteers to change perceptions. While safeguarding is challenging and at time takes us to uncomfortable places, we need to be open and honest and we need to equip people with the right skills and knowledge. For me this is about safeguarding primarily being focused on creating positive and engaging environments where young people’s welfare is at the heart of what we do. Adults and young people work in partnership, modeling behaviour, challenging the things they don’t like and are confident in where to go for help. It’s not difficult. It doesn’t require specialist skills. It’s a part of everything we do.

  

Reflective commentary (snippets)

Identifying training needs.

The process I use for identifying training needs has not changed during my NSPCC journey. It remains important that I understand the context, the people, the values, the usual methods and approach of training and the key priorities and outcomes for any training session that I deliver, and I do this through discussion and collaboration with whomever is commissioning the work.

Working in safeguarding training however has meant there is another dimension to the process of planning and identifying needs. Firstly, a need to be clear about my values and approach, as this has an impact on the way that I develop and deliver training, and commissioner’s perceptions of safeguarding may need to be changed. Secondly, by becoming an informed practitioner, both from a safeguarding and a training perspective, I have become more confident in identifying needs and priorities, and being able to articulate this during the initial conversations about training needs and objectives, so that relevant and focused training is planned for and delivered.

  

Delivery of Training

 It has been rewarding to be challenged and praised by my volunteers during training. Becoming a better trainer has been achieved through several things, but they all link to my identity.

Firstly, by becoming a more knowledgeable practitioner, I know that I have the information and up to date knowledge to be able to bring this to the room when needed. I am confident because I know my subject. By basing my training approach on my values, I feel that I am an authentic trainer. We talk a lot about role-modelling and being able to approach training as ‘me’, acknowledging my passions and values, but also my weaknesses, makes me an honest trainer. Also, by acknowledging others and respecting and challenging them in a dignified way, I believe that I am putting mine, and Scouting’s values into action.

Becoming more confident has led to more experimentation and less fear about delivering training in more creative ways, and seeing these methods work. This creativity and innovation, alongside a bit of tinkering, means that as trainers we are creating simple but powerful ways of getting the message across. This is very exciting as the passion is passed on to others and you can see them being empowered to take action. Most importantly, the emotional environment created is one where feedback and evaluation is part of the process and people are not scared to share and learn.

Evaluation

During my NSPCC journey I have become a more reflective practitioner (help not only by needing to reflect on this programme, but also through the work and assignments I have completed through my Masters course.) I like to evaluate content and experiences, in order to go back to the start of the cycle and decide how this impacts my perceptions of the perceived needs and whether it can help in redesigning training approaches. This also helps during continued professional development with my community of trainers, as it

means I can give practical examples and advice about identification, design and delivery of training. More importantly, we must develop better ways of evaluating the impact of training, and understanding how a mix method approach could help us better monitor and evaluate the changes in practices and culture that is taking place across the organisation.