An exploration by the International Task Force on Child Protection

By Leila Holmyard, Associate Director Safeguarding, Well-being, Belonging, Frankfurt International School & Dr Jenny Lloyd, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bedfordshire.

How do international schools maintain high-quality records of safeguarding and behaviour concerns while protecting and upholding students’ right to privacy and secure data protection? The International Task Force on Child Protection invites international school colleagues to contribute to a survey on practice in this area.

Strong record-keeping systems allow schools to securely track safeguarding and well-being concerns about the students in their care. Record keeping is a vital component of keeping children safe: being able to see patterns and trends over time is key to identifying and responding to concerns.

Yet, record-keeping can be a place where bias, victim blaming, and criminalisation of children show up in schools. Further, the intersection between safeguarding and behavioural records can be complex, especially in the case of peer-on-peer harm.Recent years have seen several changes to the way international schools record safeguarding data, most notably the shift many schools are making from paper to electronic record-keeping systems. Electronic systems allow for more consistent and secure records, as well as the analysis of data over time. But they also bring challenges to schools in relation to data protection, retention, and transfer. International school contexts differ significantly, and schools need to take account of national privacy and safeguarding laws, as well as international recommended practice and the best interests of the children.

The International Taskforce on Child Protection (ITFCP) was formed in 2014 with a mandate to apply the collective resources, expertise, and partnerships of its members to help international school communities address child protection challenges.

One of the ITFCP working groups for the 2023–24 academic year is focused on safeguarding data and record-keeping, with the following goals:

• Gather data from international schools on:​
  • How they categorise, record, and review behavioural and safeguarding concerns about both students and teachers
  • What the barriers and enablers are to effective practice in this area​
     
• Issue guidance and generate resources related to:​
  • Categorisation of behavioural and safeguarding concerns​
  • High-quality record-keeping for behavioural and safeguarding concerns, including language to use when recording a concern, how to maintain a clear chronological record showing concerns, actions, plans and risk assessments ​
  • Reviewing records and data once obtained, to spot patterns and identify concerns at an early stage​
     
• Articulate the uses and benefits of different systems for recording and tracking safeguarding and concerns, including centralisation, retention, and access considerations ​
   
• Create guidance and example templates for reports on safeguarding data to the school owner or board, including the number and nature of concerns, patterns and emerging trends, and the use of a risk register ​

Complete the survey

As part of the work towards these goals, the working group is inviting all international school safeguarding leads, counsellors, and school leaders to Complete the 10-minute survey. The survey explores how international schools categorise and record behavioural and safeguarding concerns about both students and teachers. It also asks about the barriers and enablers to effective practice in this area. The survey will be open until 11 April 2024.

Survey findings will be analysed by the working group and shared back to the international school community on the ICMEC Education Portal, together with practical guidance and resources.

Thanks!