Self-esteem: the foundation of every effective safeguarding culture

An effective safeguarding culture, centred on the welfare of young people, requires a two-pronged approach: protection from harm whilst simultaneously creating the conditions in which they can thrive. Schools work hard to put procedures in place to ensure that both elements are happening: staff recruitment, accessible procedures for disclosure, a thorough safeguarding curriculum and many others. Safeguarding Network try to help with materials to support your work.

As schools, and in particular, as safeguarding leads, we work hard to do everything in our power to prioritise student welfare. However, the hard truth is that adults can only do so much. If we want to promote a proactive, positive safeguarding culture, students must also be equipped to play an active role in protecting their own wellbeing and seeking help when they need it. And that will only come if the children have the foundation of self-esteem to prioritise the welfare of both themselves and those around them.

As professionals it is out job to notice when young people may be experiencing abuse and neglect. We cannot rely just on the testimony of young people to protect themselves. However, at the heart of many safeguarding decisions is a young person's belief about their own worth. Children who value themselves are less likely to be targeted, are more likely to be able to set boundaries, seek support, challenge behaviour that makes them feel unsafe or seek help when they need to. Think for a moment about what we are asking of the students: coming forward to disclose, standing up for themselves, standing up to those with power over them, refusing to engage in harmful online chat groups, responding with confidence when others ask something of them that they don't want to do. All of these things require young people to believe that their safety, wellbeing and dignity, and that of those around them, matter more than the pressure being placed upon them. Otherwise, we risk having to pick up the pieces, not prevent the harm in the first place.

We must strive to build a preventative safeguarding curriculum that can help students both to confidently identify harms, and seek help when needed, and the bedrock of this curriculum must be teaching the students to value themselves above all else. More than this, we should be aiming to create a school culture that values and celebrates the individual, acknowledges strength of character, promotes mutual respect and takes action to prevent harm. Self-esteem is not simply part of our wellbeing curriculum, but the cornerstone of a proactive and preventative safeguarding culture.

About the author: Claire Bellman is a Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Head Pastoral with over 20 years experience in schools.