1. Adult Safeguarding
in Adult Learning
& Skills
On line course for tutors in Adult
Learning and Skills
If in doubt talk to your centre
manager
2. Objectives
At the end of this course you will:
• Understand why staff in Adult Learning
have to implement Adult Safeguarding
• Know the procedures for implementing
Adult Safeguarding within adult learning
• Have developed skills in recognising and
managing Adult Safeguarding situations
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
2
3. Adult Safeguarding Resources
You need to have your Adult Safeguarding
resources folder provided by your centre
manager with you when you follow this
on-line course. It will be referred to later in
this course
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
3
4. Tutor Resources Folder
contents:
1. Guidelines on Discrimination
2. E safety guidelines
Guidance for tutors and learners using the Internet
3. Incident report form
Form to copy and use to record details of incidents
4. Contact details
Contact details of key people and agencies
Please read through carefully and keep
folder in a safe place
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
4
5. Why is Adult Safeguarding
important to Adult
Education?
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
5
6. Brief history of Adult Safeguarding
A series of high profile deaths to vulnerable
adults, caused by abuse where agencies were
providing support but not communicating and
taking responsibility. These cases led to
Government guidance “No Secrets”
No Secrets (Adult Protection) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
This guidance is for agencies such as police,
local authorities, housing associations,
homelessness, health services, education,
to try to ensure “joined up” services.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
6
7. Adult Safeguarding Legislation
Standards of care for vulnerable adults in receipt of
adult social care, has been regulated primarily
through the Care Standards Act 2000
and more latterly the Adult Safeguarding Vulnerable
Groups Act 2006 (SOVA) and the Protection of vulnerable
Adults Act 2012 (POVA) Abuse within the community,
unless perpetrated by paid domiciliary workers, is
addressed through the No Secrets guidance. (See
Wikipedia for all Acts)
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
7
8. Regulation
Social and health care are regulated through the
CQC (Care Quality Commission)
Education is regulated by Ofsted and Adult
Safeguarding is a very high priority.
In an Ofsted inspection, if Adult Safeguarding
arrangements are not good, then the grade for
Overall Effectiveness will marked down
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
8
9. Adult Safeguarding Arrangements
Adult Learning and Skills in
Cambridgeshire County Council
integrates a wide range of Adult Safeguarding
services to ensure that Adult Safeguarding is
embedded into the whole service to ensure
that learners are safe
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
9
10. Integrated Adult Safeguarding
Practices
• Partnership working with County Council Adult
Safeguarding Team
• Adult Learning and Skills policy and procedures in
place – on Wiki for tutors
• Trained designated Adult Safeguarding officers
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
10
11. •Trained managers (two-days with resources
folder)
•Trained staff and tutors (short session with
resources folder)
•Staff working with vulnerable adults have an
enhanced DBS check on recruitment
•Informed learners (induction – statement of
safety)
•Ofsted inspection – evaluation and improvement
12. Adult Safeguarding is everyone’s
business
• Adult Safeguarding should not be thought
of as a bolt on to the work you do, but seen
as integral or central in all the work you
do with individuals.
• Adult Learning tutors have a Duty of Care
for their learners. This duty is discharged
by complying with the guidance on this
course.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
12
13. Vulnerable Adults
The official definition is all adults aged 18 and
above who are or may be in need of community
services by reason of mental or other disability,
age or illness and who are, or may be unable to
take care of themselves, or unable to protect
themselves against significant harm or exploitation.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
13
14. Adult learners rarely disclose a disability or
learning difficulty when they enrol, so often there
are vulnerable adults in classes who we don’t
know about
Any adult can become vulnerable at any time. For
example as victims of domestic abuse, illness or
family breakdown
15. The advice to tutors and other staff is
that all adult learners are regarded as
potentially vulnerable.
This short on-line course is designed to give tutors
knowledge about Adult Safeguarding, to raise
awareness of their responsibility and to give basic
skills in dealing with adult learners who display
signs of abuse or disclose to the tutor or to other
learners.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
15
16. What is abuse?
Abuse is a violation of an individual’s
human and civil rights by any other person
or persons
• Abuse may consist of single or repeated acts.
• It may be an act of neglect or an omission to
act.
• Abuse can occur in any relationship and may
result in significant harm to, or exploitation of,
the person subjected to it.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
16
17. Categories and Indicators of Abuse
1.
Physical abuse
Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings
of intimidation, pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.
2.
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse is the forcing of undesired sexual behaviour by one
person upon another, when that force falls short of being a sexual
assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or (often
pejoratively) molester.
3.
Psychological abuse
Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse or mental
abuse, is a form of abuse characterised by a person subjecting or
exposing another to behaviour that is psychologically harmful. Such
abuse is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such
as abusive relationships, bullying, child abuse and in the workplace.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
17
18. 4. Financial or material abuse
Financial abuse is, for example, illegal or unauthorized use of a person’s
property, money, pension book or other valuables (including changing the
person's Will to name the abuser as heir), often fraudulently obtaining
power of attorney, followed by deprivation of money or other property, or
by eviction from own home.
5. Neglect and acts of omission
Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which the perpetrator is responsible
to provide care for a victim who is unable to care for oneself, but fails to
provide adequate care to meet the victim's needs, thereby resulting in the
victim's demise.
6. Discriminatory abuse
Discriminatory abuse involves picking on or treating someone unfairly
because something about them is different, for example ethnicity, age,
disability, appearance, social class
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
18
19. 7. Poor professional practice
Professional abuse is a failure to discharge professional responsibilities
to a vulnerable adult. Professional abusers take advantage or their
client’s or patient’s trust, exploit their vulnerability, do not act in their best
interests, fail to keep professional boundaries,
8. Institutional abuse
Institutional abuse can typically occur in a care home, nursing home,
acute hospital or in-patient setting. It can be defined as any category of
abuse that is part of the culture of the institution and is behaviour
accepted as normal by staff.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
19
20. 9. Domestic violence abuse
Domestic abuse can be broadly defined as a pattern of abusive
behaviours by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as
marriage, dating, family, friends or cohabitation. Typically it can
include physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional, financial, social,
stalking,
10.Significant Harm
Abuse causing serious harm including the impairment of, or an
avoidable deterioration in, physical or mental health; and the
impairment of physical, emotional, social or behavioural
development".
Real abuse cases are usually a mixture of
different categories. For example domestic
violence can also be one or all of physical,
sexual or psychological abuse
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
20
21. The Adult Learning and Skills Service provides learning to
hundreds of vulnerable adults with disabilities and learning
difficulties within the Adults with Learning Difficulties and/or
Disabilities (ALDD) and Family Learning programmes
These learning programmes are specially designed to
provide support for each learner according to their needs
and are staffed by staff with specialist skills and knowledge
The learning programmes for these adults typically prepares
them for independent life and work, and improve reading,
writing and maths in families.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
21
22. Around 80% of the 12,500 or so adults enrol in Community
Learning adult learning classes in Cambridgeshire, including art
and craft, exercise and sport and modern foreign languages
If an adult enrolling on an CL class discloses a disability or
learning difficulty on the enrolment form, the centre manager
will make appropriate arrangements with the course tutor to
support the learner,
However, most learners with a disability or learning difficulties
don’t disclose and start an CL course with no extra support and
With the Centre Manager and tutor being unaware of any support
needs.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
22
23. Tutors should be vigilant!
At the start of the course and during the early
sessions in particular look out for learners
who appear to have characteristics of
vulnerable adults
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
23
24. Who are we wanting to safeguard?
All adult learners but particularly:
Older adults who are frail
They may be more likely to fall, get injured, ill or overstretch
themselves physically and mentally to keep up with others.
Seeing and hearing may be more difficult. They could be
suffering from Dementia
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
24
25. Mental ill-health
Adults with mental health difficulties do enrol for courses
often without disclosing their condition because they feel
it has no relevance to their attendance in the class. This
happens regularly particularly in art, craft and exercise
classes which are recognised for improving poor mental
health
26. Adults with physical disabilities
These learners will often disclose because their disability can
be visible. Centre managers will ensure that these learners
have good physical access to classrooms, e.g. by ensuring
wheelchair access. A Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan
(PEEP) will be put in place, to ensure safe evacuation in the
event of an emergency such as a fire
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
26
27. Adults with sensory impairments
These adults may just need to sit nearer the front so that
they can hear or see better. A hearing loop can be
provided for learners with hearing impairment, and there
are special accessibility facilities on computers for learners
with impaired sight. Tutors may want to ensure that audio
is loud and font sizes are large on Power Point, or on
handouts (minimum font size 12).
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
27
28. Adults with learning difficulties
This definition covers a wide range. Most likely tutors will
encounter learners who have difficulty with reading, writing
and/or maths. Depending on the subject and the level of the
learning difficulty this may or not impair learning. For example
Dyslexia could impair learning in creative writing but possibly
not in an exercise class.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
28
29. Adults who misuse substances
Alcohol and drug abuse are on the increase. No learner is
likely to disclose such a problem on enrolment. However
reports of intoxicated learners happen occasionally, and
the tutor has a duty of care to all learners during the class .
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
29
30. Adults whose behaviour or condition puts
them at risk of abuse
Again this definition covers a wide range. Some people have
unusual personalities; they may talk a lot or speak at a
particular pitch; speak with a foreign accent or regional dialect;
have unusual or awkward body language, dress differently,
have a visible disability etc.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
30
31. All adult learners can be
vulnerable and can suffer abuse
Where abuse is suspected, discovered or disclosed it must
be recorded & reported to the Centre Manager, member of
staff on duty or the Designated Adult Safeguarding Officer –
contact details in resources folder
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
31
32. Possible abuse – what a tutor
might observe
physical and emotional/behavioral indicators such as:
Reoccurring bruising - new bruises turning yellow with
new ones appearing
•Body language changing substantially from open and
confident to closed and withdrawn
•Hearing a learner using discriminatory language targeted
on another learner
•Seeing a learner upset after verbal or physical contact
with another
•See a learner recoiling after being touched by another.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
33.
Overhear a learner making a sexually explicit
remark to another, who reacts badly
• See learners arguing where one gives the other
money or property
• One learner or learners push or strike another
• Disclosure - a learner approach another learner
or the tutor in distress and ask for help with a
possible case of abuse.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
34. What you should do
Try to meet the learner after the class in a quiet place
using the advice on interviews given on later slides
here
If it is not possible to meet the learner or you would
prefer not to, you must report the situation to your centre
manager, member of staff on duty or the Designated
Adult Safeguarding Officer – contact details in resources
folder
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
35. If you think that the learner is in
immediate danger of serious harm!
phone the Police on 999
You will not be criticised for a false
alarm
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
36. Talking to a learner who has
disclosed (1)
• Take notes / make notes – incident report form
• Talk to your learner as quickly as possible after event
• Ask learner to Tell, Explain, Describe (TED) – free narrative
and free recall
• Tell learner in their interest you might not be able to
keep what they tell you to yourself. In this situation
you have a duty of care and must report this incident
to your centre manager or designated Adult
Safeguarding officer.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
36
37. Talking to a learner who has
disclosed (2)
• Record what the person asked and what they said in
their words
• Try to use open questions and avoid leading questions
• Avoid complex and multiple questions
• Consider acquiescence and positive bias on part of person
• Speak to learner individually – in discrete, secure place
• If you judge the learner is in immediate danger of
serious harm call the police on 999
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
38. Be Mindful
When you talk to a learner who has disclosed
possible abuse, or you think could be a
victim of abuse, you need to be aware of the
sorts of feelings and fears they may have.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
38
39. A possible victim of abuse may
•Be too ashamed and embarrassed to speak
about their experience
•Be unable to leave a situation, due to coercion
• Have a lack of understanding of who can help
•Don’t know their experience is abusive
•Believe they are trapped - there are no options
• Need the support of their abuser and wish to
stay with them
40. What happens next?
• After you have reported the situation, you
may not be involved any further as the
Designated Adult Safeguarding Officer will
work with Adult Social Care to investigate
• However it is possible that you will be
interviewed as part of an investigation
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
40
41. E Safety/E Adult Safeguarding
If you are teaching ICT, e-safety should be built into your course
content; particularly if you know you are teaching
vulnerable adults.
If you are using the internet in the classroom, or encouraging
learners to go online outside of the classroom, you need to
ensure that your learners have an awareness of e-safety issues.
Please use the E-Safety Practice Guidance
in your folder
42. Be assured
you will receive all the support you need from your
Centre Manager, the Designated Adult Safeguarding
Officer and Adult Social Care staff. You will never be
criticised for any action you have taken
that complies with these guidelines
43. Fictional Case Studies
In Adult Learning
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
43
44. Case Study 1 – Ballroom dancing
A ballroom class attracts mainly couples. One particular couple has caught
the eye of the tutor because of unusual behaviour. They were regular
attendees, but when practising the dancing in the class, the couple constantly
bickered and on one occasion the tutor saw the man violently push the
woman (Grace) away. She looked embarrassed but quickly resumed her
stance with her partner as if nothing had happened. In the 3rd week of the
class, the tutor noticed some bruising around the women’s eyes, and she
looked particular despondent. On the 4th week unusually for her, the woman
was wearing trousers and had a slight limp. The tutor light heartedly
commented on this to which Grace dropped her head and mumbled
something about a trip. Subsequent lessons brought more signs of
“accidents”, like a cut eye and bruised had. It was now week 7.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
45. Case Study 2 – Exercise class
In an exercise class an adult learner with learning disabilities (Bridget)
enrolled with her Mother. Bridget’s health check showed that she was
fine to do the exercise in the class, as she had no physical disabilities
etc. The Centre Manager had no record on Bridget’s condition and the
disability box had not been ticked on the enrolment form. During a break,
Bridget made a beeline for the Tutor to chat. During the conversation
Bridget said “my Nana gives me £5 every week but my mum nicks it for
cigarettes”
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
46. Case Study 3 – Horticulture class
A Centre Manager (Miriam) is checking the classes on the first night of the
Adult Education programme. She looks outside at the Horticulture class
which was having its first practical session in the school’s allotment. The
tutor was a young enthusiastic woman (Jill) who worked full time during the
day as a landscape gardener, but was still receiving care for a mental health
problem. Miriam was aware of Jill’s condition and was happy to employ her
and contribute to her recovery which was advanced.
Miriam decided to watch for a while out of sight of the learners. To her horror
Miriam witnessed two of the male learners making sexual gesticulations
behind Jill’s back. Although Jill could not see what was going on she sensed
something from the body language of the learners she could see, and
looked confused and uncomfortable. Miriam decided not to do anything
about this. The day before the third class, Jill phoned Miriam and resigned.
Her speech was slurred and she sounded in great distress, although she
would give no reason for her resignation.
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
47. Do you now …
• Understand why staff in Adult Learning
have to implement Adult Safeguarding
• Know the procedures for implementing
Adult Safeguarding within adult learning
• Have developed skills in recognising and
managing Adult Safeguarding situations
If in doubt about a Adult Safeguarding issue talk to your centre
manager or use the contact details in your resources folder
47