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Posted By Dave Garioch An interesting question on the day the HSE launch a new video "Check It Out" to help teachers educate pupils on work place safety. For more details go to http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2002/e02176.htmWill employees of the providers of Work Experience Placements need to have Criminal Records Checks as they will be educating children for one/two weeks a year? What about the large companies who may not be able to identify the all the staff that a WEX pupil may come into contact with? Is this another nail in the coffin for WEX placements as employers collapse under the weight of checking from schools, local authorities, FE colleges and other agencies? I have written to the DfES and HSE asking for their response and await their comments with great interest. While this is taking place does anyone else out there have an opinion?
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Posted By Ken Taylor
If 'common sense' is to prevail, I would expect CRB checks to be advised where lone working with a WEX student is involved - but we shall see!
What about work experience abroad?!
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Posted By Zoe Barnett
This query landed on my desk this morning, regarding work experience students from a local comprehensive doing WEX in their neighbouring primary. The "word on the street" here is that the DfES are still trying to make a firm decision on this issue but that for the time being WEX students don't need a check unless they are likely to be in unsupervised contact with children. Obviously this may change if the DfES comes up with a different policy but for the time being we're following this.
Hope it helps
Zoe
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Posted By Graham Bullough
This thread has parallels with the recent thread about whether employees of contractors working at schools should be vetted through the CRB.
If properly run, work experience placement schemes for older pupils (15-16 year olds) from secondary schools can be very useful and educational experiences. The prospect of having CRB vetting for some or all employees likely to encounter pupils during placements strikes me as horrendous as it would be a bureaucratic nightmare, costly, slow and probably discourage many employers from providing work experience placements. The CRB has enough work on its plate dealing with the justifiable vetting of new full/part time employees working in education, social services, etc. plus, I gather, leaders and other adults working with young people in voluntary organisations such as the Scout Association.
Do a risk assessment! Does anyone have information about whether any pupils have had problems with dubious employees during work experience. In any event surely CRB vetting only tells if someone has one or more convictions for offences relating to children and young people, not if they are liable to commit such offences or so far have escaped the attention of the law. Therefore, is CRB vetting a reasonably practicable and cost effective measure for what will be a relatively transient activity? I think better measures would include pre-assessment of experience providers, their workplaces and arrangements for pupils combined with effective briefing of pupils before they start. Also the age of the pupils involved renders them less vulnerable than pupils of primary and younger secondary age. Hopefully, by then they will have had copious advice over the years from parents and schools, etc. about recognising and dealing with inappropriate attention from adults. In any event each pupil should have a mentor from their school or scheme arranger whom they (or their parents/guardians) can contact for advice during any placement if they are unsure or worried about any aspect of the placement such as being asked to do things which they know or think to be unsafe or exceed the agreed work content of their placement.
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Posted By Dave Garioch Thanks for all the sensible comments. I've had a reply from the HSE, who passed the issue on to the DfES. The DfES produced "Strongly recommended" guidance in May 2002 - Child Protection: Preventing Unsuitable People from Working with Children and Young Persons in the Education Service. Ref DfES/0278/2002. Copies can be obtained from: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/governor/pubdocs/71_183.pdfHappy reading Dave
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