Training and learning

Serious Case Reviews E-learning

The e-learning course is hosted on the Virtual College free e-learning courses web page, and can be accessed here.

Course description

This Learning from SCR course will equip all those who come into contact with children with the knowledge and understanding they need to respond to neglect, abuse and extra-familiar harm to help prevent future serious child safeguarding incidents. It takes a child centred approach which means keeping the child in focus when making decisions about their lives and working in partnership with them and their families, to ascertain what life is really like for them on an everyday basis. It is designed to support all practitioners working across the partnership, embedding the knowledge and understanding of legislation and related guidance and protocols.

How was it developed?

The content was developed by safeguarding professionals in the London Borough of Sutton as a joint project with Virtual College - a digital training provider with more than 25 years’ experience behind them. They work closely with a number of Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships (LSCPs) across the country.

What does it include?

The course modules contain up to 10 case scenarios based on the following eight SCR themes:

• Brain injuries in infants ('shaken baby')

• Neglect

• Physical injuries

• Complex health needs

• Fatal stabbing

• Injury in pre-mobile babies

• Self-harm and suicide

• Child Sexual Abuse

Each course scenario is followed by a range of exercises to apply the learning - the responses draw on the learning from published SCRs and makes reference to legal requirements set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020

Who is it for?

The target group for the course are the following roles:

• Social workers

• Teachers

• Health professionals

• Police

• Probation officers

• Housing officers

• Youth workers

• Safeguarding leads

• CAFCASS roles

• Students

• Academics

• Commissioners

• Others who have a role to promote the welfare and safeguard children

What levels of training needs will it address?

The course allows learners to select the level of training which best matches their training needs based on relevant levels of responsibilities. Anyone can progress to the next level to advance their knowledge and understanding.

Introduction (for everyone) -contains a shaken baby animated case scenario followed by a “what happened next” animation of the serious child safeguarding incident process. It has a downloadable flowchart for the management of serious child safeguarding incidents.

Level 1 - where you only need to know how to identify needs, respond and refer safeguarding concerns

Level 2 - where you have safeguarding responsibilities within your organisation that requires awareness rather than specialist knowledge and skills

Level 3 - where you are in frequent or direct contact with children who may require a child in need assessment, or already have assessed needs; and you may be, or regularly attend multi-agency planning or review meetings in your professional role

Level 4 - where you have a specialist safeguarding role, or an operational or strategic decision making role, and/or are involved in research, quality assurance and practice development work

What impact will the course have?

The course is intended to raise awareness about the critical learning from Serious Case Reviews - potentially it can help save lives by equipping those who come into contact with children with the knowledge and understanding they need to identify and refer concerns, assess and intervene and work effectively within the multidisciplinary safeguarding system.

What learning objectives will be achieved?

After completing the e-learning module you will have learnt:

• To recognise the most common risk factors relating to neglect, abuse and extra-familial harm that feature in serious child safeguarding incidents;

• How you have a role to promote the welfare and safeguarding of children within the context of multi-agency working;

• Why the 10 key principles of learning from SCRs are critical to keeping children safe, and how they apply to your role;

• Why children's rights to have their wishes and feelings listened to in decision making that affect their lives matters;

• The importance of knowing and understanding the legal and policy frameworks, to fulfil statutory responsibilities;

• How the management of child safeguarding incidents process works, from the point of an incident notification to undertaking a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (local and national)

How will I be able to evidence the learning?

After the completion of this course, a self-printed certificate will be issued to evidence the learning.

How do I access the free e-learning course module?

The e-learning course is hosted on the Virtual College free e-learning courses web page, and can be accessed here.