Adults and reporting
Adults also face difficulties in reporting safeguarding concerns about others. There are many reasons for this.
Like children, adults may have fears such as:
- Fear that there will be negative consequences for them (e.g. loss of job or not picked for the team).
- Fear that they will get a colleague into trouble.
- Fear that they will not be believed.
Fear keeps people silent, and silence allows harm to continue. Adults may also fail to report concerns when they think it is someone else’s responsibility.
But as we know, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and everyone should be supported to take action that is right. You can play an important role and so you must speak up if you have a concern.
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| What is ‘poor practice’? |
People often talk about ‘less serious’ safeguarding concerns as ‘poor practice’. Poor practice is when people work in a way that falls short of expected standards as set out in a code of conduct. The relationship between poor practice and abuse is an important one to understand. |
The next section will help you think more about this.
How serious are these behaviours?
Read the following groups of statements.
For each statement, move the sliding circular marker to the right if you believe the behaviour should be rated more seriously, or to the left if you believe it should be rated less seriously.
In each group of statements, consider whether the next statement presented in the list becomes more or less serious than the previous one.
As you complete the activity, the feedback will ask what may happen if the least serious behaviour is not responded to.
What’s important here is that the behaviours may not seem that serious at the start, but we should be concerned and respond to all behaviours that are not in line with the code of conduct and not just those we believe are the most serious.
Remember, addressing what may seem like ‘lower-level’ concerns and poor practice can help serious harm from happening.
Even with behaviour that might seem less serious, if it becomes ‘the normal way we do things’, it can create an environment where abuse is more likely to happen. This is because everyone’s normal standards of behaviour are lowered. When you hear someone say “we have always done it like this” or “that’s the way it’s done here” you should be prepared to challenge them if it does not appear to be appropriate.
Remember, a good safeguarding tool to help prevent poor practice from becoming normal practice is the code of conduct you looked at in the second part of the course. This tool helps everyone know what good practice looks like.
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| Why should I respond to lower-level safeguarding issues? |
Responding to lower-level safeguarding issues can help prevent more serious issues happening. |
Why are athletes or players not likely to speak out?
