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Publication date September 2021
Front cover: School staff, parents and carers' views and experiences of the Keeping Safe whole-school education programme - lessons from the process evaluation for teaching children to recognise abusive behaviours and tell

The NSPCC’s Keeping Safe programme for primary schools, developed in Northern Ireland, aims to support schools and parents to deliver sensitive messages to children about recognising abusive behaviours.

We conducted a process evaluation with mainstream and special schools between 2016 and 2018 and explored the experiences of children, parents and school staff taking part in the programme.

Authors: Aisling McElearney, Christina Murphy, Deirdre Fullerton, Georgia Hyde-Dryden, Alexina Cosette and Sophie Morris
Published: September 2021

School staff, parents' and carers' views and experience of the Keeping Safe whole-school education programme: lessons from the process evaluation for teaching children to recognise abusive behaviours and tell
Download the report (PDF)
Children’s views on being taught about abuse through the Keeping Safe education programme: lessons from the process evaluation for teachers and policymakers
Download the report (PDF)
“I like remembering all about our underpants rule and the people that we met and our private parts, and our emotions. I remember we learned about our smart bodies and our bodies can tell us how we’re feeling.”

Primary 4 child, Special school

Methodology

We worked with 226 children aged between 4-13, using creative art-based approaches to:

  • identify what children could recall and learned from the programme
  • document and describe children’s response to the programme
  • find out children’s wishes and recommendations for the programme.

We used a range of qualitative and quantitative methods and engaged 161 adults, including parents, carers, classroom teachers, principals, school governors and other school staff to:

  • describe schools’ experiences of implementing the programme
  • identify key enablers and challenges to implementation
  • identify programme strengths and weaknesses and explore perceived outcomes.

Key findings

Young children respond positively to being taught about abuse and learn key concepts when messaging is appropriate for their age and stage of development.

Children from as young as four years, and children and young people with special educational needs, learned key programme concepts when taught using a range of engaging visual and interactive resources, stories and activities.

Strong leadership across the whole school was identified as the key enabler to successful implementation of the Keeping Safe programme.

When introducing a whole-school programme that teaches children about abuse, it is recommended that strong leadership support is secured. This support can help to ensure the programme is built into school development planning and that resources are protected for staff training.

Related reports

> Read the Keeping Safe cluster randomised trial evaluation

> Learn about our findings from implementing the Keeping Safe programme in special schools

Citation

Please cite as:

McElearney, A., Murphy, C., Fullerton, D., Hyde-Dryden, G., Cosette, A., Morris, S. (2021) School staff, parents' and carers' views and experience of the Keeping Safe whole-school education programme: lessons from the process evaluation for teaching children to recognise abusive behaviours and tell. London: NSPCC.

McElearney, A., Murphy, C., Craig, L., Palmer, L., Monaghan, M., Cunningham, C. (2021) Children’s views on being taught about abuse through the Keeping Safe education programme: lessons from the process evaluation for teachers and policymakers. London: NSPCC.

School staff, parents' and carers' views and experience of the Keeping Safe whole-school education programme: lessons from the process evaluation for teaching children to recognise abusive behaviours and tell
Download the report (PDF)
Children’s views on being taught about abuse through the Keeping Safe education programme: lessons from the process evaluation for teachers and policymakers
Download the report (PDF)
“I’d be more likely to talk, and be comfortable knowing that it’s going on in school, [that] the school is doing the groundwork with them, and, whatever questions, you’d try and answer the questions they had.”

Parent/carer, Catholic Maintained school

Related resources

Children with learning disabilities taking part in a creative activity in the classroom
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Teaching children and young people in special schools to recognise abusive behaviours

Read how the NSPCC’s Keeping Safe programme has been implemented in schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Northern Ireland.

Find out more
Service evaluation
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Keeping Safe: cluster randomised trial evaluation

Read our research on how the Keeping Safe primary school programme helped to increase knowledge and understanding of abuse concepts in children, parents, carers and teachers.

Find out more
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Library and Information service

The NSPCC Library and Information Service helps professionals access the latest child protection research, policy and practice resources and can answers your safeguarding questions and enquiries.

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