The Ongoing Development of Safeguarding Training

Safeguarding training was a key area highlighted in the Past Cases Review, which noted in Recommendation 20: "That all reviews and amendments to policies and training material involve consultation with victims/survivors”.

Over the last ten years, the Methodist Church safeguarding training has been reviewed and updated on a regular basis. Back in 2015, the Foundation Module training was up and running, having replaced Module A in 2012.

There was also the Safeguarding Leadership Training, which became the Advanced Module in September 2018. Both modules have continued to be completely refreshed every four years, in line with the requirement for those attending the training to update their training four yearly.

To ensure that training attendees are not asked to attend the same programme repeatedly, a team of safeguarding leads and Learning Network Officers work hard to produce new versions of the training every four years.

In recognition of Recommendation 20, we always include a survivors’ representative in these groups, to ensure that we include a survivor’s perspective and that the materials are sensitive to their potential impact on those who have experienced abuse.

One of the unexpected outcomes of the pandemic was the rapid increase in online meetings. Building on these developments, there is now a more mixed delivery of training with online, hybrid and face-to-face courses on offer.

A more recent training initiative is the development of Senior Leadership Safeguarding Training – an additional course designed in response to reviews into safeguarding situations relating to high-profile leaders in the Methodist Church and other denominations.

These materials have a significant focus on trauma-informed practice, the impact of abuse on victims and the potential impact of powerful leaders. This new course is just starting to be rolled out.

Over the last ten years, the regular updates to core safeguarding training have been augmented by a new course on spiritual abuse and a regular webinar programme. The webinars have considered a wide range of topics, raising awareness of safeguarding-related issues.

Topics have included:

• issues relating to survivors of abuse, including trauma and the impact on survivors, how to speak to and about survivors of abuse and Our Recovery Journey
• issues relating to domestic abuse, including hidden victims and coercive control
• safeguarding and racial justice
• making our churches more dementia friendly
• financial abuse
• The Theology of Safeguarding

The programme of webinars is ongoing, with the 2026 programme being prepared. The Training page on the Methodist Church website has details on all the safeguarding training available.