Did You Just Hire a Predator?
Child exploitation remains an ongoing concern globally with different international studies finding similar results. In the United States, the Crimes Against Children Research Centre found that one in five girls and one in twenty boys are victims of child sexual abuse. In Ireland, child sexual abuse was found to be even more prevalent by the SAVI Report, which found one in five girls and one in six boys experiencing some form of sexual abuse, and 40 per cent of women and a quarter of men experiencing some form of sexual abuse over their lifetime.
The education sector is at the forefront of preventing predators from exploiting students through stopping access to them becoming teachers. International schools, by their nature, face additional challenges including predators moving from country to country to exploit legal loopholes and escape previous convictions by changing jurisdictions.
Many international schools tend to not know the detail of local laws in which they operate and do not have easy access to local law enforcement.
International schools must not only engage with local law enforcement to understand their legal environment to safeguard students, but also develop key policies and rigorous procedures through the hiring cycle which more effectively protects students in their car, and also finds candidates that are the best match to the culture of the school.
Schrole recently hosted a briefing, Safeguarding: Best Practice and Process for Safer Recruitment, at which international education leaders Jane Larsson, Executive Director, Council of International Schools (CIS) and Laurie McLellan, Director of Nanjing International School and Board member of the East Asia regional Council outlined six International Taskforce for Child Protection (ITFCP) guidelines that represent current best practice.
When international schools go through the hiring cycle for candidates and developing policies and procedures, it is important to safeguard the process through the following steps:
- Deter
- Screen
- Explore
- Verify
- Implement
- Evolve
Deter
Before starting the hiring the process, the ITFCP guidelines state that one of the best ways to deter potential predators and find the right candidate is being clear on your expectations from the outset. This can be done by placing written statement on your careers’ website, job adverts, and social media about what policies you have in place, codes of conduct, what is acceptable and what is not, and outlining clear expectations. If you show that you are taking safeguarding your students seriously, many potential predators will leave the process early on, as they look to take advantage of undeveloped systems.
Screen
Systematic procedures need to properly screen all the information on candidates you collect. This includes calling references on candidate CVs to checking for any possible challenging behaviour that you might see from gaps in their work history. Gaps in a CV might include their studies and any inconsistencies with their education, travelling gaps, and why they may have left previous roles.
Explore
The ITFCP guidelines also state you need to ask candidates core, probing questions. This includes probing candidates on differences between cultural behaviours. Ensure interviewers are trained on behavioural interviews to see how they act in certain situations and make candidates aware that you are going to steer the conversation depending on their answers. And to address any biases you may have towards the candidate, make sure you have at least one other colleague interview them.
Verify
To properly verify candidates, ensure core checks are done, including police checks and criminal checks, particularly in the candidate’s country of origin. Other best practice checks include internet and social media checks, to see if they say who they really are online and if there might be any red flags. You may also want to see if there are any inconsistencies in the candidate’s identity or provided name. Be aware that this can be tricky as various people may have nick names they have used or changed their maiden names.
Implement
The best ways to implement your safeguarding processes is creating accountability and training staff. Your staff want to work with safe people. They also have a duty of care to each other, so staff are trained on hiring processes, so that as many people as possible understand, due to the higher level of teacher turnover in international schools. And engage local law enforcement to learn how you can work with them to best protect your students.
Evolve
It is important to keep evolving and updating your procedures due to the ever-changing nature of the space. The digital world is mainly driving these changes and harmful actors are trying to exploit these online spaces. But as the world moved further online from the pandemic, recruiters have improved their online verification and checks, and therefore getting to know candidates better.
Therefore, by safeguarding the hiring cycle for your international school, you will not only just find the best teacher for your students, but also protect children from threats.