SAB strategic plans – Staff development and training strategies
A staff development and training strategy should describe how a SAB and its member organisations will:
- work in partnership across agencies to provide joint learning opportunities
- set benchmarks on required content and levels of training
- involve people with care and support needs and carers in training and development
- establish a range of training materials
- establish a culture of learning for practitioners – for example, supported by multi-agency adult practitioner forums
- establish processes to monitor and evaluate the uptake of training and its impact on practice.
Examples of outcomes include:
- people with care and support needs feel safe in their own homes and when using services
- people with care and support needs achieve their desired outcomes from the safeguarding process
- staff feel confident and competent in safeguarding practice
- managers have development opportunities to reflect their levels of responsibility and partnership engagement
- local trainers are up to date with local systems and practice
- multi-agency safeguarding procedures are implemented effectively
- services are able to demonstrate they are developing their workforce and improving the quality of the service
- people with care and support needs understand, to the best of their ability, what abuse is, how to report it and how to keep themselves safe
- meaningful involvement of people with care and support needs in the development and delivery of staff learning opportunities.
Issues to consider include:
- resources to enable staff and people with care and support needs to develop and deliver training
- resources to enable staff to attend learning opportunities
- appropriate learning opportunities for different staff roles and responsibilities
- how to measure the impact of learning opportunities on practice
- how to monitor the uptake of learning opportunities
- means of disseminating good practice
- how to identify and respond to any gaps in staff development (e.g. due to changes in legislation, guidance or regulation, or the findings of safeguarding adults reviews or similar)
- joint learning opportunities with other local multi-agency partnerships.