With funding support from the Department for Education, the CSA Centre has provided expertise on the content, while in-house learning specialists at HR and LMS software provider Ciphr have created the course, with hosting, SCORM options and evaluation built in.
The specialist safeguarding eLearning was initially launched on the CSA Centre website. Subsequent funding from the DfE will now ensure all local authorities in England will benefit from this resource free of charge.
The course can be hosted on any learning system, to ensure the training is truly accessible to all.
Ciphr is also supporting, and subsidising, the rollout of this new specialist safeguarding eLearning to all (over 4,000) licensed children’s homes in England. Ciphr will set up an open-source Moodle learning platform for staff training. This will help ensure that the project is sustainable, and less reliant on long-term funding.
Anna Glinski, deputy director (knowledge and practice development) at the CSA Centre, says: “The Department for Education funding for the social care workforce is a vital and welcome move towards addressing the need for knowledge, skills and confidence in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse.
“We are grateful to Ciphr for their support with sharing this eLearning across local authorities and residential children’s homes. Now that the eLearning is fully funded, we hope they will consider making this introductory eLearning course mandatory for all social care staff to ensure the response to children at risk of this type of harm, and their families, can be quickly identified and effectively supported.”
David Marshall, strategic advisor – learning transformation at Ciphr, says: “After years of working with the CSA Centre, and Barnardo’s, I’m delighted that we have been able to scale up our collaboration to make our learning even more accessible to so many people. It is very powerful when a not-for-profit partners with a commercial business. By working together, with our complementary skillsets, we can achieve much more.”
Sion Lewis, CEO of Ciphr, says: “The CSA Centre and Ciphr’s new specialist safeguarding eLearning is designed to help protect some of the most vulnerable children in the country and strengthen practice in a very challenged sector.
“A particularly important aspect of the project, which we’re really proud of at Ciphr, is that this resource will now also be available to every licenced children’s home in England – not just those run by local authorities. Helping to fill a funding gap and provide essential safeguarding training. We’re pleased to be able to make a meaningful contribution to this important work.”
Ciphr eLearning, powered by Marshalls, has worked closely with Barnardo's, who host the CSA Centre, on safeguarding training for many years.
For more information, please email workforce@csacentre.org.uk.
Ciphr is the UK specialist in HR, payroll, benefits, learning and recruitment software for mid-market organisations (200–2,000 employees). Its integrated platform brings the whole employee lifecycle into one place, so HR, L&D and payroll teams can work from the same up-to-date people data.
Ciphr's eLearning boasts a comprehensive range of off-the-shelf eLearning content and microlearning courses for the private and public sectors. Their expert instructional designers can also craft fully bespoke eLearning solutions, including facilitated workshops.
For more information, please visit www.ciphr.com.
