Safeguarding in Higher Education – Every Conversation Matters
Safeguarding in a university rarely begins with someone describing what they are experiencing as a "safeguarding concern". More often, it begins with an ordinary conversation. A student stays behind after a lecture, sends an unexpected email, stops attending, behaves differently, or simply asks: "Have you got a minute?" Academic colleagues are often the people who notice these changes first and, importantly, the people students choose to trust. That doesn't mean we expect colleagues to become counsellors, investigators or safeguarding specialists. We do, however, want everyone to feel confident about recognising when something may not be right, responding appropriately and knowing how to connect a student with the support they need.
This series of short videos draws on more than twenty years of experience of safeguarding and supporting students in Higher Education. Rather than concentrating on legislation or repeating the University's core safeguarding training, it explores what safeguarding looks and feels like in everyday university life: the conversations we have with students, the things we notice, the judgements we sometimes have to make and the professional boundaries that allow us to care without trying to carry responsibility alone.
Throughout the resource, three simple principles recur:
Recognise. Respond. Refer.
Recognise when something has changed or doesn't feel right.
Respond with kindness, curiosity and appropriate professional boundaries.
Refer by bringing in colleagues whose role is to provide specialist advice and support.
An important part of this is having confidence in the wider safeguarding and support system the University has built around both our students and our staff. Making a referral isn't passing a problem on or stepping away from a student. It is bringing the right people alongside you and ensuring that responsibility is shared appropriately.
The videos use realistic Higher Education situations to explore difficult conversations, professional judgement, confidentiality, boundaries and what happens when a concern is referred. You will also be invited to reflect on how you might respond if similar situations arose in your own teaching or interactions with students.
There is no expectation that you will finish this resource knowing the answer to every safeguarding situation. After many years working in this area, I certainly don't always know immediately where a conversation will lead. What matters is having the confidence to notice, to ask, to listen and, when necessary, to seek help.
Because safeguarding isn't something any one of us does alone.
And sometimes the most important contribution we make to a student's university experience begins with a very simple question:
"Are you OK?"