London Borough of Bexley and Trafford Council are First to Receive the Training

Brighton - 16th September, 2009: Me Learning, a specialist provider of social care training, today announced the launch of its new suite of ‘Safeguarding' online training courses for all professionals involved in the care of children and young people. The Safeguarding suite provides a comprehensive introduction to safeguarding and child protection and forms part of its Every Child Matters (ECM) suite that covers every aspect of training that professionals working with children and young people require. Councils who have already signed up to receive the online training include the London Borough of Bexley and Trafford Council.

The course was developed to ensure that all staff who work with children receive the initial training and ongoing professional progression that will enable them to understand the normal development of a child and recognise potential signs of neglect or abuse. Me Learning's suite provides induction training, in-depth training for individual specialisms and provides a broader overview for managerial levels. Other courses in the suite include Information Sharing, ContactPoint, Lead Professional, ICS (Integrated Children's System) and CAF (Common Assessment Framework).

Christine Turner, Trafford Council's Executive Member for Supporting Children and Families said: "Me Learning's Safeguarding course is a major enhancement to our overall training provision because of its flexibility and ease of delivery in-house. Having previously purchased Me Learning's courses, we are confident that this new course will not only be to the highest of standards but that it will also help provide a comprehensive introduction for our staff to safeguarding and child protection."

The courses are aimed at building an understanding of why certain processes and protocols are in place, as well as teaching the rules and regulations, how to correctly record the information and who is responsible for each area of the safeguarding and protection of children.

Nick Richard, Director of Me Learning said: "We believe it is everyone's responsibility to protect the wellbeing of children and young people. Our Safeguarding course provides guidance and support on the day-to-day practices for all frontline services involved in the care of children. We believe that through better training no child need ever be put at risk from harm."

The Safeguarding suite consists of nine separate courses covering the following topics: An Introduction to Safeguarding and Child Abuse; Safeguarding: Practitioner Guidance; Child Protection Process; Emotional Abuse Neglect; Physical Abuse; Sexual Abuse; Bullying and Abuse of Disabled. The courses also include several examples of scenarios where abuse may be present and asks the user to choose the next course of action. This, together with learning games and quizzes, ensures the knowledge learnt is continually tested and re-enforced as the user progresses through the course.

Me Learning is exhibiting at the Children and Young People Now, "Make Good Practice, Standard Practice To Better Safeguard Children", conference at The Ibis, Earl's Court, Central London on the 16th-17th September 2009.

More information on this conference can be found at: http://www.safeguardingchildren.com/

About Me Learning
Me Learning provides Local Authorities with online training tools to ensure all professionals involved in social care are fully informed, working together and following the latest national guidelines, protocols and legislation. Me Learning's government-compliant and engaging computer-based courses cut through the ever-changing red tape, providing an all encompassing future-proof resource to help social care professionals continue to carry out their roles effectively and cooperatively.

The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life for both children and adults with additional needs. Lord Laming conducted the Climbié inquiry in 2003 to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of Victoria Climbié and to recommend action to prevent such a tragedy happening again. However, in April 2008 Lord Laming commented: "I have yet to be convinced there is uniformly good practice across the country." Furthermore, government regulator the General Social Care Council (GSCC) has suggested social workers need further training post-qualification to deal with an increasing number of "complex and risky" cases such as Baby P, for which they needed greater expertise.

Me Learning provides both off-the-shelf and tailored courses covering key elements of the Government's ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children' programme run by the DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families). It is the only provider of online training courses for two of the leading ICS (Integrated Children's System) software suppliers: OLM and Liquidlogic. 20% of the UK's Local Authorities that have a social care responsibility are already using Me Learning's cost-efficient courses, ranging from Essex County Council's purchase of the MePROTOCOL ICS suite for its own ICS roll-out to over 1,200 staff, to Manchester City Council's purchase of Me Learning's Information Sharing and ContactPoint courses to train 3000 people on the ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children' programme.

More information can be found at http://www.melearning.co.uk/ or by calling us on 01273 455 194.

Me Learning's Course Options
The Me Learning courses are split into two types: those for training social care workers in the use of their Local Authority's social care systems; and those that support the key elements of the Government's Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme by providing the latest national guidelines, protocols and legislation, which all people involved in social care need to be aware of.

For Social Care Workers:

• Integrated Children's System (ICS) Training: ICS is designed to be supported by an electronic case record system which provides a complete view of children in their care and forms the basis of every social care practitioner's working processes. Typically, although staff may receive training on the operation of a new system, they are not always fully conversant with the ICS process itself. Me Learning has therefore developed a comprehensive suite of online training courses to both educate social care workers and relevant support staff in the ICS processes and show how to correctly record information in the case record system.
• Adult Care Training: Me Learning provides training to support OLM's CareFirst and Liquidlogic's PROTOCOL IAS adults software.

For all agencies involved in social care including social care workers:

• Every Child Matters Training: The courses for all professionals involved in social care are based on key elements of the Government's ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children' programme, which aims to encourage integrated working among agencies and enable early intervention and improvement for children with additional needs. There are also plans for a national database, ContactPoint, with the aim of aiding integrated working. Ensuring relevant staff are fully conversant with the process, policies and legislation will ultimately help towards preventing the current spate of deaths from known child abuse cases. Me Learning's Every Child Matters (Me ECM) courses ensure all agencies understand the processes and legislation that shape social care in the UK and how they personally fit into the integrated working process. Courses include: Information Sharing, ContactPoint, Lead Professional, CAF (Common Assessment Framework) and now Safeguarding.

Managing and monitoring staff learning
Me Learning's unique Learning Management System (LMS) provides a platform for a Local Authority to view who has taken a course and whether they have been awarded a certificate. Managers can monitor training levels and provide the Local Authority with evidence that social care professionals in their jurisdiction have reached a certain standard, raising the Local Authority's national reputation and helping improve their star rating.

Further information (external website)