Professional conduct and speaking up

How to use this short course

Allow about 15 minutes for reading, the scenario, reflection and knowledge check. This is internal new-starter awareness training for an after-school setting. It does not replace specialist qualifications, the longer DASC courses, required employment checks or local practical induction. Local policy and the arrangements confirmed by your manager determine how you carry out your role. Examples are illustrative; no example name is an operational contact.

Read the sections in order, discuss anything unclear and complete the six-question assessment. You need at least 80% and your own declaration for a dated module completion. The whole pathway is not complete until all six modules and a separate manager practical sign-off are recorded.

Be approachable and professionally accountable

Children benefit from adults who are warm, respectful and consistent. Professional boundaries make those relationships transparent and safe. Follow the setting's staff code of conduct for language, touch, dress, gifts, communication and behaviour. Avoid favouritism, humiliating comments, private promises and special arrangements hidden from colleagues or parents. Being friendly does not mean becoming a child's private friend.

Understand how one-to-one contact, personal care and support are arranged in your setting. Work where your actions can be accounted for and use the agreed reporting and supervision arrangements. Do not invent a universal “never be alone” rule that prevents necessary care; ask the manager to show the actual procedure and safeguards for your role. Any exceptional situation or concern should be reported and recorded promptly.

Phones, photographs and online contact

Use only approved devices and systems for children's information and images. Check the setting's permissions and purpose before taking, storing or sharing a photograph. Do not photograph children on a personal phone simply because a parent requests it. Never post children, records or incidents to a personal account, even in a private group. Do not add children to personal social-media accounts, exchange private contact details or hold secret conversations online.

Keep your own account secure. Do not share a password, leave a screen unlocked or borrow another staff member's account. If a message contains an unexpected link or request for information, use the approved verification route before responding. Report a lost device, wrong-recipient message or suspected information breach promptly. Trying to hide the mistake can increase the harm.

Confidentiality and necessary sharing

You may learn sensitive details about families, staff and children. Access only information needed for your work and discuss it only with authorised people who need it. Hold conversations where they cannot be overheard by children, visitors or other parents. Store papers and screens securely, and follow the setting's retention and disposal arrangements instead of creating your own copies.

Confidentiality must not become a reason to withhold a safeguarding concern. Use the safeguarding information-sharing route promptly. You should not promise parents that information will never be shared. Explain that the responsible lead will handle it appropriately. Do not disclose another family's records, discuss diagnoses casually or confirm gossip. Refer requests for records or complex concerns to the authorised person.

Speak up about concerns, errors and role limits

Report inappropriate behaviour, unsafe practice, allegations and low-level concerns through the correct procedure, even when the person is popular or senior. If your normal manager is implicated, use the alternative escalation or whistleblowing route. Describe facts, preserve relevant records and do not conduct your own investigation. You should know how to seek further advice if you believe a concern has not been addressed.

You are responsible for being honest about what you can do. A short induction does not make you a qualified first aider, food safety specialist, safeguarding lead or trained physical-intervention practitioner. Ask for supervision when a task is outside your competence or authorisation. Raise fatigue, illness or other factors affecting safe work with the manager through the appropriate process.

Mistakes and near misses must be recorded accurately. Correct an error using the approved correction process so the original facts and actual correction date remain clear. Never backdate, erase an incident or ask a colleague to conceal it to make records look better.

Practise a realistic situation

A parent asks you to send a picture of their child to a personal messaging number. A colleague says it is harmless because they do it regularly. Later you realise you have sent a document to the wrong recipient.

Explain how you would decline the informal image-sharing request politely and offer the approved route. For the mistaken document, explain who needs to know now, what facts you would record and how you would preserve evidence without spreading it further. Neither the parent's request nor a colleague's habit changes your responsibility.

Local practical follow-up

Show your manager where personal devices are kept, how to lock your approved account, where the code of conduct is stored and how to report a staff concern or information-handling mistake.

Use the actual current arrangements for your setting, not a remembered contact or a fictional scenario. Tell the manager if you need more practice, an accessible format or support with language or reading. Any unresolved issue should be supported and recorded rather than hidden by ticking a box.

Continue your learning

• Full course: safer working practice
• Full course: code of conduct
• Full course: data protection gdpr
• Full course: whistleblowing

Completing this short module records only this module. It does not mark any linked full course as completed. Full training and refresher requirements remain separate.

Guidance and local policy

This awareness module is informed by the Department for Education's Out-of-school settings: safeguarding guidance for providers, updated 9 February 2026. It is guidance, not a claim that every statutory provision applies identically to every setting. The manager must confirm the framework relevant to the provision, children's ages and your duties, including any applicable EYFS requirements. Use the setting's current safeguarding, conduct, supervision, health and information-handling procedures alongside this module.