This masterclass provides a comprehensive introduction to Contextual Safeguarding, equipping professionals to identify and respond to risks young people face beyond the family home. Through reflection, case studies, and practical tools, delegates will explore how to safeguard adolescents within their peer groups, schools, communities, and online environments in line with national policy and guidance.
Masterclass Outline: Contextual Safeguarding – Young Person Safety in Wider Contexts
Join us for this essential masterclass exploring Contextual Safeguarding – a progressive approach to understanding and responding to young people's safety beyond the traditional boundaries of home and family.
We begin by reflecting on the familiar territory of traditional child protection – processes centred on familial harm. Through group discussion, we’ll explore how these systems align (or misalign) with the developmental realities of adolescence. As young people seek autonomy, take risks, and are heavily influenced by peers, we must understand how the spaces they move through – parks, schools, streets, and online platforms – become significant in both risk and resilience.
This session explores how risk manifests outside the home, including child-on-child abuse, exploitation, and serious youth violence. We’ll then delve into Contextual Safeguarding – a strengths-based, evidence-informed approach that considers the broader social environments affecting young people. Through case reviews and national examples of best practice, we’ll chart the evolution of policy and practice in this space, linking to key statutory guidance such as Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023.
Delegates will leave with practical tools and strategies to apply Contextual Safeguarding in real-world settings, supporting a more holistic, informed, and effective safeguarding approach for today’s young people.
By the end of this masterclass, you will:
Reflect on the limitations of traditional child protection frameworks in addressing adolescent risk.
Understand how adolescent development (e.g. autonomy-seeking, peer influence, thrill-seeking) impacts risk and vulnerability.
Recognise how harm can occur outside of the family context, including peer-on-peer abuse, exploitation, and online risks.
Gain a clear understanding of the Contextual Safeguarding approach and its core principles.
Explore national policy and statutory guidance (e.g. Working Together to Safeguard Children) that support and require safeguarding in wider contexts.
Examine real-life case reviews and examples of effective implementation of Contextual Safeguarding across the UK.
Identify practical tools, resources, and strategies to support the integration of Contextual Safeguarding into everyday practice.
Develop confidence in assessing and intervening in extra-familial harm, working across systems (schools, communities, online platforms).
Strengthen multi-agency collaboration to better safeguard young people in the contexts they live and socialise in.
Leave equipped to challenge and evolve safeguarding culture within your own setting, in line with current best practice.
