13 Oct Case study: Signs of Safety Blended Learning Programmes for Tusla
Case Study: Signs of Safety Blended Learning
Client: Tusla
About Tusla
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is the Irish state agency responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children. The staff of over 4,000 are involved in supporting and promoting the development, welfare and protection of children in Ireland. Alongside the child protection and welfare services, Tusla also provide a range of services to support the local community, including psychological services and support for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Tusla aims to help families function effectively through a responsive, inclusive and outward looking approach.
Business Challenge
Tusla have implemented Signs of Safety as their new approach to practice in child protection and welfare. The approach, based on an innovative international model, focuses on the importance of child safety and developing partnerships with the children, families, and their networks. Introducing Signs of Safety as an approach to child protection and welfare practice involved a change in how Tusla approached assessment and planning with families. It was important that members of the community, involved in making referrals, such as teachers and Gardaí, were aware of the new approach and would be able to contact Tusla with the right information. Tusla also needed to bring their staff along on the journey so they would be familiar with the new approach. As well as that, intensive training was required to support those Tusla staff specifically working in the area of child protection, to enable them to understand and to apply Signs of Safety in their everyday work.
“We worked with The Learning Rooms on a comprehensive digital project over the course of six months in 2021. Quality was the key driver in this project and I am very pleased with the end result. The Learning Rooms were very easy to work with. We were allocated a dedicated team, which was well led, they were flexible and responsive to our needs and met each of the commitments they made to us. I was particularly impressed with the professional approach they took to completing the video work. They provided clear guidance and assistance with regard to the script writing, put staff at ease on the day of the filming and the high standard of editing was evident in the final products. We would not have been able to achieve this standard in-house. I would have no hesitation in recommending the Learning Rooms for future digital projects.”
Our Solution
The Learning Rooms partnered with Tusla to help them develop a suite of learning initiatives to support external stakeholders, Tusla staff and staff working in child protection. Each course offers a tailored look at the elements of the Signs of Safety Approach, including principles, the Signs of Safety Map and the seven analysis categories.
An External Briefing video was developed. The video was designed for key partners including teachers and Gardaí and features case studies, animations and videos from Tusla staff.
The Introductory Briefing for all Tusla Staff is a 30-minute eLearning course that contains videos, interactive learning content and real-life stories from Tusla practitioners about their experience using the Signs of Safety.
Finally, the Comprehensive Blended Learning Programme was designed for staff who work in Child Protection and Welfare. It is a blend of self-paced eLearning modules, virtual classroom training sessions and independent work on applying the approach to practice. The eLearning is highly engaging and features a range of different interactive content, such as animated case studies, activities and quiz questions as well as real-life stories from Tusla practitioners. The Tusla staff member will participate in a series of virtual classroom sessions where they have the opportunity to apply the theory that was covered in each eLearning module.
Key project features:
- Blended learning
- Articulate Storyline 360
- Video and audio learning
- Interactive and engaging content
- Virtual classroom