Applying social work skills in practice (Open University)

In this free course, Applying social work skills in practice, you will explore the social work role in working with vulnerable and socially excluded individuals and groups. You will learn about risk and the assessment of need in social work practice, and explore the wider context of social work practice and responses to social work. You will also explore the application of relevant knowledge, skills and values in social work, and think about the place of research in supporting social work practice.

Attachment in the early years (Open University)

This free course, Attachment in the early years, covers theory and research in the area of attachment in early childhood. In the 1950s, John Bowlby was the first person to develop a theory about the significance of early attachments between caregivers and very young children. His work has stimulated a massive and very productive field of research with important implications for childcare. This OpenLearn course describes Bowlby’s theory and the work that has built on it, illustrated with video recordings of the assessment of attachment in a laboratory setting and a talk by an eminent attachment researcher.

Autism and the police service (National Autistic Society)

There have been a number of cases over the years of people with autism being wrongly arrested or approached by the police due to their ‘unusual and stereotyped behaviour’. Our new ‘Autism and the police service’ module aims to make the police more aware of autism spectrum disorders and give them a better understanding of autism and ways in which they can offer support to individuals on the spectrum. Difficulties may arise at any stage of communication between the police and someone on the autism spectrum, from the initial approach on the street to the interview process, whether that be as a suspect or as a witness to a crime. The online module will focus on different elements of policing by using case studies, exploring people’s experiences in public spaces and offering advice on how to make reasonable adjustments.

Awareness of Forced Marriage – Free Online Course (Virtual College)

This online course has been developed with the Forced Marriage Unit of the Foreign Office and aims to raise awareness, challenge perceptions and inform you of the correct actions to take should you suspect someone is at risk. This course is aimed at all professionals who have a responsibility to safeguard vulnerable children, young people and adults at risk and is aimed specifically at child protection services, health professionals, education professionals, police officers, children’s social care, adult social care and housing authorities.

Background to this free safeguarding course (Virtual College)

A recent study revealed that 137,000 women in England and Wales are estimated to be living with the consequences of FGM. To address this issue, the Home Office is championing a proactive approach and has launched this free online FGM training package. Throughout this course, we follow a young girl named Hope as she encounters the key issues relating to FGM and we see how they affect her throughout her life. The training will help a wide range of professionals to identify and assist girls who are at risk of FGM.

Building Character through Youth Social Action (Future Learn)

Learn about how you can support young people on their social action journey. Youth social action – activities young people do to help others and the environment – is becoming increasingly recognised as a way to improve communities and develop young people’s characters. Educational institutions, businesses, voluntary organisations and governments are investing in social action to provide opportunities to young people of all backgrounds.

Caring for Vulnerable Children (Future Learn)

Develop an understanding of some of the approaches involved in caring for vulnerable children, with this free online course. In times of austerity and shrinking public services, the task of identifying and caring for vulnerable children has never been more challenging. In this free online course, we’ll help you explore some of the issues involved in undertaking this task.

Child protection: an introduction (NSPCC)

A CPD certified four-module e-learning course for everyone who works with children. Child protection: an introduction will give you and your staff a better understanding of how to recognise, respond, report and record concerns about a child. Suitable for staff, trustees, volunteers, mentors or individuals who come into contact with children and young people and their parents or carers, either by working for an organisation or independently.

Childhood in crisis? (Open University)

This free course, Childhood in crisis?, explores an idea much repeated in minority-world media that childhood is in crisis. Looking at this idea is a starting point for the study of childhood. You will consider the concept of childhood and the ways in which the notion of crisis may shape how children in the West are seen. By completing the activities, you will be introduced to different ways of understanding this idea and also asked to consider your own feelings in relation to it.

Childhood in the digital age (Open University)

Are you a technology optimist or a technology pessimist? The amount of technology available to children today is greater than in any previous generation, and it is more specifically designed to capture their imaginations. There is heated debate as to how the digital influx is shaping children’s development and experience.

Children and young people’s participation (Open University)

Listening to children is a first step in the participation agenda, which is reasonably well established. By contrast, enabling children to share in decision making lags some way behind. This free course, Children and young people’s participation, emphasises that the adoption of an integrated approach to participation by different sectors of the children’s workforce is of crucial importance.

Children living in different settings (Open University)

Most children live with a parent or parents, with siblings and relatives and with family pets in the family home, but many children do not live with their parents or even with their families. They may live elsewhere through choice or necessity, but whatever the event that causes them to move away from their parents or families, the significance of moving in a child’s life can be considerable. This free course, Children living in different settings, will be of interest to anyone who supports children who live away from their families in any capacity.

Children’s participation (Open University)

Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child introduced the right of children to have a say in issues affecting them. Although historic accounts demonstrate some children’s willingness and ability to express an opinion pre-dating the UNCRC, a more visible emphasis on children’s involvement and participation, particularly in the design and delivery of children’s services, has been identified in its wake. In this free course, Children’s participation, theory, practice guidelines and practitioner accounts are used to help the learner reflect on values and develop knowledge and skills for effective engagement and communication with groups of children in different contexts.

Education for All: Disability, Diversity and Inclusion (Future Learn)

Learn practical strategies for making education inclusive. Millions of children around the world are excluded from access to education because of a disability – robbing them of their potential and diminishing our society. On this course you will learn about inclusive education, understanding what barriers there are to learning and how to challenge them. Over six weeks you will learn from a range of people with experience of disability, discovering practical ways to create a more inclusive learning environment that you can apply in your own area.

Effective Strategies for Better Parental Engagement in Online Safety (National Online Safety)

In this webinar, we take a look at reasonings why schools need to engage parents with online safety and practical methods how to achieve this effectively. We look at approaches that your school take to break down the communication barriers between schools and parents. We discuss opportunities to communicate with parents in a way that will work for your school.

Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics (Future Learn)

Understand your own amazing brain. We will look at what your brain is made of, how these components are organised and how they function. This information is helping neuroscientists across the globe understand the brain – and how it is able to do everything from stopping you falling off your bike, to making you feel sad that your football team lost their game, to helping you learn how your brain works.

Homelessness and need (Open University)

The majority of people who sleep on the streets, and in hostels and night shelters, are men. However, the number of women, particularly younger women, in these circumstances has increased (Anderson et al., 1993). They are often people with complex care and support needs, which go way beyond the provision of accommodation. But, as you will learn in this free course, Homelessness and need, complex needs are both a cause and a product of homelessness.

Human Rights Friendly Schools (Amnesty International)

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Explain the importance of fostering a school environment that is human rights friendly
Assess the human rights friendliness of your own school environment
Take practical steps to make your school more human rights friendly
Design your own initiatives for advancing knowledge of and respect for human rights in your school
Advocate for a whole school approach to strengthening a culture of human rights in your school
Apply strategies for gaining supporters inside and outside your school

Introduction to Adverse Childhood Experiences Early Trauma Online Learning (Barnardos)

This online learning package covers an introduction to ACEs, brain development in the early years, the impact of childhood adversity, social, Health and community Impacts of ACEs early trauma, protective factors, looking at ACEs through a trauma informed lens and building resilience

Introduction to child psychology (Open University)

Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development, and studying these changes is endlessly stimulating. In this free course, Introduction to child psychology, you will be introduced to the discipline of child psychology and some of the key questions that guide the understanding of childhood. These questions include ‘What influences children’s development?’ and ‘How do psychologists study the physical and cognitive changes that occur during childhood?’

Issues in research with children and young people (Open University)

This free course, Issues in research with children and young people, considers the aims and range of research with children and young people. Students consider how their own views and understandings about childhood and youth have arisen. Different definitions of research are explored through first-hand accounts by researchers across a range of disciplines and studies, from the small-scale to international studies studying children’s lives across several countries. Attention is drawn to the role of both researchers and participants, raising issues about how children and young people can be directly involved in the research process.

It’s your call (NSPCC)

An online training course for people, who as part of their job enter homes to undertake their work or deliver their service. Do you feel confident enough to trust your instincts and senses if you witness signs of child abuse or neglect? Do you know how to act on these concerns and report possible signs of child abuse? The NSPCC have produced this 15-minute interactive online learning course to help workers who enter or have access to people’s homes to recognise the signs of possible abuse and neglect, encourage them to report concerns either through their work channels, the NSPCC helpline, or if the concern is urgent, the police and support those who may have already witnessed signs of child abuse know what to do about it and provide advice

Keep Them Safe: Protecting Children from Child Sexual Exploitation free course (Virtual College)

Thousands of children in the UK are at risk of being forced or manipulated into sexual activity in a form of abuse called child sexual exploitation. This abuse can happen to any child, anywhere. Knowing what to look for is an important way you can help to protect your children. Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation (Pace) and Virtual College have teamed up to provide this short (20 to 30 minutes) online course designed for parents and carers. (This course will be of interest to those working with children but is NOT a replacement for a full training course).

Keeping children safe online – An online introductory course for anyone who works with children (NSPCC)

Learn how children use the internet and how you can keep them safe from abuse. Working at your own pace, this introductory training course will help you gain the skills to act appropriately and confidently to protect the children you work with.

Managing Behaviour for Learning (Future Learn)

With effective behaviour management in your classroom, your learners will gain as a result and you’ll enjoy your teaching more. You’ll explore first how your behaviour influences your students’, looking at how you control emotional responses and interact with students. Then, you’ll learn techniques and develop your capability to achieve consistency in managing behaviour, recognise positive behaviour and build trust in your classroom.

Managing sexualised behaviour in schools – online courses (NSPCC)

An online course for anyone working in primary schools in the UK. Gain the skills to assess and manage incidents of sexualised behaviour within your school. Guidance in all four UK nations stresses the importance of providing an effective response to harmful sexual behaviour (Department for Education, 2018a; Department of Health. Northern Ireland, 2017; Scottish Government, 2014, All Wales Child Protection Procedures Review Group (AWCPPRG), 2012). It’s an issue of growing concern to schools, reflected by the Department for Education’s decision to publish specific advice on managing sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges in England (Department for Education, 2018b).

Mindfulness in mental health and prison settings (Open University)

This free course, Mindfulness in mental health and prison settings, introduces the key ideas and practices of mindfulness, describes how it is helping counselling clients and prisoners, and also looks at some of the criticisms mindfulness has received in recent years.

New Psychocative Substances (NPS) (Project Neptune)

In partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Project NEPTUNE has developed training modules for front-line clinicians and other practitioners. Modules include
An introduction to club drugs and novel psychoactive substances
Acute harms and management of depressants
Acute harms and management of stimulants
Acute harms and management of Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists and new hallucinogens
Chronic harms and management of depressants
Chronic harms and management of stimulants
Chronic harms and management of Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists and new hallucinogens

Online Bullying & Trolling in Schools Webinar (National Online Safety)

This training session has been designed to support teachers and other professionals in response to the new UKCCIS Framework – Education for a Connected World. We’ll look at how we can identify children who may be experiencing online bullying and what we can do to support them. We will link this to relevant legislation, support and reporting mechanisms.

Parenting (Open University)

I blame the parents!’ How often is that phrase used to explain the ills of society and is it valid? This free course, Parenting, will consider how important is quality parenting, who judges it, and is its provision the sole responsibility of parents should parents just be left to get on with it? It explores what parenting actually means, what is meant by quality parenting, and how it can be enhanced and promoted. The course is of interest to anyone who is, might become or works with parents.

Partnerships and networks in work with young people (Open University)

The term ‘partnership’ is used to describe a wide range of organisational arrangements and ways of working: from informal networking between individuals, to more formal partnership structures. In this free course, Partnerships and networks in work with young people, you will explore a range of meanings for the word ‘partnership’ and see that it is used to describe a range of practices, structures and processes. You will also look at some of the difficulties, as well as the potential benefits, that can come from working in partnership.

Positive Parenting After Separation (Future Learn)

Learn how to meet the needs of children affected by separation. Millions of children worldwide are being raised in families in which their parents are no longer together due to separation or divorce. These family circumstances can be hard for children, particularly when their parents are struggling to co-parent.

Professional relationships with young people (Open University)

In some people’s eyes the development of relationships is a good end in itself, as it is in relationships that we express our humanity. Young people with few good-quality relationships in their lives often find that entering into informal relationships with adults who respect, accept, like and really listen to them is a new life experience. These relationships can offer the young people new perspectives on approaching, developing and managing quality relationships of their own. This free course, Professional relationships with young people, explores different approaches in developing relationships and working practices which can inform work with young people.

Protecting children from sexual abuse (NSPCC)

How to recognise and respond to signs that a child has experienced sexual abuse and preventative measures to reduce the risk of harm.

Protecting children in entertainment (NSPCC)

This online course, produced in association with the National Network for Children in Employment and Entertainment (NNCEE), covers the key statutory guidance that chaperones in the entertainment industry need to know. It can also be taken by those working in the professional or amateur entertainment industries, for example, dance schools, amateur dramatics, choirs, production companies and professional theatres, that want to know more about legal requirements and best practice that chaperones are required to follow.

The family at the centre of early learning (Open University)

This free course, The family at the centre of early learning, focuses on the positive learning relationships that can exist in any family and how ordinary, everyday domestic activities can sustain learning. You will consider how the traditions and cultural practices of the community to which the family belongs filters through to the child’s experiences. In doing so you will think about why such influences may not have a uniform impact from family to family. You will also explore how learning is a two way experience for both children and their parents or carers, in situations both within and beyond the home.

The impact of technology on children’s physical activity (Open University)

This free course, The impact of technology on children’s physical activity, explores the impact of technology on children’s physical activity levels. It examines the different types of technology that children have access to and the ways in which they engage with it. As part of this discussion this course looks at information from a range of different sources and evaluates this evidence to try and answer the question of whether technology is helping or hindering children’s physical activity levels.

Understanding autism (National Autistic Society)

This module provides perspectives from people on the autism spectrum about how autism is defined and experienced. The module will enable learners to recognise the strengths and challenges experienced by many autistic people and how to respond to create enabling environments.

Understanding mental capacity (Open University)

This free course, Understanding mental capacity, describes the principles and criteria underpinning the assessment of mental capacity and decision making in the UK. The course begins by looking at what mental capacity – and the lack of it – means. You will be introduced to various groups of people who are more likely to lack mental capacity, but you will also learn why it is relevant to everyone. You will look at what can be done to help someone to make a decision themselves and the principles and steps that enable people to judge, fairly, whether someone has capacity or not. You will be introduced to the legislation in the UK and will see how it supports and protects people who may lack capacity.

Understanding Young Minds (Virtual College)

Virtual College have worked in partnership with SelfharmUK to create a free online course designed to help parents talk about the issue of self-harm with their children. Thousands of children and young people in the UK are thought to be impacted by self-harm each year. Spotting the signs can be difficult, and approaching the subject with your children can be an uncomfortable experience. This online course, ‘Talking to your children about emotional resilience and self-harm’, has been

Young People and Their Mental Health (Future Learn)

Learn to recognise, prevent and deal with your mental health problems. Mental health problems often develop during the teenage period. As many as 1 out of 5 teenagers are dealing with these problems. Therefore, it is important that you know how to recognise common mental health problems, know how they arise, what you can do to prevent them and what you should do when you actually suffer from them. This course, designed specifically for young people, will help you find out more.

Young people’s wellbeing (Open University)

What do we mean by ‘wellbeing’ for young people? How is it shaped by social differences and inequalities, and how can we improve young people’s mental and physical health? This free course, Young people’s wellbeing, will examine the range of factors affecting young people’s wellbeing, such as obesity, binge drinking, depression and behavioural problems.