Safeguarding policy of international schools in Bangkok: an overview

Selecting the right school for your child is a decision of the utmost importance, as schools may not always be the safest environment for children. In light of a case involving a former educator at an international school in Bangkok who was exposed for alleged sexual harassment towards students over several years, we decided to look into the safeguarding policies of schools in Thailand.

From the more 240 international schools around the country, we focused on high-fee and well-known institutions, particularly in Bangkok, basing our enquiry on information provided by BangkokbizNews in June 2024, to assess how these schools prioritise student safety and protection.

We looked at the websites of more than 10 schools and using a Google search, found just eight schools providing easily accessible safeguarding or student protection policies.

Some schools claim to meet international standards but require a request for access to reach the school’s student safety policy or merely provide a brief idea of their student safety policies with hardly any detail.  We were therefore unable to take their policies into consideration for the purposes of our enquiry.

The common factors of the safeguard policies we were able to access are given below.

All staff involved: Seven representatives of international schools of Bangkok emphasised that all members of the school must be involved in pupils’ safety. This includes teachers, administrative staff and even volunteers.

These schools conduct thorough background checks of all staff members to ensure that individuals with a history of abuse or exploitation are not employed.

All staff are regularly trained in recognising signs of abuse and exploitation and are equipped with the tools to handle disclosures of abuse by children. Many schools have clear or step-by-step methods on how to indicate abuse, support abused students and work on reports.

Special team for student safety: Most of the schools mention that they have a committee or team focusing on student safety and safeguarding. For example: NIST has a Child Safeguarding Committee that includes safeguarding officers, counsellors, and senior leadership members; Harrow has a Safeguarding and Child Protection Team, which includes trained safeguarding officers who oversee the implementation of safety policies and provide staff training; and Shrewsbury has a Child Protection Committee with a designated safeguarding leader.

Their duties and responsibilities revolve around policy implementation, mandatory staff training, receiving and handling any reports of abuse, neglect, or other concerns, maintaining detailed records of any incidents and reports, and engaging with parents.

They often have a certain level of autonomy but come under a senior leadership team or board of governors. This ideally allows them to investigate reports of abuse and make decisions.

Definition of abuse and signs to look for: All schools’ policies provide a clear definition of the different types of abuse and outline the signs that staff, students, and parents should look for.

This is a key aspect of their child protection policies, helping staff and the school community recognise and respond to abuse early. Common types of abuse are physical, emotional and/or sexual as well as child sexual exploitation, and neglect.
Once signs of abuse are recognised, the safeguarding team is usually responsible for investigating or escalating concerns.
They encourage staff to report concerns to safeguarding officers, with the staff involved using a confidential system for recording incidents and following up on reports.

Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation: Sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or related types of abuse such as female genital mutilation or forced marriage are mentioned in the safeguarding policy. King’s College International School Bangkok, Bromsgrove International School, and Shrewsbury International School are among the schools with outstanding policies on sexual harm to pupils.

They have a clear definition and indicators of sexual abuse and expand their radar to cover online sexual abuse, including guidelines for children on what body parts should not be touched and the adults they can trust.

For most schools, safeguarding policies are readily accessible online by simply searching the school’s name alongside such terms as “safeguarding” or “student safety policy”. These policies not only provide guidance for school staff on how to ensure student safety and what to watch for, but they also offer reassurance to parents and guardians that the school upholds clear standards and guidelines for the protection of students. Moreover, these policies reflect the priorities and values that each school emphasises in safeguarding its students.