Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that school staff receive training on (a) parental alienation and (b) male domestic violence; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making that training mandatory.

Whilst parental alienation is not an explicit element of training within educational safeguarding practice, all schools and colleges must have regard to statutory safeguarding guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). KCSIE sets out that all staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training and that all staff should read Part one of KCSIE as part of their induction process. Part one provides all staff with information regarding abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, exploitation and domestic violence. KCSIE is clear all staff should be in a position to identify abuse and neglect and should act immediately if they have any concerns about a child. The detail of the safeguarding training that staff receive is rightly a matter for individual schools who will base this on an assessment of the needs of their staff and their pupils.

The Teachers’ standards set the minimum requirements for teachers’ practice and conduct and make clear that all teachers must have ‘regard for the need to safeguard pupils' wellbeing’.

The department’s National Professional Qualifications for school leaders includes training for leaders on safeguarding. These qualifications have recently been revised to ensure that safeguarding is a core aspect.