This one-semester programme aims to introduce students to multidisciplinary approaches to understanding and responding to adult safeguarding. Students will study safeguarding from multiple perspectives, including the current context of adult safeguarding in Ireland; legal and policy frameworks; theories and concepts that guide safeguarding practices; and safeguarding within specific practice contexts. This will include opportunities for detailed discussion of case scenarios to aid critically reflective practice. The programme will be delivered in blended mode, with some days on campus in Dundalk and some work undertaken online.

 

Safeguarding has been a core element of health and social care development Ireland since the 1970s. In the intervening years, legislation, child protection guidelines, inspection services, academic qualification standards and professional registration and regulation, have underpinned significant developments in the field. Safeguarding is now the duty of all in society, with recent focus turning to the need for more understanding of adult safeguarding.

 

This course explores the various approaches and responses to Adult Safeguarding in Ireland. This includes a detailed study of the current landscape of safeguarding law, policy and practice in Ireland, with a focus on existing practice, case history and future developments. The programme aims to produce graduates with a critical awareness and understanding of safeguarding within professional practice. This practice may include sectors such as, but not limited to, social care, social work, nursing, youth work, sport, finance, voluntary organisations and healthcare. 

 

This programme is designed to provide social care workers, social workers, medical staff, An Garda Siochana, financial planners, policy developers, youth workers, sports industry employees, amongst others, with an understanding of the current landscape of safeguarding law, policy and practice in Ireland.