Charm can be considered protective (6)
I believe the answer is:
amulet
'charm' is the definition.
(I know that amulet is a type of charm)
'be considered protective' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'be' could be 'am' and 'am' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'can' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for amulet that I've seen before include "Protective charm" , "Jewel to protect from witchcraft" , "Lucky trinket" , "lucky defender" , "Trinket worn to protect one from evil" .)