Discuss the range of strategies used to tackle child abuse in primary school.

Lorraine Kilbride

There are various strategies used within schools to tackle child abuse. In order to discuss the strategies fully there is a need to define what exactly is meant by child abuse. It is also necessary to be aware of what advice and guidance there is offered through Government documentation and circulars to schools on their role in preventing child abuse. Having put child abuse and the school’s role into context, then the strategies used by the school as a whole and by the teacher within the classroom can be discussed.

Therefore what exactly is meant by child abuse? There is a tendency to automatically assume that abuse means sexual abuse. The 1986 draft report by the Department of Social Security [DHSS], Child Abuse - Working Together defined child abuse as falling into six categories: physical abuse, physical neglect, failure to thrive, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and potential abuse. The present definition for child abuse according to Department for Education and Skills [DfES] Circular 10/95 has been narrowed down to include only four categories:

sexual abuse -physical signs or a substantial behaviour change

emotional abuse -excessive dependence or attention seeking
physical abuse - regular broken bones, bruises, lacerations and burns
physical neglect - inadequate clothing, poor growth, hunger, or apparent deficient nutrition

These are the guidelines from which schools work.

However, what we as a society perceive as abuse may in other cultures/societies be seen as normal practice. There are many cultures for example where young girls, twelve years of age are taken as brides. Much publicity has been given recently to the plight of Muslim women under the Taliban regime. Females have been treated as property, not as equal citizens and suffered as a consequence. The guideline produced by Liverpool City Council for its schools actually contains within it a policy on female genital mutilation [Liverpool City Council, 2000]. This form of ‘abuse seems totally abhorrent to our society, but again is an accepted form of behaviour by other societies.

It was not until the publication of The DHSS Working Together paper in 1988 that teachers were officially identified as having a significant role to play in the prevention of child abuse. Circular 10/95 [DfES, 1995] instructs the education service on its role in helping to protect children from abuse. It also goes further on this point and acknowledges that teachers are in a unique position to recognise and therefore report any signs of child abuse. However according to the Circular this is not the only role that schools and teachers can undertake. Schools, it says, have a definite role to play in primary prevention. The school’s role is to monitor and refer and to keep children safe. In 1999 the update of the DHSS Working Together Paper outlines the school’s role very succinctly.

“They can play a part in the prevention of abuse and neglect through their own policies and procedures for safeguarding children and through the curriculum” [p.14, Working Together, 1999].

School policies and procedures as mentioned in the Working Together Paper [DHSS, 1999] greatly assist in keeping children safe and in preventing child abuse. Circular 10/95 [DfES] offers

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“They can play a part in the prevention of abuse and neglect through their own policies and procedures for safeguarding children and through the curriculum” [p.14, Working Together, 1999].

School policies and procedures as mentioned in the Working Together Paper [DHSS, 1999] greatly assist in keeping children safe and in preventing child abuse. Circular 10/95 [DfES] offers

guidance to all Local Education Authorities [LEAs] on the procedures for reporting any suspected cases of child abuse. Most LEAs follow this standard format. From September 1996 all inspections by Ofsted under section 10 must assure that all schools comply with the requirements of Circular 10/95. Under these requirements all schools must have a Child Protection Co-ordinator [CPC]. All school staff should share suspicions/ disclosures of child abuse with the CPC or the Headteacher. In many schools the Headteacher takes on the role of the CPC. The school must keep confidential records of any such suspicions/ disclosures. In addition schools must monitor children who have been identified as at risk. All staff need to be aware of local procedures so that information is effectively passed on to the relevant professional bodies. This can be achieved by ensuring that LEAs and schools provide and support child protection training regularly for all school staff, teaching and non-teaching, to ensure skills and expertise are up to date.

However reporting and monitoring only go so far. The policies that a school develops go towards creating within the school a safe environment where children are able to feel safe and valued. Children wherever possible should be offered the opportunity to participate in determining school policies, which have a direct impact on them such as behaviour, bullying and equal opportunities. There is a move recently to rename a school’s behaviour policy to policy for effective teaching and learning. Immediately this creates a positive impression [St Teresa’s 2001]. Many schools are now forming School Councils, which are actively supported by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children [NSPCC] in their Full Stop campaign [2000]. By encouraging children’s participation, this will encourage their ownership of the policies, which will increase the chances of the policies being implemented successfully. Children may also be involved in peer support schemes, which are again supported by the NSPCC campaign. Scoresby argues that children’s involvement in school councils offer a way of encouraging greater dialogue between teachers and pupils and she concedes that many of these schemes are pivotal to reducing bullying and promoting positive attitudes to behaviour [Utting, 1998].

Yet teachers can play a major role in prevention of child abuse by changing behaviour and attitudes via the curriculum [Parton, 1991]. There are two levels within this area: the delivery and classroom management techniques used by the teacher and the actual curriculum content. The curriculum may be used to raise children’s awareness and build confidence so that they have a range of contacts and strategies to ensure their protection. Braun agrees that a school curriculum which seeks to empower children and enable them to develop personal qualities that could help to protect them from abuse is much wider than simply telling children to say ‘No ‘ to strangers [Braun, 1990].

There are three main areas of the curriculum, which facilitate this. These are Literacy, Religious Education and Personal, Social and Health Education. Children need to be offered opportunities to discuss their emotions, relationships and bullying. They can be helped to understand what is and is not acceptable behaviour towards them and how to speak up if they have worries and concerns. Through their very nature these three areas lend themselves very well. There are available many popular children’s books such as ‘Not Now, Bernard’ by David McKee and ‘The Queen’s Knickers’ by Nicholas Allan which can be used within the literacy hour to initiate discussion about how to attract an adult’s attention and what is acceptable in society and what is not.

Helfer contends that children need more than being given the opportunity to discuss issues, they need what he refers to as ‘life training skills’ [National Clearinghouse]. These skills focus on four definite areas: the ability to solve problems, form judgements, make decisions and make choices. The curriculum provides many opportunities to develop these skills. Other areas of the curriculum apart from those previously mentioned can now play a part. However it is not only the curriculum content that is important, now the teaching methods and styles come under the focus. Children need to be given responsibility and independence for their own learning, to form their own opinions and make mistakes. One of the methods in which these skills and skills such as assertiveness and clear communication can be developed is through role-play situations. Circle time and interactive learning techniques focus on collaboration and attempt to equip children with personal resources with which to make positive contributions and cope with peer pressure.

In America, there are courses run to help children protect themselves, especially against sexual abuse. Some of the programs bring in experts to educate the children, while others train the teacher to conduct the training seminar or integrate the information into their curriculum. From recent evaluation of such programs, Finkelhor has concluded that not only did children grasp the basic concepts but they also communicated more openly about abuse both in the classroom and with their parents. The findings support this type of training for children [National Clearinghouse].

Schools need to make parents aware of the school’s responsibility for the welfare of their children. This should of course be a part of the school’s ongoing work of developing trust and good relationships with parents. However schools should also ensure that parents are aware of the school’s actual child protection policy and the fact that this may require them on occasion to refer cases to other agencies in the interest of the child. Webb and Vulliamy [BERJ, 2001] suggest that listening to parents and providing assistance and /or contacting other agencies which could help them was regarded as vital for building positive relationships with parents which could then be used to secure improved progress for their children. They imply that this is primarily the role of the headteacher but from experience and observation I would argue that the class teacher also takes on this role. The class teacher is usually more approachable and the person who is seen on a daily basis. S/he has most contact with the child. If there is a problem it is often the case that the teacher makes the first approach to the parent/guardian in order to undercover what it is that perhaps may be upsetting a child.

Within the government guidelines there would appear that teachers have a major role to play in the prevention of child abuse. The strategies used are two sided. There are the whole school policies and procedures and there is the curriculum content and delivery. However Braun argues that there are limits to what teachers can actually do. He contends that it would be naïve to believe that child abuse could be prevented in the future in total [Braun, 1990]. The view of what constitutes child abuse varies from society to society.