Child Abuse Prevention: A Challenge Accepted

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, in response to new laws regarding child abuse, has undertaken a project to acquaint educators and other school personnel with their responsibilities under the revised laws. The project has also sponsored establishing parenting courses or units of study in the home economics curricula of 250 of the state's 505 school districts. The project has revealed important lessons about success factors in education for the detection and prevention of child abuse. During its first two years the project has reached all 100,000 members of the PSEA with informative workshops and articles, and has presented the program “Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect” to 750 education majors.     

Child Abuse: Focus on a Team Approach for School Teachers and Counsellors

Although laws protecting children from abuse have become commonplace at least since the colonial era, the legal concept of “mandatory reporting” is relatively new in Africa. The author argues that child abuse refers to more than physical injuries—the term encompasses a compilation of significant events, that interact with the child's ongoing development to interrupt, alter, or impair her or his psychological development. This article provides a selective review of child abuse and emphasizes the need for standard procedures for referral, medical provisions, and legal reporting. Toward this end, issues of establishing the dimensions of child maltreatment were reviewed in order to understand the social and cultural nature of child abuse. Recommendations are offered for integrating critical issues for the present and future development of child abuse into practica training, legislation and scope of practice.     

Child Abuse Prevention —Implementation Within the Curriculum

The number of reported cases of child abuse and neglect is increasing. Most educators are aware of the problem; however, awareness alone has minimal impact on prevention. Specific planning is needed, and this article explores various avenues for including child abuse education as a part of the regular school curriculum. The ultimate goal is to develop educational strategies as one means of preventing abuse when school children grow to adulthood and become parents.     

泸州市农村家庭防性侵幼儿教育开展现况及相关因素分析

目的 了解泸州市农村地区家庭在预防幼儿性侵方面的教育现况及相关因素,为制定预防儿童性侵干预措施提供参考。方法 采用分层整群抽样法,于2021年12月至2022年1月对泸州市1 213名农村地区家长通过家庭性教育知-信-行简化量表进行问卷调查。通过多重线性回归分析家庭性教育的相关因素。结果 泸州市农村地区家庭防性侵教育行为得分为(11.21±3.99)分,及格率为51.69%。相关因素分析显示,母亲方面：文化程度为初中(β=0.79)、高中/中专(β=1.26)和本科/大专及以上(β=1.75)、母亲是性教育负责人(β=1.29)均与性侵幼儿教育的开展呈正相关(P值均<0.05);幼儿方面：幼儿性别为女(β=-0.41)和留守儿童(β=-0.59)均与性侵幼儿教育的开展呈负相关,幼儿在校参加过性教育相关活动(β=0.81)与性侵幼儿教育的开展呈正相关(P值均<0.05);家庭方面：家长性教育知识及格(β=1.11)、家长性教育态度积极(β=1.51)、家长与亲朋交流过性教育内容(β=1.94)、家长参加过性教育相关活动(β=0.67)均与性侵幼儿教育的开展呈正相关(P值均&l...     

The case for counselling provision in schools

This paper examines the case for including counselling as part of the normal school provision. It looks briefly at the statutory basis for pastoral care and then goes on to examine the present provision in two Education and Library Board Areas. An argument is then developed that suggests the true figure for child abuse may be much higher than is currently accepted and it uses this as the basis for supporting the need for providing school counselling. Finally it considers the experience of one school and uses this to substantiate the premise that counsellors in school are a “must” rather than a “luxury”.     

Damned and depressed

India's child welfare system is not equipped to deal effectively with the growing problem of child abuse. In addition to physical and sexual abuse, child maltreatment can take the form of marrying off children for parental financial gain, misuse of children to beg and steal, and insistence that children 6-11 years of age work in factories rather than attend school. Numerous studies have found that abused children either develop a submissiveness that makes them vulnerable to repeated victimization or become rebellious and involved in antisocial acting out. Not only does the lack of nurturance and protection from danger at crucial developmental stages compromise the quality of adult life of child abuse victims, but also there is evidence that parental abuse is transferred from generation to generation. Although India's Constitution contains numerous laws aimed at protecting children from abuse, exploitation, and abandonment, the services required for child abuse control--therapy for the child, punishment for the offenders, and support for parents who are psychologically and emotionally overwhelmed--are not available. Needed is a greater emphasis on child abuse prevention through measures such as creation of a pro-child socioethical climate, education through the mass media, prevention of the further disintegration of the joint family system, establishment of village-level committees to monitor the implementation of child care programs, and a commitment to provide recreation and health services to street and working children.     

Children: Rights, education and equal opportunity

The point of departure in this paper is the concept of RIGHTS. Whereas most countries accept that children have rights as is evidenced in the UNO Declaration of Rights of the Child (1959), such rights are statements, not laws. Statements advocating benefits, care, love, education etc. are goals or beliefs. Few countries have legalised rights; consequently, children may be at risk. In countries where there is discrimination of some degree in respect of race, colour, sex, religion, national or social origin, financial standing in society, level of education and so on, the right to “rights” as stated in the UNO Declaration is further jeopardised. The implications for educational provision from early childhood and onwards in countries where “rights” are not entrenched in statutes or where child advocacy is not forceful enough for all people are examined in this paper. Consequently, the chances for equal opportunity in life are reduced in situations where the child did not receive the benefit of education. Such a child may not perish as he might as a result of being deprived of food, but “the deprivation and injustice, the degradation of an individual and the setting of his vital interests at naught would at least approach in gravity the act of allowing him to die for the want of food” (1981, Wringe). In this paper, the author argues for the Rights of the Child, particularly where discrimination and inequalities exist and where provision for early education has to contend with excessive population growth.     

Singaporean early childhood teachers’ responses to myths about child abuse

Prior to attending seminars on child abuse and domestic violence, 86 kindergarten and 64 special education (early childhood) teachers completed a questionnaire seeking views relating to the accuracy of statements relating to all forms of child abuse. This was designed to identify the accuracy of teachers’ knowledge of child abuse and neglect versus the influence of universal myths. Results show that special education teachers were less well informed than kindergarten teachers on child protection issues despite international recognition that children with disabilities are the most vulnerable to abuse of all kinds. The results of this survey will be valuable for the Singapore Government’s plan to provide preservice and inservice education relating to family violence and child abuse. It is part of a larger project.     

美国儿童保护介绍

该文介绍了美国在儿童保护方面所作的努力,儿童虐待的预防系统,儿童保护系统,《儿童虐待预防和处理法》的产生和功能等,使读者能较全面的了解美国的儿童保护法律及其产生背景.对学校健康教育在儿童虐待预防中的作用和儿童保护的服务系统作了较详细的介绍,希望能对建立国内儿童保护系统有所启示.     

Developing contextualised systematic knowledge of children's learning

This paper discusses some of the issues connected with the existence in England and Wales, alongside similar moves elsewhere, to formally assess children's academic development at regular and key stages of their school careers. It is argued that whilst “assessment” in its narrow conception is regarded by many as an anathema to child centred education, the development of teacher assessment as an important facet of National Assessment has the power to improve the focus and purpose of classroom observation and subsequent decision making. As such practice can become more sharply responsive to the needs of individual children.     

James' Story: A Decade in the Life of a Male Early Childhood Professional

This article uses narrative inquiry techniques to construct an Australian male's account of formative experiences during his decade as an early childhood educator and the difficulties he encountered as a minority group member of a traditionally “female” profession. His overwhelming fear of unwarranted accusations of child sexual abuse and the debilitating impact of such accusations highlight the potential vulnerability of men in this profession. Implications concerning appropriate support for men who wish to make a long term commitment to early childhood education are considered.     

Factors that influence clinicians' assessment and management of family violence.

OBJECTIVES. High rates of family violence and low rates of detection, report, and therapeutic intervention by health professionals are well documented. This study was undertaken to determine what factors influence clinicians' decision making about identifying abuse and intervening with victims. METHODS. Survey data about clinicians' experiences with and attitudes toward family violence were gathered by mailed questionnaire from a random sample of practicing clinicians in six disciplines (n = 1521). RESULTS. Data showed similarities within and wide differences among three groups of subjects: dentists/dental hygienists, nurses/physicians, and psychologists/social workers. Overall, a third of subjects reported having received no educational content on child, spouse, or elder abuse in their professional training programs. Subjects with education on the topic more commonly suspected abuse in their patients than those without; among all subjects, spouse abuse was suspected more often than child abuse while elder abuse was suspected infrequently. Significant numbers of subjects did not view themselves as responsible for dealing with problems of family violence. Subjects indicated low confidence in and low compliance with mandatory reporting laws. CONCLUSIONS. There is a need for educators to expand curricula on family violence and for legislators to reexamine mandatory reporting laws.     

广西壮族地区中小学生儿童虐待影响因素及心理影响调查

目的 分析广西壮族地区中小学生的儿童虐待发生的影响因素及其对心理健康的影响。方法 采用多阶段整群抽样的方法,抽取4~9年级的中小学生3 936人。采用自填问卷方式填写学生基本情况调查表、儿童受虐筛查表、儿童社交焦虑量表和自尊量表。通过非条件Logistic回归分析儿童虐待发生的影响因素。进行了儿童虐待与儿童社交焦虑及自尊的相关分析,以明确儿童虐待与社交焦虑及自尊之间的联系强度。结果 结果表明,壮族地区儿童虐待受到中小学、性别、民族、社交焦虑及自尊等5个因素的影响,除中小学、性别和自尊的OR值小于1外,其余因素OR值均大于1。儿童社交焦虑量表总分与儿童虐待显著相关(r=0.201,P<0.01);自尊量表总分与儿童虐待呈显著负相关(r=-0.135,P<0.05)。结论 中小学、性别、民族、社交焦虑及自尊为儿童虐待的影响因素。其中,中学相对于小学是儿童虐待的保护因素;女童相对于男童是保护因素;汉族相对于壮族是儿童虐待的危险因素。社交焦虑与儿童虐待呈正相关,自尊程度与儿童虐待成负相关。     

Child protection in schools: an evaluation of a training course for Fife schools' co-ordinators of child protection

The incidence of reported episodes of child abuse has risen in recent years in Scotland and the importance of multi-agency collaboration is widely recognised in achieving an effective response to this problem. We have identified that school teachers are the single largest professional group which refer children with a history of suspected abuse to child protection units in Fife. Priority was therefore given to the training of co-ordinators of child protection within all Fife schools. An evaluation of this training carried out approximately 12 months after the training course showed that the child protection training course for co-ordinators of child protection in Fife schools has been well received. Co-ordinators attending the training reported a number of positive outcomes both in terms of their own personal confidence in dealing with child protection issues and also on progress made with developing school policies on child protection. However, the follow-up survey suggested that the course has not generally had a major impact on teachers from the same schools who had not attended the training course. This is in turn due to the low level of effective dissemination of the course to other teachers. It is recommended that a session on how to disseminate information, knowledge and skills gained during the course be incorporated into the training course and that a further follow-up evaluation of a sample of teachers who did not attend the training course be carried out.Our experience suggests that if the training courses are based on a knowledge of the training needs of schoolteachers and are run by professionals from all of the various agencies involved in child protection then these courses can be successful in improving the performance of co-ordinators of child protection in primary and secondary schools. This can then lead to better, support for classroom teachers and promote the development and implementation of school child protection policies. In addition these courses helped develop inter-agency links and facilitate a true team approach in response to episodes of disclosure of child abuse. Regional child protection committees and education departments should consider giving priority to training co-ordinators of child protection in schools within their region as an important element in the response to the growing problem of child protection in their region.     

Students' Knowledge of Child Health and Development: Effects on Approaches to Discipline

Unrealistic developmental and behavioral expectations of children, which are associated with child abuse, are related to a lack of knowledge about child development and child rearing. The Iowa Child Development Test (ICDT) was administered to college students to determine their knowledge of child health and development and effects on disciplinary approaches. The results indicated that college students had inadequate knowledge and those who most frequently chose harsh disciplinary methods in simulated child management situations were least knowledgeable. This finding is similar to that reported in an earlier study of high school seniors. College men knew less than college women about child development and health, and more frequently selected harsh punishment. Although noneducation and education majors did not differ with regard to level of knowledge on the ICDT, noneducation majors more frequently chose punish and abuse responses. The findings suggest a need to provide broad-based programs in child rearing education prior to parenthood to reduce the potentiating effects of inadequate knowledge of child health and development on the incidence of child abuse.     

Children with epilepsy: Implications for the schoolhealth service

Children with a history of epilepsy have special medical social and educational needs thatmust be met by the school health service if they are to make the most of their school years. It is thus essential that school doctors know every affected child and have an up-to-date knowledge of the nature of the many conditions labelled as “epilepsy”. The school doctor has the responsibility to explain the nature of the child's condition to the teaching staff. Those in charge of the service have a duty to promote the development of specialist services at district level in co-operation with hospital-based paediatricians.     

幼儿家长对预防性侵家庭教育的态度及需求分析

  目的  了解泸州市幼儿家长对预防性侵家庭教育的态度和需求现况,为开展防性侵家庭教育提供理论依据。  方法  采用分层整群抽样方法对4 420名泸州市幼儿家长进行防性侵教育态度和需求调查,采用多重线性回归模型对教育态度的影响因素进行分析。  结果  家长对幼儿防性侵教育的态度整体较为积极,平均分为(16.70±3.67)分。多因素分析结果显示,幼儿因素方面,独生子女家长态度更积极(β=0.30);社会因素方面,参与过相关活动(β=1.28)、与亲友交流过相关内容(β=0.81)、住在城区(β=0.49)家长的态度更积极;家长因素方面,家庭年均收入大于10万元(β=0.39)、被调查人是幼儿母亲(β=0.88)、家长防性侵教育知识了解程度高(β=0.98)、幼儿母亲的职业是教师或医护人员(β=0.52)、幼儿母亲的文化水平在高中/中专(β=1.03)和大专/本科及以上(β=1.42)家长的态度更积极(P值均 < 0.01)。需求分析结果显示,家长对幼儿“自我保护”方面的需求最高,达96.86%。  结论  泸州市幼儿家长对预防性侵家庭教育的态度整体较为积极、需求普遍较高,应加大对非独生子女、农村和乡镇地区、文化水平较低家长的知识培训和宣传,提升家庭防性侵教育知识素养,预防幼儿性侵。     

South Australian Parents want Child Protection Programs to be offered in Schools and PreSchools

It is now widely realized that child sexual abuse is an all too common crime against children, resulting in long term damage to victims and heavy costs to the community. It is also realized that much abuse could have been prevented if children had been given basic information about acceptable and unacceptable touching, secrecy about touching and norms of adult-child behaviour.

Parents representing 250 families, caring for 565 children aged 3-12 were interviewed to find out what parents tell their children to protect them from sexual molestation.

Three quarters of all parents told their children nothing and most of those who thought that they had given information had only given hints. Furthermore, this “information” was passed on only after a traumatic event had already occurred.

Parents revealed an inadequate knowledge of the dangers to children and a desire for school and preschool programs to remedy the deficit.     

Children's Ways of Experiencing Peer Interaction

Educational practice in age integrated child groups rests on the assumption that children learn from their peers. The benefits of age integrated teaching is to enhance the value of heterogeneity in child groups. The fact that children are different from each other with different experiences is seen as an asset, which both children and teachers can benefit from. 22 children in a school class with children of mixed age; ranging from 7-9 years, were interviewed about their conceptions of peer interaction. How do children conceive peer collaboration, and what does it mean to children to teach someone something? A phenomenographic research approach is being used to discern the variation in ways of thinking about how children do when they teach someone something, and how they conceive peer collaboration at school. Children are conscious about the fact that they are able to teach their peers, and they can express this in different ways. Children also shift in their roles as “teacher” and “learner”. In some examples it is the “teacher” who plays the active role, in others it is the “learner” who has to be active by imitating the model/teacher.     

Perception and practice of child labour among parents of school‐aged children in Ibadan,southwest Nigeria

Background The problem of child labour has lingered on in many countries because of the complex combination of social, cultural and economic factors involved. Parents play a critical role in child labour as it provides much needed extra income for the family. This study was carried out among parents of school‐aged children in an urban, low‐income community to determine the factors associated with child labour and attitudes to child labour in the community. Methods A cross‐sectional study was carried out in an urban community in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered to parents of school‐aged children. Results A total of 473 parents were interviewed. They were aged between 23 and 56 years, mean 37.9 years. Thirty‐nine per cent of parents indicated that they thought their school‐aged children should work. More women than men, those from polygamous homes and those with lower educational status held this view. Reasons given for wanting their children to work were to supplement family income, 45%, to gain experience, 35% and to help in family business, 10%. In all, 236 (50%) respondents reported that their school‐aged children were working. Parental factors associated with practice of child labour were polygamous marriage, low educational status, unskilled or partly skilled occupation and large family size. Seventeen per cent of parents with working children were not satisfied with their children's work conditions and complained of low earnings, long working hours, work on school days and unsafe work environment. Measures suggested to control child labour include addressing the issue of household poverty, public enlightenment about the ills of child labour and free education up to junior secondary level. Enforcement of child labour laws was the least mentioned. Conclusion We conclude that control of child labour should be a multifaceted approach involving poverty alleviation, family planning to reduce family size and free, compulsory education up to junior secondary level. Public enlightenment especially for mothers will be of additional benefit.