Children’s rights and teachers’ responsibilities:  reproducing or transforming the cultural taboo on child sexual abuse?

Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw

doi:10.7577/hrer.3079

Abstract

Enhancing young learners’ knowledge about appropriate and inappropriate sexual behaviour is crucial for the protection of children’s rights. This article discusses teachers’ understandings of their practices and approaches to the topic of child sexual abuse in Norwegian upper secondary schools, based on phone interviews with 64 social science teachers. Countering child sexual abuse is a political priority for the Norwegian government, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child acknowledges several state initiatives to counter child sexual abuse through education. Nevertheless, this study finds that teachers do not address this topic adequately, indicating that cultural taboos regarding talking about and thus preventing such abuse, including rape among young peers, still prevail in Norwegian classrooms. Furthermore, emotional obstacles, including concerns about re-traumatising and stigmatising learners, hinder some teachers from addressing this topic thoroughly. Additional explanatory factors include heavy teacher workloads, little preparation in teacher education programmes, insufficient information in textbooks, and an ambiguous national curriculum.

Highlights

Enhancing young learners’ knowledge about appropriate and inappropriate sexual behaviour is crucial for the protection of children’s rights
Countering child sexual abuse is a political priority for the Norwegian government, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child acknowledges several state initiatives to counter child sexual abuse through education
Does sexual violence have anything to do with social science education? Do we have time to talk about sexual violence, as doing so might open up Pandora’s box? What would the consequences be of keeping that potentially troublesome box closed, and why do some teachers avoid the topic? teachers have the potential to detect and prevent violence, the Council of Europe (2015, p. 7) pinpoints that many young people do not, in school, get the opportunity to discuss topics such as sexual orientation, gender-based violence or child sexual abuse

Summary

Introduction

Enhancing young learners’ knowledge about appropriate and inappropriate sexual behaviour is crucial for the protection of children’s rights. In 2007, the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies conducted a survey among 548 students studying to become preschool teachers, elementary teachers or child protection workers They were surveyed about how much knowledge they got about the following topics through their education: 1) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), 2) physical child abuse, 3) child sexual abuse and 4) conversational methods with children (Øverlien & Sogn, 2007). The students in this study do not report a clear increased focus on these issues in their educational programme The researchers find this worrisome and pinpoint how teachers and preschool teachers are in the unique position of seeing children daily and over time, which: Gives them the opportunity to observe children’s well-being, behavioural changes, signs of injury or other signals indicating that the child is in a difficult situation. They have an important role in prevention and intervention (Øverlien & Moen, 2016, p. 3)

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Conclusion