The impact of child sexual abuse on the education of boys in residential care between 1950 and 1975

Abstract

Children’s education may be adversely impacted by external factors during their childhood. For example, learning to learn, critical reflection, experiential learning and self-direction may be permanently impaired. Many children in out-of-home residential care during the last century suffered ongoing child abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse, and very few received an adequate education. This paper explores the educational development, educational achievements and educational opportunities of a sample of 10 men who, as children in residential care from 1950 to 1975, were sexually abused. Purposive sampling was used to locate former residents, now members of a community support centre in long-term recovery, specifically, from child sexual abuse. Employing narrative analysis, 10 anonymous male survivors volunteered to give qualitative narrative interviews about the immediate and long-term impacts on their education of child sexual abuse they suffered while in residential care between 1950 and 1975 in Queensland, Australia. Of all the factors of institutional life, nine of the 10 survivors perceived child sexual abuse, in particular, to have permanent and debilitating impacts on their educational development, opportunities and achievements. Until the early 1970s, children in residential care, already deprived of a functioning family life, were deemed to be a burden upon society. In contemporary society, education is the great enabler; the best way to help people have a fulsome life. Children who are at risk of missing out on this should receive earlier, specialised and more intensive teaching, educational support and counselling resources.