Should Staff Who Work with Youth Be Adequately

SHOULD STAFF WHO WORK WITH YOUTH BE ADEQUATELY

TRAINED IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY THE POSSIBILITY OF ABUSE,

AS WELL AS TO HAVE THE SKILLS TO DEAL WITH RELATED

EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS AND NEEDS?

INDEX

1 – INTRODUCTION

2 – DISCUSSION

2.1 – CATEGORIES OF ABUSE

2.2 – SHOULD TEACHERS BE TRAINED TO IDENTIFY AND DEAL

WITH ABUSE?

2.3 – DISCUSSION IN RESPECT OF ARGUMENT FOR THE PROPER

TRAINING OF TEACHERS TO IDENTIFY AND DEAL WITH

ABUSE.

3 – CONCLUSION

4 – REFERENCES

1 – INTRODUCTION

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 -1827) said : “ I know of no more sacred duty than the care and education of a child”.

Abuse is a growing problem in today’s world, and the earlier the signs of abuse can be detected the better the problems relating to the abuse can be addressed and acted upon.

There are various view points as to who is the best to identify possible abuse and to act thereon, but in this discussion I will focus on the teacher’s role in the school context.

Drs Shannon-Caroline Taylor and Doug Lloyd of the University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, in a paper titled “Mandatory Reporting and Child Sexual Abuse: Contextualising Beliefs and Attitutes”, 2001, summarized the teacher’s role as not being a welfare worker or abuse expert, and might therefore have difficulties in identifying suspected cases of abuse.

2 – DISCUSSION

2.1 – CATEGORIES OF ABUSE

Abuse against children and youth can be categorized in 3 main categories, with none being more serious than the other – “Educational Psychology in Social Context “, David Donald, Sandy Lazarus & Peliwa Lolwana, 2nd edition 2002.

However there is also a 4th form of abuse, which is carried out by the youth against themselves.

2.1.1 – Sexual Abuse :

This kind of abuse involve any sexual activity, from sexual touching to

intercource, on a child or...