Understanding Reports to Child Welfare from the Education System: Challenges and Opportunities for Supporting Vulnerable Children

Educators play a crucial role in the detection of child abuse, but there is limited research understanding the role of teachers in responding to maltreatment concerns. The purpose of this dissertation was to utilise three sequential studies, with multiple methodologies, to understand how Canadian educators are situated to detect, respond, and report suspected child abuse. In the first study, a national Canadian database was utilised to compare educator reported cases of child maltreatment to reports from all other professionals. In study two, 245 teachers completed a questionnaire examining their experiences of reporting child abuse, attitudes and beliefs, and perceived barriers and supports in reporting. Lastly, in the third study, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with seven teachers who had recently reported child abuse. In integrating the results from these studies, three conclusions were drawn regarding the role of educators within the child welfare system. These included; 1) Teachers are well-positioned to detect and advocate for the needs of maltreated children; 2) Teachers have a need for greater confidence, and an increased ability to cope with uncertainty, when responding to child abuse; and 3) There is often a mismatch between the goals of teachers in the education system and the perceived response of the child welfare system. Three recommendations were then presented; 1) Educators are a key resource in supporting early detection and intervention initiatives to address child abuse and their role in these initiatives should be further explored; 2) Teachers should be provided with additional strategies to address perceived barriers in reporting child abuse; and 3) Initiatives to promote increased communication between the education and child welfare systems are required. Overall, results supported the unique child-centred perspective of educators in reporting child maltreatment. Study limitations and areas for future research were then discussed.Ph