The merits of this sort of suggestion are questionable. It worries me that a paranoia about abuse might be encouraged and over-zealous or imaginative types may raise false alarms. (I won't mention the case which is still the subject of much controversy today.)
Abuse meeting wants teachers' help
"Police, teachers and academics are meeting in Wellington for an Australasian conference on preventing child abuse.
The conference is particularly aimed at showing teachers ways of recognising signs that children are being abused.
Australian-based child abuse expert Professor Freda Briggs says teachers are an untapped resource when it comes to dealing with abuse. Ms Briggs says children will often give off subtle indicators of abuse and teachers need to be trained to look out for them."
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I have concerns about that as well. What these "subtle indicators of abuse" that the child gives off are is not defined. And they really must be clearly defined. There have been numerous accounts of people falsely accused of abusing children as a result of someone interpreting various "indicators" and concluding a child is being abused.
This will also create a climate of fear and suspicion that will make it even less likely that male teachers will want to teach in primary schools.
In the US this tactic lead to a dramatic increase in reported abuse but a decline in verified abuse. The system became clogged with false accusations. Thousands of families had their lives destroyed because the educational system was used to "find" cases. Then the bureaucracy demanded more funding to handle the larger number of cases and to prove that the crisis had gotten worse they reported only the number of "reported" cases not verified cases.
So then they will be able to add 'Witch-sniffer' to the CV...
Half of the trauma kids suffer is at the hands of their peers - kids are rougher to each other than most adults are to them.
As long as kids know that there are some rational balanced people they can safely tell when they actually ARE being abused, and know the consequences of this, then you give them the power.
Beyond that, unless you see signs of physical violence or some serious behavioural problems, you wont know - and never will.
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