Prevention of Child Abuse in Educational Setting

Several articles have examined the role of the school in preventing, and intervening in cases of child abuse. In this regard, Lumsden (1991) has stated that the role of the school in the prevention and intervention in abuse situations can take several forms such as identification and reporting of incidents and the collaboration of the school with social agencies within the community. However, she says that it is important to remember that:

. . .the school is part of a prevention plan at only one level; the ultimate challenge lies in confronting the social attitudes and conditions that foster or tolerate child abuse. (p.1)

According to McCarthy (1989), reporting incidents of child abuse is the primary role played by most schools. She points out that failure to report places the school at risk for liability suits involving violations of abuse victims constitutional rights. McCarthy makes a number of recommendations for strengthening abuse prevention through incidence reporting. These include provision of inservice education for school personnel, creation of awareness of child abuse symptoms and the vulnerability of school personnel to charg

ed from study to study, with some authors limiting the role to identification and reporting of instances while other authors expanded the role beyond these activities so as to include home visits and child advocacy. When all studies are considered together, it can be stated that, in general, the role of the teacher can and sometimes does include: being fully informed, actively interceding on behalf of the child through identification, reporting, and whatever other advocacy activity allowed by school policy; and encouraging cooperative links between schools and various community/social agencies. Resources and Strategies For The Classroom One of the most frequently used classroom strategies in childhood abuse prevention and intervention is what Pardeck (1990) has referred to as "bibliotherapy." According to Gallagher (1988), bibliotherapy is an intervention which uses: . . .books and activities designed to help children analyze situations in which they feel victimized and to encourage them to react appropriately. (p.12) Pardeck and Pardeck (1984) report that the use of bibliotherapy as a classroom strategy assists children to go through a series of discrete psychological stages as they progress toward healing. Insight into