Pre-service special education teachers’ professionalism and preparation in terms of child sexual abuse

This study aimed at examining Jordanian pre-service special education teachers’ professionalism and preparation on the topic of child sexual abuse (CSA). Qualitative research data from interviews with 20 pre-service special education teachers were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that these participants generally hold avoiding behaviour toward speaking about CSA as it is an unspoken taboo. Participants also hold low levels of professionalism on the topic of CSA. The results also demonstrate that they felt that their preparation programme is inadequate and desired more content and pedagogy courses that relate to CSA. Implications and recommendations are presented in light of the study findings.     

Australian undergraduate primary school student‐teachers’ responses to child sexual abuse and its mandatory reporting

This study aims to understand how primary school teachers, as mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse, are responding to child sexual abuse and its mandatory reporting, even though many teachers do not receive a compulsory course in Child Protection and its legal requirements in their pre‐service university training. A cohort of 81 Australian final fourth‐year Bachelor of Education (Primary) student‐teachers was asked about four aspects of it. Qualitative data gathered from these student‐teachers’ questionnaires provide important insights into their knowledge of child sexual abuse; their knowledge of Department of Education policy on it; their professional competence in mandatory reporting of it; and their recommended educational and professional training in it. The results show that all of these student‐teachers feel inadequately prepared to address child sexual abuse and mandatory reporting in schools, being unaware of both knowledge of it and the Department’s policy, even though many recognise the gravity of sexual abuse for the child survivor and the need, and seriousness, of child protection. Finally, these student‐teachers all want better training about these issues during their four‐year degree. In conclusion, these results, and some recommendations, may provide a guide for curriculum planners to design compulsory and appropriate pre‐service university courses to enhance student‐teachers’ knowledge, skills and competencies about child sexual abuse and its mandatory reporting.     

Social workers’ views on pre-trial therapy in cases of child sexual abuse in South Africa

This study sought to explore anecdotal reports that social workers in South Africa are often advised to postpone therapy with child complainants of sexual abuse until after the child's testimony, based on concerns of legal professionals that therapeutic interventions could influence the child's testimony. Applying purposive sampling and a qualitative research study, individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 18 social workers and one psychologist that provide therapeutic services to child complainants of sexual abuse in the Gauteng province. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and independently analyzed by both researchers, performing thematic analysis. Emerging themes include a lack of directives in terms of the provision of pre-trial therapy for child victims of sexual abuse, current practices and challenges in this regard. Recommendations for the way forward are presented. Limitations and future research will be discussed.     

Child sexual abuse prevention programs: do they decrease the occurrence of child sexual abuse?

OBJECTIVE: The primary goal of the current study was to determine whether rates of child sexual abuse differed among undergraduate women who either had or had not participated in a sexual abuse prevention program during childhood. A secondary goal was to determine whether differences emerged in sexual satisfaction or avoidance of sexual activity between those women who had or had not participated in such a program. METHOD: Eight hundred and twenty-five women undergraduates from a New England state university filled out a survey on "sexual experiences" for research credit. Respondents were asked detailed questions regarding past histories of child sexual abuse and participation in school-based prevention programs during childhood. Additionally, they responded to questions about their current sexual satisfaction and sexual behaviors. RESULTS: Sixty-two percent of the sample reported having participated in a "good touch-bad touch" sexual abuse prevention program in school. Eight percent of respondents who reported ever having had a prevention program also reported having been subsequently sexually abused, compared to 14% of respondents who did not ever have a prevention program. No differences were found in adult sexual satisfaction or on behavioral measures of sexual activity between those respondents who had and had not participated in a prevention program. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to find that school-based child sexual abuse prevention programs are associated with a reduced incidence of child sexual abuse. Additionally, contrary to concerns voiced in the literature, there was no evidence that prevention programs are associated with decreased sexual satisfaction or avoidance of sex in adulthood. Implications of the results for further study are discussed.     

Female survivors’ perceptions of lifelong impact on their education of child abuse suffered in orphanages

Many children raised in orphanages suffered ongoing child abuse and neglect including sexual abuse, and nearly all were denied an adequate education. This paper explores adult females’ perceptions of the impacts on their education of child sexual abuse they suffered while living in orphanages in Australia. In-depth qualitative and anonymous one-on-one interviews were undertaken with 10 female volunteers. Their narrative quotes emanate from questions asked about their experiences and perceptions of child sexual abuse, and its impacts on their educational achievement, educational development and educational opportunity. Of these volunteer females, only two had completed primary school, none had completed more than two years of secondary school, and none had undertaken any tertiary education. All had perceived child sexual abuse, in particular, to have had overwhelmingly negative impacts on their lifelong, educational achievement, educational development and educational opportunity. These impacts have had detrimental inter-generational consequences upon their own children. These adult females perceived child sexual abuse to be a major factor in their very poor, life-long educational development, achievement and opportunities, with intergenerational consequences for their self-esteem, wellbeing and success. Implications for practice are that children at risk should receive specialised teaching, educational support and counselling; adults with deficient education need help with learning processes such as dynamic learning, to help achieve active and inclusive citizenship.     

A historical comparison of Australian lawyers’ strategies for cross-examining child sexual abuse complainants

Many child sexual abuse complainants find the adversarial trial process so distressing that they say they would never report abuse again. Their concerns stem largely from cross-examination, in which the lawyer acting for the accused attempts to discredit their evidence. We examined whether—and if so, how—Australian defense lawyers’ approaches to cross-examining child sexual abuse complainants have changed meaningfully over the past 60 years. To do this, we systematically evaluated cases that were prosecuted in the 1950s, comparing them to a matched set of cases from the turn of the twenty-first century. Despite the intervening law reforms designed to improve complainants’ experience in court, we found that, relative to their historical counterparts, contemporary child complainants of sexual abuse are actually subjected to far lengthier cross-examinations involving a much broader range of strategies and associated tactics. These findings have important implications for future legal practice and reform, and for the way in which these are evaluated.     

Therapeutic interventions with child survivors of sibling sexual abuse: The professionals’ perspective

BackgroundSibling sexual abuse (SSA) is a continuum of childhood sexual behaviors that do not fit age-appropriate curiosity. SSA may be the most prevalent, longest lasting form of intrafamilial sexual abuse – and the least reported, studied and treated.ObjectiveThis exploratory qualitative study examined the experience of intervention with SSA survivors from the perspective of mental health professionals, and explored their major therapeutic challenges.Participants and settingThe sample consisted of 20 Jewish Israeli mental health professionals working in private clinics or public social welfare services who had experience with SSA.MethodsSemi-structured interviews focusing on the characteristics of SSA events, perceptions about the effects of abuse, intervention priorities and therapeutic challenges compared to other types of child abuse.ResultsProfessionals working with SSA survivors are preoccupied with the need to provide them with physical and emotional protection, as well as to help them process the abuse narrative. They also find themselves dealing with survivors who do not experience themselves as victims despite external evidence of abuse, or with the need to reconcile their perception of the sexual relationship as mutual, as opposed to the formal requirement to differentiate between “offender” and “victim”. In either case, the reality of these survivors can be just as painful as in other SSA cases.ConclusionsThe complexity of SSA calls for unique intervention skills, including working with survivor narratives that do not fit the victim/offender dichotomy on one hand and that do not minimize the potentially harsh consequences of SSA on the other.     

Assessing students’ ability in performing scientific inquiry: instruments for measuring science skills in primary education

Background With the increased attention on the implementation of inquiry activities in primary science classrooms, a growing interest has emerged in assessing students’ science skills. Research has thus far been concerned with the limitations and advantages of different test formats to assess students’ science skills.

Purpose This study explores the construction of different instruments for measuring science skills by categorizing items systematically on three subskill levels (science-specific, thinking, metacognition) as well as on different steps of the empirical cycle.

Sample The study included 128 fifth and sixth grade students from seven primary schools in the Netherlands.

Design and method Seven measures were used: a paper-and-pencil test (PPT), three performance assessments, two metacognitive self-report tests, and a test used as an indication of general cognitive ability.

Results Reliabilities of all tests indicate sufficient internal consistency. Positive correlations between the PPT and the three performance assessments show that the different tests measure a common core of similar skills thus providing evidence for convergent validity. Results also show that students’ ability to perform scientific inquiry is significantly related to general cognitive ability. No relationship was found between the measure of general metacognitive ability and either the PPT or the three performance assessments. By contrast, the metacognitive self-report test constructed to obtain information about the application of metacognitive abilities in performing scientific inquiry, shows significant – although small – correlations with two of the performance assessments. Further explorations reveal sufficient scale reliabilities on subskill and step level.

Conclusions The present study shows that science skills can be measured reliably by categorizing items on subskill and step level. Additional diagnostic information can be obtained by examining mean scores on both subskill and step level. Such measures are not only suitable for assessing students’ mastery of science skills but can also provide teachers with diagnostic information to adapt their instructions and foster the learning process of their students.     

Gender and primary school dropout in Sudan: Girls’ education and retention in Red Sea State

Within the Sudanese context, education retention and completion are major challenges that have not been seriously and sufficiently addressed. In order to understand in more depth how and why children drop out of primary school in Sudan, six empirical studies were planned as part of an EU-funded national programme focused on primary education and retention in the five states with the lowest basic education completion rates: Blue Nile, Gedaref, Kassala, South Kordofan, and Red Sea. This article discusses the second study (looking at the factors affecting the education and retention of girls in Red Sea State) with the aim of providing a deeper and more comprehensive understanding and analysis of the challenges that girls, in particular, face in accessing schooling, staying in school, and completing the primary cycle (grades 1–8). Specifically, the article provides insights into the processes of dropout and indicators of risk factors that one can use to predict dropout for girls.

     

Effects of a sexual health education programme on school psychological counsellor candidates’ sexism tendencies in Turkey

This study examined the effects of a sexual health curriculum developed for school psychological counsellors in Turkey on the sexual health knowledge of the participating candidates, their beliefs in sexual myths and their tendencies towards ambivalent sexism and sexism in romantic relationships. The study adopted a semi-experimental design. Study participants included an experimental group of 59 students from a programme of guidance and psychological counselling in Ege University’s Faculty of Education and a comparison group of 33 students from the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Letters. Findings suggested that the sexual health education curriculum increased knowledge of sexuality, decreased beliefs in sexual myths, and decreased ambivalent sexism and sexism in romantic relationships among the candidates.     

Assessing child abuse: “We need to talk!”

BackgroundThis discussion paper adds to the recent critical debate concerning retrospective measurement of childhood abuse and adverse experiences. A series of recent articles found only modest overlap of prospective informant-based records with retrospective self-report questionnaires, with biases evident in the latter. However, this literature has omitted the use of investigator-based interviews as an alternative retrospective tool for triangulation of measurement. Validated interview approaches can ascertain accurate data using expert scoring that can be used to test both dose-effect and specificity analyses for further research and treatment purposes.ObjectiveArguments for the retention and further promotion of intensive interview measures for retrospective assessment of childhood neglect and abuse in relation to lifetime clinical outcomes are presented, with illustrative analyses.Method and resultsA network analytic approach is outlined, with six types of childhood abuse or neglect experiences scored via a well-validated interview (the Childhood Experiences of Care and Abuse). This indicates distinct pathways between types of neglect and abuse, but also from more common emotional abuse (antipathy, critical parenting) through to more pernicious psychological abuse (coercive, sadistic control) involving physical abuse or sexual abuse pathways. This is supplemented by a case vignette to illustrate the different pathways indicated.ConclusionsThe interview approach gives victims a voice with their narrative (chance to talk) needed for better understanding of the specific dynamics of child abuse and neglect and for an entry into psychotherapeutic work. We need to ensure that such methods are retained in the research and practitioner portfolio of measurement tools.     

Assessing pupils’ skills: implications for research in education

The subject of this article is the structure and evolution of skills developed by pupils at primary level. Starting from an analysis of the panel data provided by the French Ministry of Education, the main object of this paper is an original measurement of skills using structural models. The findings of this research raise two complementary issues. The first issue concerns the cross‐curricular nature of skills suggesting a logic of disciplinary interdependence. The acquisition of a skill may be strongly correlated to the acquisition of other skills belonging to the same subject area or to other subject areas. The notion of a set of skills is used to account for the connections between the different aspects of acquired skills. The second issue concerns the evolution of skills over time. Here the aim will be to identify the kinds of skills that are the most predictive of subsequent educational success. This issue is highly relevant for educational policy‐making. It is hoped that the results presented in this paper will improve one’s understanding of the ways in which schools might provide pupils with the best chances of success in the earliest stages of their educational career.     

Parents as protectors: A qualitative study of parents’ views on child sexual abuse prevention

Although parents are essential to child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention efforts, their views on prevention and protection are not always represented in the research literature. In this qualitative study of 24 Australian parents, beliefs about CSA, its risk factors, prevention methods, and parents’ role in CSA protection, and parents' approaches to protection of their own children, are examined. Findings were condensed into five themes: (a) parents' understanding of child sexual abuse, grooming and risk; (b) parent-led CSA education; (c) parents’ beliefs about CSA education; (d) children recognizing and resisting CSA; and (e) parent responsibility for protection. Findings suggest that parents have a good knowledge of CSA and its risks. However, they do not provide their children with the comprehensive prevention messages recommended by prevention campaigns and many concentrate on abduction dangers. This gap between knowledge and parental communication with children could be due to parents' beliefs that there may be harms associated with education of children about CSA (e.g., such as inciting new fears and worries or reducing trust in others) and that the method may not be effective in protecting children from CSA. This study adds to the existing literature by presenting information that could be useful in designing programs to include parents in CSA protection and by approaching CSA research with parents as the key agents in the protection of children.     

Predictors of students’ intrinsic motivation in school physical education

The aim of the present study was to examine the relations of students’ intrinsic motivation in physical education lessons with factors such as perceived locus of causality, perceived competence and outcome expectancies. Five hundred sixteen students of grades 7–12 participated in the study. The students were randomly selected from three schools located in a medium sized town in Greece. Perceived locus of causality was examined using Ryan and Connell’s (1989) motivational orientation scales, while intrinsic motivation was assessed by means of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (Ryan, 1982). Outcome expectancies for ten possible outcomes of school physical education were assessed by means of two different scales, namely outcome evaluation and outcome likelihood. Causal modelling analysis showed that intrinsic motivation was mainly influenced by perceived usefulness which in turned was influenced by outcome expectations. Moreover, outcome expectations also influenced perceived locus of causality. These results show that students’ outcome expectancies for their participation in school physical education is an important factor influencing their intrinsic motivation.     

‘We believe in every child as an individual’: Nursery school head teachers’ understandings of ‘quality’ in early years education

This article addresses the issue of ‘quality’ in early years education, with the aim of highlighting the voices of nursery school head teachers. Government early years achievement statistics display a reductive and de-contextualised focus on young children’s developmental outcomes, with measures of the percentage of 5-year-olds achieving a ‘good level of development’ at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Early years practitioner understandings of ‘quality’ are more sophisticated and multi-dimensional, and yet are marginalised in debates around what constitutes ‘quality’ early years provision and around what are desired outcomes for young children and how these can be achieved. Using qualitative data from interviews with nursery school head teachers and classroom teachers from across England, the article analyses these participants’ understandings of ‘quality’ early years provision. The study finds a consensus amongst these teachers that quality provision emanates from the professional skills of staff providing education for the whole child and their wellbeing: they conceive of ‘quality’ as relating to a depth of understanding of each child as an individual, enabling the child to progress in their learning.     

Faith in school: immigrant families’ attitudes towards education in Spain

This paper is based on a preliminary exploration of the in‐depth interviews and focus groups that are part of a more extensive research project on the education of children of immigrants in Spain. In the process of migration, families undergo profound transformations that are often complicated by extended periods of separation—not only from extended family members, but also from the nuclear family. Though many immigrant families are involved in transnational separation and reunion processes of this kind, there has been little research on the impact of these forms of family transformations on the vision of education held by immigrants. This impact seems to be two‐fold. On one hand, family separation and living or work conditions hamper educational support and monitoring; on the other, the experience of migration poses a tremendous faith in the benefits of education and makes families highly motivated in education. The main idea underlying this paper is that an accurate knowledge of the schooling experience of the children of immigrants has to be related to the moral and psychological effects of this adaptive transformation and, in a very special way, to the weave of projects, expectations and frustrations that permeate the life of an immigrant family. The psychosocial consequences of the processes of adjustment and relearning that immigration entails, the need for a comparative perception of success and the willingness to make an effort and work hard make immigrant families strongly meritocratic and—contrary to some common beliefs—able to show a high level of commitment and expectations in relation to the education of their children.