Significance and Innovation
Significance
Primary school teachers spend extensive time with the children in their class, second only to their parents (Briggs, 2012). Hence teachers form an important part in children’s social systems and in child protection. Yet teachers report that they are excluded from ‘confidential’ information about any actions or supports put in place to address children’s behaviours (McInnes & Ey, 2019), making their job more difficult and impeding their ability to uphold their duty of care (Ministerial Council on Education, 2011). Research shows that structured inter-agency collaboration improves outcomes for Australian children who have experienced abuse and neglect (Herbert & Bromfield, 2017; Macvean, et al., 2018). However, for the most part, interagency responses to PSB is limited and teachers and schools have rarely been engaged as partners. Developing a framework for effectively involving primary teachers alongside parents with other professionals involved in responding to PSB could improve the effectiveness of treatment; providing children with consistency across the home and school environments in which they spend a large proportion of their time.
This study is significant because:
This study is significant because:
- To date, there has been no research exploring cross-collaborations between schools and inter-agency systems in responding to children’s PSB. It is therefore unclear what provisions and barriers may be in place across schools and agencies to support a collaborative approach.
- There are also no current practice models in Australia that routinely involve educators in multi-agency collaborative responses to PSBs (Herbert & Bromfield, 2017). Enhancing the effectiveness of responses to PSB is critical as children who receive effective early intervention are less likely to continue PSB into adulthood (O’Brien, 2010).
- The initial framework will be developed through the co-analysis and co-design process drawing on data about the current needs, barriers and facilitators to collaboration between schools and inter-agency services in SA and recommended strategies to support collaboration. These recommendations will inform future policy and practice to support collaborative approaches to respond to children affected by PSB.
Innovation
This research is innovative because it is the first research that brings together professionals from education and from inter-agency services to work collaboratively to discuss their professional roles, their needs, and the barriers and facilitators to responding to children who engage in Problematic Sexual Behaviours. These workshops will inform the development of a framework to support a multidisciplinary approach to responding to Problematic Sexual Behaviour in South Australian primary schools. This allows us to draw on the expertise of those involved in responding to children who display Problematic Sexual Behaviour to identify strategies to support primary schools and increase partnerships and collaborations with inter-agency services to support children who display such behaviours.