Locating child protection in preservice teacher education

• Published in: The Australian journal of teacher education 2011-07, Vol.36 (7), p.31-58
• Main Authors: Walsh, Kerryann, Laskey, Louise, McInnes, Elspeth, Farrell, Ann, Mathews, Ben, Briggs, Freda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agency Cooperation; Australia; Australian Centre for Child Protection; Behaviour problems; Case Studies; Child Abuse; Child Neglect; Child Safety; Child Welfare; Childrens rights; Codes of conduct; Course Content; Deakin University. School of Education; Duty of care; Early childhood education; Educational Policy; Foreign Countries; Higher education; Learning problems; Legislation; Literature reviews; Mental disorders; Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (Australia) (MCEECDYA); Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (Australia) (MCEETYA); National Safe Schools Framework (Australia); Praxis; Preschool teachers; Preservice teacher education; Primary education; Primary school teachers; Professional development; Public policy; Queensland College of Teachers; Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Faculty of Education; School safety; Social Justice; Social responsibility; South Australia. Dept of Education and Children's Services; Teacher certification; Teacher education curriculum; Teacher Education Programs; Teacher Educators; Teacher Role; Underachievement; United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; University of South Australia. School of Education; Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT)
• ISSN: 0313-5373; 1835-517X; 1835-517X
• DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2011v36n7.1

A recent report delivered by the Australian Centre for Child Protection has highlighted the need for empirical evidence of effective pedagogies for supporting teaching and learning of child protection content in Australian teacher education programs. This paper advances this call by presenting case study accounts of different approaches to teaching child protection content in university-based teacher education programs across three Australian States. These different cases provide a basis for understanding existing strategies as an important precursor to improving practice. Although preschool, primary and secondary schools have been involved in efforts to protect children from abuse and neglect since the 1970s, teacher education programs, including preservice and inservice programs, have been slow to align their work with child protection agendas. This paper opens a long-overdue discussion about the extent and nature of child protection content in teacher education and proposes strategies for translating research into practice. [Author abstract]