At the start of this school year, every school in Austria must have a child protection concept including risk analysis. This week, the Ministry of Education distributed the handout requested by the teachers’ union.
According to top teachers’ union Paul Kimberger (FCG), it will only become clear in the course of the year whether the concept is actually suitable for improving child protection in schools. In any case, the schools would need more support from the government.
“The schools certainly did not wait for the concept,” says the chairman of the ARGE teachers in the GÖD, who sees the educational institutions as fundamentally well positioned when it comes to the protection of children. “This has always been a concern of teachers.” But he can also understand that politicians had to react because of the events of the recent past.
Schools must now complete the approximately 50-page child protection concept during the course of the school year – for example with information about their specific intervention concepts in the event of violent incidents, rules of conduct for social media or an on-site risk analysis. The handout also includes a one-page flowchart on how to proceed in suspected cases.
In principle, he is very reassured about this issue, because he knows that a lot is already being done in schools to protect children, Kimberger said. However, he sees the need for action from supporting systems and authorities.
Criticism of the long waiting times for questions
“It cannot be the case that a school turns to school psychology and answers: in four weeks we have time,” says Kimberger angrily. “This is absolutely unacceptable. This also applies to extracurricular functions.” Authorities and after-school organizations must respond immediately to child protection issues. “And we’re not there yet.”
The teachers’ union suspects that this is probably due to understaffing in various positions and the lack of support systems. But there is also a need for greater awareness that schools should not be left alone with their challenges, even outside child protection.
Source: Krone
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