Reporting Suspected Cases of Child Exposure to Domestic Violence: Does Teaching Experience Matter?

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-1 - Legal Issues in Education

Abstract

Despite the severe negative outcomes exposure to domestic violence can have on children, the majority of suspected cases often go unreported by teachers. Teachers’ experiences and familiarity with their school’s policies for reporting suspected cases, as well as their feelings of being supported within the school were explored. Participants for this study were 291 teachers from Western Canada. Results demonstrate that more years of teaching experience was related to increased familiarity with reporting policy, frequency of reporting, and feelings of school support. A clear opportunity to intervene with beginning teachers regarding this topic, as well as reporting policies was identified and will be explored.

Authors

• Katherine Vink, University of Alberta

• Lauren Denise Goegan, University of Alberta

• Lily Le, University of Alberta

• Lia Marie Daniels, University of Alberta