Maltreatment of children, including child physical or sexual abuse and child neglect, is a prevalent social problem, with severe and long lasting implications for children’s health and development (Stith et al., 2009). A recent meta-analysis estimated the global prevalence of child physical abuse at 22.6%, child sexual abuse at 11.8% and child physical and emotional neglect at 16.3% and 18.4% respectively (Stoltenborgh et al., 2015). In Israel, a nationally representative study with more than 12,000 adolescents showed similar exposure rates with 17% of the adolescents reporting experiencing physical abuse, 18.7%  reporting experiencing sexual abuse and 18% and 17% reporting experiencing physical and emotional neglect, respectively (Eisikovits & Lev-Wiesel, 2016).

Among the various professionals who interact with children on a regular basis and who are in a position to take part in child maltreatment identification and intervention, educators in both formal and non-formal educational settings are pivotal, including teachers ranging from preschool through high school; educational counselors; and principals (Bibou-Nakou & Markos, 2017; Walsh & Farrell, 2008). Educators are provided with unparalleled opportunities to monitor children’s appearance, behaviors, and interactions with significant others over extended periods of time that allow for the identification of  child abuse and neglect indirectly based on students' expressions of psychosocial problems correlated with it, such as underachievement, depression, anxiety, and aggression (e.g., Kenny, 2004; Walsh, Rassafiani, Mathews, Farrell, & Butler, 2010). Moreover, when children themselves decide to disclose maltreatment to someone outside the family, they are most likely to confide in their educators (Eisikovits & Lev-Wiesel, 2016).

Yet, concerns have been raised as to educators’ capacity to intervene appropriately in cases of child maltreatment and there are indications that they often fail to report their suspicions (e.g., Goldman & Padayachi, 2005). For one, it has been suggested that educators lack sufficient knowledge regarding identification and reporting procedures (Kenny, 2004; McKee & Dillenburger, 2012), the result of limited child protection training offered to pre-service and in-service teachers (Ritbo & Goldstein, 2006). Another factor likely to determine whether or not children’s educators will choose to intervene is the degree to which schools recognize that reporting falls within their educational staff’s duties and create adequate support and supervision systems to that end (Topping & Barron, 2009). Finally, uncoordinated inter-agency service provision and weak links between education and welfare services is another often-cited challenge (Naregal et al., 2015).

In view of the importance of children’s educators in identifying, reporting and intervening in child cases, research examining their role in this complex process is surprisingly scarce. Therefore, we still know very little about the way educators perceive of child abuse and neglect and respond to it; knowledge which is pertinent for promotion of the safety and well-being of the many children exposed to maltreatment as well to the well-being of the professionals protecting them. The current study aims to fill these gaps in knowledge by examining the perspectives of educators on their coping with child maltreatment. Two central research questions guided this study: 1) How do educational staff members experience and perceive child abuse and neglect reporting in their daily work?; and 2) How does child abuse and neglect reporting affect these educational staff members in their professional and personal lives?

The study draws on 24 semi-structured interviews with children’s educators (1 male, 23 females; 21 Jewish, 3 Arab) who had experienced coping with cases of child abuse and neglect within their professional role. Educators were recruited through key informant connections as part of a purposeful sample, selected to represent various roles within the educational system. Participants included 15 teachers (including both homeroom and subject teachers), 8 school counsellors and one elementary school head teacher. Among the teachers, three were working in preschools, seven in elementary schools, and five in secondary schools. In total, seven teachers were working in special education schools. Five of the teachers (33%) had a seniority of 1-5 years, 4 (27%) of 6-11 years, and six (40%) of 11 years or more. Of the eight school counsellors who participated in the study, one worked in a preschool, three in elementary schools, two in middle schools and two in secondary schools. Three of the counsellors had a seniority of 1-4 years (38%) and five (62%) of 10 years or more. The content categories in the interview protocol included educators’ perceptions regarding child maltreatment reporting and related barriers and facilitators; potential for inter-agency collaboration; perceived effects on educators’ personal lives; and potential gaps in pre-service and in-service teacher training concerning child maltreatment. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and lasted 40 -75 minutes. Data will be coded and organised with the assistance of the NVivo software analysis package. In analyzing the interviews, a qualitative thematic analysis approach will be used (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to identity patterns and themes within the data. First, an incident-by-incident coding technique will be employed, in which every portion of the interview transcript will be read and coded for important themes. This will be followed by a focused coding process, during which the incident codes will be re-read and analyzed in order to identify larger themes (Charmaz, 2006). Audit trail consisting of detailed documentation throughout the research and peer debriefing conducted by three researchers will be used (Morse, 2015).

While a large body scientific literature on child abuse and neglect has accumulated over the past decades, the experiences and perceptions of children’s educators and school personnel, more broadly, have seldom been explored. The great importance of exploring these perspectives lies in the fact that educational staff play a major role in the lives of the children under their care, and are often those to whom children disclose maltreatment. The current study aims to fill this critical gap in knowledge and provide findings and recommendations to support practice, that in the longer-term will increase educators’ capacity to identify, report and intervene in child abuse and neglect cases. The study is also expected to provide insights into potential gaps in pre-service and in-service teacher training programs concerning child maltreatment as well as into related barriers and facilitators to effective interagency collaboration in such cases. In doing so, the study will contribute to the promotion of the safety and well-being of maltreated children as well as of the dedicated educators caring for them.

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