Child Maltreatment Knowledge and Responses among Teachers: A Training Needs Assessment

Knowledge gaps, false beliefs, and limited skills with regard to child maltreatment are commonly found among teachers, despite their vital role in the lives of maltreated children. In Canada, little has been done to develop training or other supports for teachers around detecting and responding to child maltreatment. This study conducted a multi-informant assessment of teachers' child maltreatment training needs, as well as identified factors that may influence teachers' training participation and use of maltreatment-related knowledge and skills. We gathered qualitative information from three informant groups in one Canadian city, namely 19 school social workers, 9 child welfare practitioners, and 21 foster caregivers. Participants shared their experiences when working with teachers to support maltreated children, as well as their beliefs about gaps in teachers' maltreatment-related knowledge and skills. Participants were also asked about factors that might influence the delivery of child maltreatment training to teachers and teachers' responses to maltreatment-related behaviour at school. Findings showed consensus across all three participant groups that child maltreatment training for teachers is currently inadequate. Participants identified gaps in knowledge and skills among teachers in the detection and reporting of suspected maltreatment, as well as in their use of trauma-sensitive classroom strategies. Findings also highlighted multi-level factors that may affect teachers' decision-making and actions in response to child maltreatment, especially school- (e.g. inadequate educational resources) and teacher-level influences (e.g. teacher overburden). Recommendations for teacher training, implications for school staff and other professionals, and future directions for research are discussed.