HOW TEACHERS DEFINE AND RESPOND TO CHILD-ABUSE - THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THEORETICAL AND REPORTABLE CASES

Teachers are considered to be among those who are well-placed for the detection and prevention of child abuse. Yet little attention has been given to the definitions teachers use in deciding which cases to proc ess. The paper draws on a larger study of Ontario women teachers. Info rmation from 264 elementary teachers and 47 principals was collected i n three phases: exploratory interviews, a survey, and focused intervie ws. A kev part of the survey involved 10 vignettes designed to determi ne how teachers define abuse. how much experience they have had in dea ling with such situations, and what action they took in each case. The findings demonstrated that teachers included a broad range of behavio rs in their own ''theoretical'' definitions, but preferred informal in tervention over formal reporting. Although there is no statistical rel ationship between definitions and reporting, it seems clear that the d ecision to report involves the interplay of definitions, institutional response, and teachers' experiences with a range of reactions and per sonal trials. Reporting is also complicated by teachers' disciplinary role, by their concerns for establishing reasonable grounds, and by th e perception that some cases can be handled more effectively by the sc hool, without the intervention of Child Protection Services (CPS).