'We have to be able to stand up for these children' - political backing to formally train teachers in abuse recognition grows

Wednesday, 1 June 2022

A political consensus is growing about the need for teachers to have training to recognise the signs of child abuse – with Te Pāti Māori, ACT, National and the Greens all backing a call for change.

Recently Stuff revealed a gap within New Zealand’s child protection laws following the murder of Tauranga boy Malachi Subecz.

Both Malachi and another five-year-old, Ferro-James Sio, were killed despite their abuse being known about by a daycare and Kohanga Reo respectively.

At present no law exists to oblige teaching staff to pass on abuse concerns to either police or Oranga Tamariki, and child advocates have told Stuff that making it a mandatory requirement for teachers to recognise the signs of abuse would be a key step in combatting the abuse deaths, which occur at a rate of around one every six weeks.

**READ MORE:

* Pics of abuse suffered by Malachi Subecz didn't reach police until after his murder

* Children's Minister Kelvin Davis wants answers from Oranga Tamariki over murdered 5-year-old

* Former staff members describe 'toxic' culture at Dingwall Trust, which cares for vulnerable children

* Action demanded after deaths of three Bay of Plenty children this year

* Oranga Tamariki confident in reforms in face of 220 children harmed, 2000 caregiver complaints

**

Both Child Matters and Safeguarding Children chiefs Jane Searle and Willow Duffy told Stuff that recognition training would be a key, and easy to implement, step.

“The introduction of mandatory training and reporting would be a simple and effective change to implement to help protect our most vulnerable tamariki. The Government needs to listen and work quickly to close this gap in legislation,” said Searle.

Both Searle and Duffy said that while mandatory reporting of abuse could appear like a silver bullet, it comes with its own complications, including fears agencies such as Oranga Tamariki would be overwhelmed.

Teacher training, however, would ease that concern and is a change that could be made relatively quickly, and without resorting to law changes.

It seems the appeal is being heard at the top of both National and Te Pāti Māori.

Asked directly whether he would back abuse recognition training, National leader Christopher Luxon said he would be “highly supportive”.

“I think we have to face up to the reality in this country that we have an abysmal set of records on family violence,” he said.

“It’s a shameful and shocking set of statistics, so either we’re serious about this problem or we’re not and if that means one thing we can do is to train our teachers, formal training on how to recognise child abuse, that’s a good thing.

“We have to be able to stand up for these children and if that’s one of the small actions we can take, that’s something I back completely.”

Te Pāti Māori co-leader and spokesperson for Children and Oranga Tamariki, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, also threw her weight behind the calls.

“Teachers are not equipped to identify and support children who might be experiencing abuse at home,” she said.

“We would support a law change requiring teachers to be trained to recognise the signs of child abuse.”

She also said more community support measures were needed to enable teachers to work with the local community, iwi and extended whānau to provide the best pathway for keeping at risk tamariki safe.

Green Party spokesperson for children Jan Logie said she would “absolutely support abuse identification and appropriate response training as part of teacher registration”.

“This is a huge opportunity to improve the safety of our tamariki and children.”

She also said a law change may not even be required, as avenues existed within the requirements of the Teacher’s Council for new and renewing practising certificates.

“We should be empowering teachers and staff in schools with a shared understanding of what abuse is; what it looks like, and what signs might point to a need for proactive follow up,” she said.

“The prevention of abuse starts in our communities – and this is what Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is working on through her mahi as minister in the prevention of family violence and sexual violence.”

Logie said the new family violence workforce frameworks, which will be available for use by schools, are aimed at improving family violence responses to help victim-survivors have more confidence in the organisations and systems there to help them.

ACT’s children’s spokesperson Karen Chhour said it was “vitally important that teachers are equipped to recognise abuse and take the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the child, and ultimately it is the responsibility of the workplace to provide this”.

She said ACT believed a moral obligation existed for schools “to ensure their staff are being adequately trained to recognise instances of abuse and report it as part of their policy”.

“There is no excuse for not taking that duty of care and the safety and wellbeing of a child in these situations must be paramount.”

Stuff was unable to secure comment from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern while she is in the United States, but Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis, described New Zealand’s child abuse statistics as “shameful”.

He said the Government was seeking to address drivers of abuse such as poverty, and that a review was underway into the death of Malachi by the Chief Social Worker.

“At this stage I’m not prepared to commit to any changes until myself and other ministers have had a chance to review those findings,” he said.

“It is fair to say though that any recommendations that would potentially prevent such a tragic incident from happening again will be considered.”