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Promoting students’ safety and wellbeing : Ethical practice in schools
Graham, Anne Canosa, Antonia Boyle, Tess Moore, Tim Taylor, Nicola Anderson, Donnah Robinson, Sally
Graham, Anne
Canosa, Antonia
Boyle, Tess
Moore, Tim
Taylor, Nicola
Anderson, Donnah
Robinson, Sally
Abstract
Although ‘child safety’ is now a national policy priority in Australia, there is little research exploring the practices in schools that contribute to children and young people’s felt sense of safety and wellbeing. Drawing on a mixed-method Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery project, this article presents findings from interviews with school staff (N = 10), leaders (N = 5) and nine focus groups with students (N = 58), in primary and secondary schools in three Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia). We employ relational ethics, recognition theory and the theory of practice architectures to explore practices at school that support student wellbeing and safety. The findings contribute significantly to understanding the ‘bundled’ nature of current practices and the conditions that enable and constrain these. Close attention to these findings is critical as schools seek to operationalise the National Child Safe Principles and refine ongoing safeguarding procedures. The findings have informed the development of an online survey that is currently testing, on a much larger scale, which elements of ethical practice are most positively associated with students’ safety, wellbeing and recognition at school.
Keywords
schools, students, safety, wellbeing, ethics, practices
Date
2022
Type
Journal article
Journal
The Australian Educational Researcher
Book
Volume
50
Issue
Page Range
1477-1496
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute of Child Protection Studies
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open