Identifying children at risk in Swedish schools

The obligations to report a child at risk has high legitimacy in Sweden. This legislation has counterparts in several countries like the USA, Canada and Denmark but in many countries, such as England, the Netherlands and... [ view full abstract ]

The obligations to report a child at risk has high legitimacy in Sweden. This legislation has counterparts in several countries like the USA, Canada and Denmark but in many countries, such as England, the Netherlands and Belgium, there is no obligation to report (Backlund et al 2012). Professionals of various occupations, working in six different schools for children 6-15 years old in Sweden were invited to participate in the study in 2015. To get access to school professional’s situation when worrying for children being neglected and/or abused a qualitative interview study was performed. Questionnaires were used to identify signs of maltreatment of 6-15 year old children, moral sensitivity in school professionals, work related moral stress in school professionals and ethical climate in school. The questionnaires to school professionals were previously designed and validated in other contexts and adapted now to the school environment.
Consequently the aim of this study was to illuminate school professional’s situation when worrying for a child being exposed for abuse and neglect. In summary there seem to be a gap between the numbers of children exposed to neglect and abuse and reported cases of six different schools in Sweden. At the same time the situation when considering to report in accordance with the law can be stressful. The future intervention will generate for helping professionals observe children at risk. School staff felt that they had a good ability to perceive that a student mistreated but they need help for measuring neglect and aid to specify the factors previously given them a more vague sense that something is not right.