The role of primary and secondary schools in processes of early detection of gender violence that children suffer in their homes is a little-explored area, in terms of both research and practice, especially in Catalonia (Montserrat, Garcia-Molsosa, Planas-Lladó, & Soler-Masó, 2022). Schools, as safe spaces where there are close and trusted adults, can play a decisive role. Nevertheless, according to evidence from international research studies consulted, there are some difficulties: pupils do not identify teaching staff as people who can be of help in these situations (Mullender et al., 2002), and teaching staff do not always think that helping children who are in these situations forms part of their functions (Münger & Markström, 2019).

In the article we present here, the teaching staff and management teams of 86 schools in Catalonia, from among 106 that participated in the first phase of the research, were asked what role the primary or secondary school should play in cases of gender violence within the family, and what obstacles exist to detecting it and acting on it. They were also asked what they would need for the school to become a key player, capable of helping boys and girls who are victims of this violence. The main results, based on 322 questionnaires received, follow below.

According to the teaching staff surveyed, the treatment of gender violence by schools is satisfactory, but improvable: the average satisfaction is 7 out of 10, without significant differences between primary and secondary schools. In all education stages, more work is done on physical (90%), sexual (78%) and psychological (76%) violence than on vicarious or economic violence. In the latter case, however, it is observed that this issue is more present at primary schools than at secondary schools. The graph below reflects the type of violence talked about with students, by education stage, and the percentage of teaching staff that have marked each in the response options.

Work on gender violence in the classroom is poorly systematised: only 22% of teaching staff affirm that the issue is integrated into the school’s education project in the form of a specific programme. In primary schools, this percentage is even lower, with the majority of teaching staff surveyed affirming that its treatment depends on each staff member and on the education stage. In secondary schools, the issue is tackled in a generalised way through graphic information. Secondary teaching staff perceive that there is a higher percentage of students who deny the existence of the problem or minimise it, and they also confirm greater lack of interest regarding the subject among students than their primary counterparts. The following graph shows the treatment of gender violence by stage and and according to teachers responses.

As regards the question of how they would like the issue of gender violence to be dealt with at their school, 97% of teaching staff would prefer experts to be present in the classrooms. Although they consider it pertinent to work on the issue occasionally on special days (86%), by way of information leaflets and posters (85%), or in a spontaneous way in accordance with student concerns (85%), they also believe that it is necessary to systematise the issue more and incorporate it as a specific programme into the school’s education project (73%), but not in the form of a course subject (82% are against this).

As summarised in figure 3, students do not tend to communicate these situations to teaching staff: in their majority, they say nothing (67%) and avoid the subject or defend their parents (46%). When schools become aware of the situation, it is thanks to evident signs of the violence or via other professionals.

 

The main obstacles to students asking for help from teaching staff when suffering a situation of gender violence in the home are related with organisational aspects (lack of time and space, lack of coordination with other services, or difficulties in this coordination), with insufficient training on the part of teaching staff, and with the existence of certain perceptions, such as it is not the child who should be looking for a solution, or that a child explaining the situation might lead to negative repercussions. As is observed in the following graph, compiled based on the results of the sum of percentages corresponding to Somewhat agree and Totally agree for each item on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 = totally disagree and 5 = totally agree), secondary teachers perceive more of a lack of trust on the part of students as well as a lack of teacher training and a lack of time.

According to the indications of figure 5, teaching staff consider that they have to become involved in the problem; only 1% affirm that they should remain on the sidelines. Primary teachers accept it as their function in a more generalised way than secondary teachers, although in both cases the percentage that believes that this question does not form part of their functions is very low. According to the body of teaching staff, the main function that schools must carry out is referring to the corresponding service any cases that they have been able to detect (more than 80% in both, primary and secondary school). The following graph reflects, based on the results of the sum of percentages corresponding to Somewhat agree and Totally agree for each item on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = totally disagree and 5 = totally agree), the role that teaching professionals believe schools should play in these situations. 

Teaching staff detect a series of needs when it comes to carrying out the task of detection and referral. They ask for a quiet and safe space, better coordination between the different services, a reconfiguration of individual tutorials (especially in primary school) and a specific programme within the school’s project. They think that they should have greater support from the management, have access to more training, and know the applicable protocols (especially in primary school). They also believe, in a more generalised way, that it would be a good idea for classrooms to have an expert who takes charge of working on these issues with pupils. The graph below shows the answers of teaching staff to the question of how the school should be organised to become a space that offers security to children and adolescents when explaining the violence experienced in their homes. The values presented are the result of adding up the percentages corresponding to Somewhat agree and Totally agree for each item, on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = totally disagree and 5 = totally agree). 

As for the reference person who should take care of these questions, the answers between teaching staff are diverse: 35% think that it should be a non-teacher person from the school (social educator, social integration technician, educational psychologist, etc.); 29%, that it should be a teacher; 24%, an external reference person from the existing services network, and 13%, an external reference person (not necessarily from the existing network of reference persons). In primary, there are a higher percentage of teachers who think this referent should be the tutor (teacher referent for each class and/or student). The following graph specifies, in accordance with their teachers’ opinions, who the reference person should be for pupils when they have to request help with regard to gender violence situations at home. The values that are presented are the result of adding together the percentages corresponding to Somewhat agree and Totally agree for each item, on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = totally disagree and 5 = totally agree). 

Teaching staff are sensitive to situations of gender violence that pupils may or do suffer in the home. However, despite some schools working on this issue in the classrooms, in general it is approached in a way that is weakly systematic and without putting much emphasis on the indirect forms that gender violence may adopt. Teaching professionals have no doubt that they should play a role, but they differ with regard to who should act in these cases and how it should be done. Furthermore, they consider that they do not always have enough training and knowledge to deal with gender violence in the best way possible. 

Teaching staff think that better coordination is necessary between the different services and that there is margin for improvement within the organisation of schools to make this task effective; in other words, that a more rigorous systematisation should exist when it comes to addressing this issue within schools. In this sense, it seems that the current protocols are not adequate for each teacher to know, on the one hand, how to approach – at the school and with their class group – a general and cross-disciplinary treatment of the gender violence issue; and on the other, how to act in response to a specific case of violence within the home: what should be said or done, and how to coordinate it subsequently with the services network. This coincides with what children said in the first phase of the research: they do not know who to tell and they are afraid of telling someone because of the consequences that this might entail for them (Montserrat et al., 2022). 

Therefore, there is still a long way to go, as it is necessary to provide support and establish clear models that help teaching staff to develop, with guarantees, the task of offering a space for help to pupils who are victims of gender violence, in such a way that schools become privileged spaces for the early detection of the problem and the accompaniment of teaching staff is facilitated so that they do not find themselves alone in this task. We trust that the figure of protection coordinator, which Spanish Law 8/2021 envisages that each school should establish, can contribute to this.  

For the protocols and programmes that aim to combat violence to be efficient and effective, children have to feel safe; teaching staff have to receive training and support; the school has to integrate this issue into the school’s project, and the services network must be proactive and work in a coordinated way. Measures have been taken to improve in this direction, but it is necessary to advance more decisively. The following steps of the “WeAreHere!” research have the aim of contributing to this through the development of a consensus-based model for the early detection of situations of gender violence in homes, applicable to the school environment.

This article is based on data originating from the questionnaire for teaching staff and school management teams produced within the framework of the research project “WeAreHere! Detection of gender violence from the perspective of children and teenagers” developed by Carme Montserrat, Marta Garcia-Molsosa, Pere Soler, Anna Planas, Edgar Iglesias and Paula Boned of the Liberi, Childhood, Youth and Community Research Group at the University of Girona. The results that have been explained in this article are framed within the context of the second phase, which investigated the perspective of both teaching staff and management at 86 out of 106 schools participating in the study. The third phase will focus on the design of the detection model that it is proposed to implement within the school framework. This research, funded by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, has also enjoyed the collaboration of Government of Catalonia’s Departments of Social Rights and of Education.

Spanish Organic Law 8/2021, of 4 June, on the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents with regard to violence.

MONTSERRAT, C., M. GARCIA-MOLSOSA, A. PLANAS-LLADÓ, and P. SOLER-MASÓ (2022): "Children’s understandings of gender-based violence at home: The role school can play in child disclosure", Children and Youth Services Review, 136, 106431.

MONTSERRAT, C., M. GARCIA-MOLSOSA, P. SOLER, A. PLANAS, E. IGLESIAS, y P. BONED (2022): L’impacte de la violencia machista en els fills i les filles: el paper de l’escola segons l’alumnat, El Observatorio Social de la Fundación ”la Caixa”.

MULLENDER, A., G. HAGUE, U. F. IMAM, L. KELLY, E. MALOS, and L. REGAN (2002): Children’s perspectives on domestic violence, SAGE Publishing.
 
MÜNGER, A. C., and A. M. MARKSTRÖM (2019): «School and Child Protection Services Professionals’ Views on the School’s Mission and Responsibilities for Children Living with Domestic Violence - Tensions and Gaps», Journal of Family Violence, 34(5), 385-398.