Submission to Royal Commission: Child sexual abuse in schools

This APS submission made in 2015 is in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Issues Paper 9: Addressing the risk of child sexual abuse in primary and secondary school.

The submission focuses on facilitating disclosure by creating positive child-safe school cultures, and raising school community awareness.

The APS highlights the need to expand the discussion of reducing the risk of child sexual assault in schools from one of simply mandatory training, legislation and compliance, to one that includes a focus on fostering child-centred/child-safe cultures within the whole-of-school community.

The APS recommends that strategies for reducing risk in primary and secondary schools must include fostering positive school leadership and role-modelling to embed a child-safe and respectful philosophy throughout the whole-of-school environment so that the welfare of children is prioritised.

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