Child protection in schools must not be “included” but must be taken seriously

2024-03-22 07:32:40

Children’s friends criticize the Federal Minister’s regulation for more child protection in Austrian schools as inadequate.

Vienna (OTS) – The Austrian Children’s Friends demand adequate resources for effective child protection in schools. This includes funds for training and further education, working hours and budgets for consultations with experts. The financial impact analysis of the relevant regulation shows it to be “cost-neutral” – only funds that are already in short supply should be reallocated.

It is also incomprehensible to the children’s friends why child protection as an important topic does not have to be decided annually in the school forum, like a number of other things. All organizations in the Ministry of Education’s Parents’ Association unanimously demanded this. The student representatives were not asked about the topic at all, even though it directly affects them. Here the statutory school partnership was simply ignored.

With the regulation presented, Austrian schools cannot implement the topic properly. “The professional handling of crisis cases is a delicate task that cannot simply be done on the side,” explains Daniela Gruber-Pruner, Federal Managing Director of Kinderfreunde. “This requires appropriate training and further education that falls within the working hours, such as time for preventive measures and complaint management,” explains Günther Leeb, child protection officer at Kinderfreunde.

Furthermore, all children must be consistently and regularly informed about their options for making complaints and also about the rules for dealing with one another. This is the only way to curb aggressive behavior by teaching staff and classmates.

“The ministry must make significant improvements to ensure effective child protection in schools and create and make appropriate resources available,” concludes Gruber-Pruner.