School principals coping with child sexual abuse in their schools

BACKGROUND

Schools serve a central role in prevention, disclosure and intervention in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA). As school principals often face CSA cases in their daily work, they may hold the key to making social change on this front. However, research on principals' experiences of contending with CSA remains limited.

OBJECTIVE

The current study is part of a larger qualitative research project examining various Israeli educators' coping with CSA among their students in diverse cultural contexts. In this study, we specifically focused on principals. The research questions were: (1) What are the unique ways in which school principals cope with cases of CSA during their course of daily work? (2) Do their cultural contexts and cultural affiliations shape their coping, and if so, how?

METHODS

In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 principals from multiple cultural groups (secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Arab-Muslims), which were analyzed using a thematic approach.

RESULTS

The findings indicated that principals demonstrate three types of coping strategies in response to encounters with CSA in the course of their work: they may act as "navigators" (exclusively responsible); "sharers" (rely on teamwork); or "balancers" (negotiating between cultural and legal demands). Furthermore, two contextual factors affected their construction of coping: ongoing professional experience in cases of CSA and personal experiences, including being a CSA survivor.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of principals in identifying and leading interventions for CSA cases. It also raises the need for training to combine reflective, experience-based practice alongside evidence-informed practice.

Teacher and Principal Perceptions of Authentic Leadership: Implications for Trust, Engagement, and Intention to Return

The focus of this study was to explore the relationships between the authentic leadership of building principals and the trust, engagement, and intention to return of their teaching staffs. School principals (n = 28) and their teaching staffs (n = 633) were surveyed. Teacher trust and engagement were found to be significantly related to principal authenticity. When schools were partitioned along a continuum of principal-teacher agreement about authenticity, the schools whose principals had lower ratings than their teachers had significantly more teacher trust and engagement, and their teachers expressed significantly greater intention to return. Results are discussed concerning implications for future research and improvement of practice.