Abstract:
The present paper focuses on teachers’ experiences of child abuse/
neglect cases, teachers’ awareness of reporting or discounting, and
their ways of responding to a hypothetical disclosure of abuse/
neglect. A total of 1877 teachers in Greek public schools participated
from a national teacher in-service training across the country; of
them, 306 (16.3%) reported that they had experiences with children
exposed to forms of abuse in their professional career. The higher level
of perceived awareness of reporting responsibility was significantly
associated with a lower level of discounting and with more appropriate
ways of teachers responding to a child’s disclosure. The findings are
discussed within the Greek context, highly characterized by its lack
of institutional arrangements and adequate child protection services
that could facilitate schools to document, examine and share helpful
practices for child abuse and neglect.