School Social Workers' Roles Involving Teacher Student Sexual Misconduct and Exploitation
Abstract
Incidents of sexual misconduct by educators continue to become more prevalent in the
United States, resulting in negative social, emotional, and psychological effects on many
students. School social workers are professionals with backgrounds in prevention,
intervention, and advocacy; however, very little literature has examined the roles of
school social workers in preventing and addressing teacher-student sexual misconduct.
This case study explored school social workers’ roles and their perceptions thereof in
relation to incidents that involved teacher-student sexual misconduct and exploitation.
General systems theory provided the framework for understanding the roles of social
workers and their approaches to working with the different systems associated and
connected with the entire education system, including teachers and students. Nine school
social workers participated in 30-45-minute audiotaped, in-depth, face-to-face interviews
and provided data for this study related to their roles and responsibilities in addressing
sexual misconduct in schools. Transcribed interviews were coded, first using emergent
open coding and then using focused/axial coding, to form 2 main themes. School social
workers in this district were identified as having no well-defined primary or secondary
roles related to prevention of and response to teacher-student sexual misconduct, which
was reported to result from a number of barriers to school social workers’ ability to
deliver effective services. A reevaluation of school social workers’ roles to include
addressing crises such as sexual misconduct has the potential to promote positive social
change by improving the educational system and the school’s ability to provide a
healthier educational environment for students.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
educator sexual misconduct, School social workers, prevention, training, schools
Citation
Ruffin, C. M. (2017). School Social Workers' Roles Involving Teacher-Student Sexual Misconduct and Exploitation (Dissertation). Walden University.