Teaching any Family Studies courses can have its
challenges, however, provided below is content information, resources and strategies
to assist an educator in teaching strand E “Addressing Social Challenges” from
the Ontario curriculum. More specifically, this section of the blog will
provide information on child abuse and children’s rights.
Here is a snapshot of children being mistreated in our world
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| Image: www.unicef.ca, (2014) What about Canada? Image: Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect, (2003)
When people think "child abuse," they often times think about child abuse being physical or sexual. However, child abuse covers many areas, listed below are four major types of child abuse which might provide a better understanding of what it entails. *Potential teaching strategy* Assessment For learning: offer a questionnaire in a true or false format and have the students complete a diagnostic assessment to determine how much prior knowledge students have about child abuse and neglect. This will provide a good start for teachers to know where their students are at and address any misconceptions.
Information about Child Abuse
In general, as outlined by the Ontario Ministry
of Children and Youth Services (2010), there are four major types of child
abuse.
Physical abuse – beating, slapping,
hitting, pushing, throwing, shaking, burning
Sexual abuse – any sexual act between an adult and child, fondling, exposure to sexual activity, exploitation, child pornography Emotional abuse – yelling, threatening, bulling, humiliating, name-calling, negative comparisons, little affection, withdrawing affection, confining a child for long periods, child presence during violent behaviours Neglect – failing to provide proper food, suitable clothing, supervision, clean and safe home, medical care
Canada
and Child Abuse
Although developing counties have
many child injustices occurring, that is not to say that developed countries
such as Canada don’t.
*Potential teaching strategy* Assessment As
learning: Provide case studies to groups of 2-4 students about children/youth
in unique situations and have the students analyze the case study and identify
indicators (unexplained bruising, fear of adults) of child abuse/neglect. Offer
a discussion period and have students support their reasoning followed by the
steps they would take to report the abuse.
How to Break the Cycle of Child Abuse
It has
been proven that child abuse becomes cyclical, where children who were abused,
end up abusing other children once they are adults. A general American
statistic claims that “about
30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle
of abuse” (Child Help, National Child Abuse Statistics, 2014). One way to
end this vicious cycle is to empower students with their voice and their rights.
Children who are unaware of their rights and who believe they do not have a voice are often the targets of such abuse. Children need to be empowered to say “no” or tell someone about the abuse.
Some ways in
which teachers can empower children are the following:
Boost: Child
Abuse Prevention and Intervention (2014)
*Potential
teaching strategy* Assessment As learning: Have students identify healthy and
unhealthy relationships. This can be demonstrated via tableaux, skits, comic
strips or a monologue.
Empower Students
by teaching them Their Rights
What Rights?
Children have a
special set of rights called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (UNCRC). It was established on November 20, 1989 and includes children 18
years of age and younger. All the countries across the world ratified these
rights except two, the United States and Somalia. Once ratified, countries
agree to uphold the law but unfortunately as stated above, children’s rights
are still not being upheld as planned. Although Canada strives to do its best,
certain areas of the UNCRC are neglected such as the rights to participation,
to have children’s voices heard and the rights to provision and protection(A Peoples Project, 2011).
There are four
guiding principles of the UNCRC:
1. Non-discrimination
2. Best interests of the child
3. Maximum survival and development
4. Participation
A Peoples Project (2011).
Below is a youth
friendly version of the UNCRC and two fantastic lesson plans that can help
introduce the UNCRC.
Click here to get your own! Image: (Society of Children and Youth BC, 2014)
Lesson plan 1: Wants and Universal Needs - To Live on an Island (Hampshire
County Council, 2014).
Lesson plan 2: Using Drama to Introduce an Article (Hampshire County Council, 2014).
Lesson plan 2: Image (Hampshire County Council, 2014).
.jpg)
Here are some valuable teaching tools and resources, pages 13-45. This link provides excellent resources that are ready to go and printable.
UNICEF Canada: Helping to make your classroom a global schoolhouse! (UNICEF Canada, 2014).
Must have resource: "Rights of Children and Youth in care: Connection to family and culture workshop" (2011), is a must have because it provides 3 full activities that go into detail about the UNCRC. The first is an introduction to children's rights, followed by an exploration of specific rights and finally planning an action plan.
*Possible teaching strategy* Assessment OF learning: Planning an action plan could work nicely as a summative task as it also ties in with global education. In addition it would empower students to take action and make a plan that interests them, so that their voices may be heard. An example could be provided to students, demonstrating youth voicing their opinions. Embedded below is short video about a documentary which displays a youth group voicing their opinions about their water supply. Here is information about the documentary: Keepers of the Water.
Keepers of the Water
Extra
Resources
Assaulted Women’s Helpline www.awhl.org
Children's Rights in the Canadian Legal System (Society for Children and Youth of BC, 2011)
Public Health Agency of Canada http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/index-eng.php/
Royal Canadian Mounted Police http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/ccaps-spcca/chi-enf-eng.htm
Secondary teacher resources and
lesson plans - http://www.accessola.com/osla/bethechange/blackline_secondary.html
Teen Dating – Love is not abuse www.loveisnotabuse.com
A Canadian Overview of the UNCRC
Youth Opportunities Ontario (opportunities for youths to become active participants in their community) http://youthconnect.ca/htdocs/english/index.asp
Hope the
collection of information was useful!
References
A Peoples Project. Society for Children
and Youth of BC. (2011). Retrieved on November1, 2014 from Every Child Link
Boost Child Abuse Prevention &
Intervention (2014). Retrieved on October 28, 2014 from http://boostforkids.org/Resources/FactsAboutChildAbuse.aspx
Child Help: National Child Abuse
Statistics (2014). Retrieved on October 28, 2014 from http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics
Curriculum Services Canada, 2014.
Keepers of the Water. Posted January 16, 2013. Retrieved on October 27, 2014
from http://www.curriculum.org/resources/251/keepers-of-the-water
Every Child. 2010. Retrieved on
November 5, 2014 from http://www.everychild.ca/tools_materials
Hampshire County Council (2014).
Retrieved on November 2, 2014 from http://www3.hants.gov.uk/education/hias/rrr-navigator/engagementandempowerment.htm
Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth
Services (2010). Retrieved on November 5, 2014 from link
Public
Health Agency of Canada. Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and
Neglect. (2003). Retrieved on November 1, 2014 from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cm-vee/csca-ecve/2008/assets/images/0.5-lg.jpg
Society for Children and Youth of BC,
2011. Retrieved on October 28, from http://www.scyofbc.org/#!child-rights-publications/c11rx
Unicef Canada (2014). Retrieved on
November 8, 2014 from http://www.unicef.ca/en/discover/child-protection
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