Categories: News

5 actions schools can take to protect children from predatory behaviour

The arrest last week of an Australian teacher accused of grooming a child online has prompted concerns the coronavirus pandemic is putting children at increased risk of predatory behaviour.

<p>NSW Police arrested a teacher from a prestigious Sydney school after it was alleged he engaged in sexually explicit conversations and sent inappropriate photos to an undercover police officer posing online as a 13-year-old girl&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Detective Acting Superintendent Chris Goddard&comma; commander of the NSW Police child abuse and sex crime squad&comma; said the incident was &&num;8220&semi;very concerning&&num;8221&semi; and warned children are now at even greater risk of predatory conduct with coronavirus having forced more people online&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Social media giant <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;insil&period;com&period;au&sol;post&sol;significant-increase-in-social-media-usage-under-covid-19-heres-what-that-means-for-businesses&sol;">Facebook reported <&sol;a>messaging was up by more than 50 per cent on its platform &lpar;Facebook&comma; Instagram and WhatsApp&rpar; in Australia since the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in January&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The increase in traffic comes after it was revealed by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation &lpar;ACCCE&rpar; that almost 17&comma;000 reports of online child sexual exploitation were received in 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Here we provide a list of five <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;childsafe&period;humanrights&period;gov&period;au&sol;sites&sol;default&sol;files&sol;2019-02&sol;National&lowbar;Principles&lowbar;for&lowbar;Child&lowbar;Safe&lowbar;Organisations2019&period;pdf">actions schools can take to protect children<&sol;a>&colon;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<ol>&NewLine;<li>Ensure policies and procedures are in place to address reporting of complaints and concerns to relevant authorities<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Provide staff training to ensure effective response to child safety issues<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Ensure processes to respond to complaints are child-focused<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Handle complaints seriously and respond promptly and thoroughly to any concerns<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Ensure the organisation regularly reviews&comma; evaluates and improves child safe practices&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ol>&NewLine;

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David Carroll

David is a senior journalist with more than 25 years experience in Australian media, you can find more of his work in our upcoming print issues of School News magazine.

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