|
Peterellis.org
September 26 2006
The elephant in the schoolroom
Press Release
Irene Cooper of the NZEI has
released new codes of practice for school teachers, allowing some physical
contact between teachers and students. Margaret Mooney of the PTA hopes the
revised rules will encourage more men to enter the profession.
The new policies are a welcome
return toward common sense, spokesperson Brian Robinson says, but there is
little cause for celebration.
Shovelling out elephant dung
will do little to remove the smell in the room if the elephant itself is
ignored. Similarly tinkering with policy will do little for male confidence
in the teaching profession if the root cause for the lack of confidence is
ignored.
Sue Thorne of the Early
Childhood Council has articulated the reasons better than others, in
identifying the paedophile hysteria of the 1990s as having caused good men
to vacate child care roles over the past decade.
Potential teachers will not be
lulled by soothing words. They know that Peter Ellis was convicted of
imaginary crimes at the Christchurch Civic creche. And those same potential
teachers can see that the "problem of Peter" has been swept under
the carpet by educational groups. What confidence can potential teachers
have that they will be supported if they were to suffer the same fate as
Ellis?
Hysteria cannot be simply wished
away. Irene Cooper provides evidence that sex abuse hysteria is still with
us when she says that teachers need to be aware that physical contact with
children can be misconstrued, and that teachers may become the victims of
false allegations because they have somehow "put themselves at
risk".
In such a climate of suspicion,
male teachers would be wise (for their own welfare, but sadly to the
children's detriment) to avoid all touching of children. To encourage men
into teaching, educational organisations need to
·
affirm the necessity of touching children and
·
provide teachers with a strong right to do so and
·
provide robust non-judgmental support for any teacher subject to an
ambiguous or disputed sexual abuse allegation.
The best way that educational
groups can make real change in encouraging meaningful numbers of men to
join the preschool and teaching professions is to
·
study and understand how and why Peter Ellis was convicted, and
·
then make a commitment to advocate for a thorough, independent
inquiry into the Christchurch Civic Creche case. Until the government faces
up to the need for an inquiry into the creche case, the problem of sex
abuse hysteria and false allegations won't go away.
Such action will provide
aspiring teachers with real assurance that the "paedophile hysteria of
the 1990s" is not still with us, and that teaching is indeed a safe
profession.
|
