The aim of this study was to investigate how school staff work to counteract sexual harassment and abuse of children, 6 to 16 years of age, online and in real life. The aim of this study was also to investigate the role of norms and norm-creating processes regarding sexual harassment and abuse in school staff’s stories. This study is based on nine semi-structured interviews, conducted with school staff such as teachers, social educators and counselors, who work in primary school. The study's theoretical starting points are norm- critical analysis, professional theory and the masculinity theory. Results showed that school staff mainly use norm-critical conversations. These conversations aim to involve students to reflect on their role in the establishment of norms. Through discussions, lessons and value exercises, school staff question destructive norm systems, students' behaviors and attitudes, what is okay and what is not. The staff lacks routines for how to deal with sexual harassment and abuse that takes place online. The results of the study indicate that the preventive work needs to include more knowledge about social media and that the school's core values also needs to include attitudes, norms and behaviors on social media. A solution, according to school staff, is for students to leave their mobile phones with the staff before each lesson so that they are not affected by them during this time. School staff believe that the preventive work around sexual harassment and abuse, that takes place online, is about questioning behaviors and enabling students to have the courage tell adults about what happens among students. It emerges that norm- setting processes are a central part of school staff’s work to counteract sexual harassment and abuse. School staff experience some organizational difficulties, such as resources and time, to be able to work with norm-critic analyses. A challenge they face is to involve other professional groups, to prioritize this together and work more preventively. Another challenge is also found among the collegial work, where certain professional groups feel that this kind of analyses needs to apply to the entire organization and not only to individuals within the school. In addition to the organizational challenge, school staff experience that a major challenge is found among students' attitudes, behaviors and values, especially among boys.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-105035 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Nilsson, Elina, Gustafsson, Peter |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA), Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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