Education
Education Minister Martin Polášek (ÖVP) has announced that child protection concepts will be mandatory in schools from autumn. Vienna’s schools already have child protection concepts that need to be adapted. However, the Vienna Teachers’ Association is also demanding a safety concept for teaching staff.
Protecting children from all forms of violence and abuse – this is the goal of the child safety concepts, which will be mandatory in all schools from autumn. The plan includes child protection teams in every school, procedures for handling suspicious cases, risk analysis and a code of conduct for everyone entering the school building.
Constant contact persons
According to the compulsory school union Thomas Krebs (FCG), children and young people will certainly experience violence. Children should have contact persons at school who know how to react properly in case of suspicious cases. “Of course, even before we came up with a child protection concept, we knew that we had to act here and handle information from children and young people very sensitively. “It’s not new in that sense,” Krebs explained.
In autumn 2022, the Directorate of Education gave Vienna’s schools the possibility to create child protection concepts, conduct codes and report complaints anonymously. So the schools of Vienna had only to modify their views. For example in risk analysis: where can people from outside the school enter the house, where are the blind corners?
The union wants to protect the teaching staff from the charges
According to the union, safety concepts help schools deal with some forms of violence, but they cannot prevent it. The union is also seeking a security proposal for teaching staff. “You have to be very sensitive, especially with accusations of assault. In recent months, teachers have been facing massive accusations from parents, students and the public, some of which are unfounded.” There should be very clear concepts and procedures to clarify an issue neutrally and without obstacles. Teachers Association.
