Sexual abuse and sexual assault - child protection from the school's perspective

School, child sexual abuse, protection concepts, risk analyses, prevention

01.01.2018 - 15.01.2028

Schools should guarantee children and young people access to a potentially protective and supportive environment. This is why many of those affected by sexual abuse dare to talk about their experiences for the first time in this environment. However, school can also be a place where sexual assaults take place. For this reason, schools have been entrusted with numerous tasks in the area of sexual abuse prevention in recent years.

In order to support schools in dealing professionally with the topic of child sexual abuse, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the Baden-Württemberg Centre for School Quality and Teacher Training are funding the development and evaluation of the online course "Sexual abuse and sexual assault - child protection from the school's perspective" as part of the "School against sexual violence" initiative(https://www.schule-gegen-sexuelle-gewalt.de/) of the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues (UBSKM).

The aim of this online course is to offer well-founded further training on the subject of child sexual abuse and child protection in the context of schools, based on the latest scientific findings. Teachers and employees of the school administration, school psychological services and school social work are to be encouraged and professionally supported to deal with the complex and very emotional topic of child sexual abuse in a professional manner. Furthermore, this online course provides information and impetus for the (further) development of concepts for protection against sexual violence and sexual assault in schools.

The online course has a modular structure and consists of three basic modules. In addition, after successfully completing the basic modules, an additional module on specific contexts of child sexual abuse (e.g. the context of peer violence) and a module with content aimed specifically at school administrators and staff can be completed optionally. The course content is taught using text materials, video clips and practical case studies, among other things.

Participation in the course is free of charge during the development phase from 2020 to 2028. If you are interested in taking part in the online course, you can register at the following link:

Fegert JM & Hoffmann U (2018). Protection against sexual abuse - There are pupils in need of help in every classroom. b&w Bildung und Wissenschaft, journal of the Baden-Württemberg Education and Science Union, issue 09/2018, pp. 14-19.