AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Henrietta Cook
An alarming number of Australian students don’t trust schools to keep them safe.
That’s the key finding of a new report that will serve as a wake up call for schools which are trying to stamp out abuse in the wake of damning revelations aired at the Royal Commission.
While many schools are rolling out programs to encourage students to report sexual abuse, bullying and harassment, only one quarter of surveyed students said they would turn to a teacher for help.
The Australian Catholic University report, which was conducted for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and released on Wednesday, found that one in 10 students believed that adults at their schools would not know what to do if they reached out for help.
In a surprise finding, students said they felt safer at church, sporting institutions and camps than they did at school. Just 57 per cent of young people said they felt safe most of the time at school, compared to 67.4 per cent at church.
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