An exploration of teachers' capacity to identify cases of child neglect in primary schools

Since the introduction of the Children First Act (2015) in Ireland, all teachers registered with the Teaching Council are 'Mandated Persons', individuals required to report to the relevant body, without delay, any knowledge, belief or reasonable suspicion that a child has been harmed, is being harmed, or is at risk of being harmed. Research identifies the important role of teachers in identifying child neglect cases due to their qualifications, training and ongoing contact with children (Bourke and Maunsell, 2016; Whelan, 2018). However, teachers, like all members of society, hold implicit theories which are beliefs about the nature of human attributes that are developed through one's social and cultural contextual experiences (Nosek and Hansen, 2008; Dweck, 2012). Such theories may lead to the construction of implicit biases, which are unconscious views and attitudes that can automatically influence one's judgements and behaviours (Holroyd, 2015). Consequently, teachers may provide predetermined, biased evaluations about children, potentially leading to the misidentification of child neglect cases in schools. This study explores how teachers understand and identify cases of child neglect. In this paper, children's rights and child protection regulations are discussed. The concepts of child neglect and implicit bias are outlined. The Decision-Making Ecology Model, first described by Baumann, Kern and Fluke in 1997, will conclude the paper through identifying critical domains that are influential in child protection cases (Baumann et al., 2011).