Early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators in Queensland and Victoria, Australia have relatively recently become mandatory reporters of child maltreatment, and they are in a prime position to report their suspicions. Yet limited research has been conducted to understand the prevailing barriers and facilitators for educators that might influence how this child protection policy reform is being enacted. Natasha‘s Master of Philosophy study (Ayling, 2019) sought to develop and test a new mandatory reporter self-efficacy scale for early childhood educators, based on Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory (1977). Results indicated that collegial support was a professional practice dimension for which educators reported lower self-efficacy for child maltreatment reporting. This current PhD study aims to contribute a deeper understanding of how collaboration among educators in ECEC services might best serve the goal of child protection. The insights provided by this could potentially inform and significantly improve current child protection education and training.
Collecting Data Now
We are looking for approximately 400 people 18 years and older who are currently working in the early childhood education and care sector in Australia to complete a survey to help us to understand the barriers and facilitators to mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect for educators in ECEC services in Australia. We warmly welcome your participation by clicking the survey button below.
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