Teachers, child abuse, and texts : language games at play

Abstract

The 'language games' surrounding an abused child are extremely complicated, and generally cannot always be understood, because their purpose isn't always clear or even noticeable. In this dissertation, the complexity of why and how people actually abuse children, despite the existing 'social contracts' between human beings not to do so, the effects on these abused children, and more importantly for this dissertation, how abused children fit in the context of teachers, schools and the law, will be examined. The main objective of this dissertation is to identify and possibly understand the complexity, power, and often contradictory role of the multiple 'language games' at play between teachers responding to children being abused. To achieve this, three different kinds of texts that all focus on teachers and their involvement with abused children will be used. The first text used is the Maltese Policy Text Document called 'Child Protection Procedures For Schools' (1999). The second text used will be a 'handbook' that is aimed at helping and guiding teachers involved in supporting abused children. The third and final text used will narratives of children being abused, where teachers are directly involved in supporting these children. Understanding the different 'language games' at play through the three perspectives that the texts portray, will help in understanding the 'silence' that often surrounds abused children and teachers within the departmental and legal contexts when their 'language games' are either not noticed or understood.