As An Educator, What Can I Do?


As educators, we must acknowledge that woman abuse is a social issue we can and must respond to.

[The following two pieces are borrowed from materials produced by Education Wife Assault, an educational, anti-violence, prevention focused organization.]

Many students from violent homes and many abused women express frustration in dealing with professionals and service providers as they too often meet with well intentioned responses that, in fact, blame the victim and minimize the danger. As educators we must acknowledge that wife assault/women abuse in the home or in dating relationships is not only a personal problem but an important social issue that we can and must respond to.

Generally, we can:

  • educate ourselves about the facts and the resources;
  • work for change by espousing the following values and incorporating them into our school curriculum and programs:
  1. encourage cooperation rather than competition;
  2. model the equality of men and women;
  3. acknowledge and encourage the gentleness of men and the strength of women;
  • understand and teach that violence is always a choice and that other choices are possible;
  • encourage the hiring of a social worker or life skills instructor trained to respond to violence against women and children;
  • learn the necessary skills in order to recognize signs of abuse in students' behavior.

Specifically, if you know or suspect a student is living in an abusive home:

  • Listen. Find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted.
  • Help them understand that they are not to blame for the violence.
  • Let them know that no one has the right to assault/abuse another person.
  • Tell the student that many others come from violent homes and that they have a right to tell someone and to seek help; this is not a private family matter but is a violation of Canadian law.
  • Know and tell the students that there are safe places to go with their moms. Children, even adolescent boys, must be told not to endanger themselves by intervening personally on their mother's behalf. Help them to develop safety plan for themselves and younger brothers and sisters and to learn how to call for help for their mother.
  • Let them know that their mother is not to blame for the violence. There are places where their father can go for help if he wants the violence to stop.

En ma qualité d'éducatrice, que puis-je faire?

par Education Wife Assault

En tant qu'éducatrices nous devons reconnaître que la violence faite aux femmes n'est pas un problème individuel, mais une question sociale brûlante contre laquelle nous pouvons et devons réagir. Nous pouvons nous instruire sur les faits et les ressources, enseigner que la violence est un choix et que d'autres choix existent, apprendre à détecter des signes de violence dans le comportement d'un ou d'une élève et à y réagir convenablement. Si vous soupçonnez que des élèves habitent dans un foyer violent ou qu'elles ont un partenaire violent, vous pouvez les écouter, les aider à comprendre que ni elles, ni d'autres membres de leur famille ne sont à blâmer, qu'elles ont le droit de se faire aider, et qu'il existe des endroits sûrs auxquels elles peuvent s'adresser, éviter de donner des conseils ou de porter un jugement, aider un petit ami violent à comprendre qu'il est responsable de sa violence et qu'il peut apprendre à changer de comportement, l'encourager à s'adresser à un service de counselling ou à un groupe d'entraide masculin luttant contre la violence.

Lutter contre la violence conjugale: Tout être humain possède le droit fondamental de vivre sans être violenté. Être battue n'est pas le dilemme privé d'une femme, c'est une agression et non une relation qui a mal tourné. La violence conjugale est un crime, et non une maladie. Les hommes battent leur conjointe parce qu'ils en ont la permission et que personne ne les arrête.



Back Contents Next