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As An
Educator, What Can I Do?
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As educators, we must acknowledge that woman
abuse is a social issue we can and must respond to. |
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[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:
- encourage cooperation rather than competition;
- model the equality of men and women;
- 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.
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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. |
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