Responding to Disclosure: A Study to Explore the Preparation of Trainee Teachers to Operationalise Safeguarding Policy in the Context of Adolescent Sexting Behaviour

Abstract

This professional doctorate explores the content and efficacy of safeguarding training for secondary computer science trainee teachers, referred to as trainees or computing teachers. The research focuses on the preparation of trainees to operationalise safeguarding policy in the context of disclosures of online Aggressive Adolescent Sexting Behaviours (AASB) in secondary schools located in North-West England. The researcher studies key stakeholders and trainees, seeking to answer three research questions: How do trainees define sexting behaviours? How should trainee teachers plan to respond to AASB? How do trainees plan to respond to AASB? This study uses Kincheloe and Berry’s (2004) conceptualisation of Bricolage methodology and Quinlan and Cross’s (2020) adaptation of Papert’s (1993) Computational Thinking (CT) that informed the theoretical and conceptual framework to structure this research investigation. Lipsky’s (1980) ‘Street Level Bureaucracy’ was applied to explore simulated trainee policy enactment. This research uses three methods to elicit data:

• Vignettes containing sexting incidents derived from Wolak and Finkelhor’s (2011) study, ‘Sexting a Typology’, combine vignettes with trainee participant surveys.
• A trainee focus group.
• Semi-structured interviews with participant experts. Text-based thematic analysis identifies emergent themes using Braun and Clarke’s (2022) thematic analysis.

Preliminary findings indicate a trainee knowledge gap regarding constructing comprehensive definitions of sexting behaviours and identifying the constituents of AASB. Trainees expressed apprehension concerning encountering AASB pupil disclosures in schools and discussed limited exposure to training and support. Practitioner experts and consultants state that trainees should know who school safeguarding officers are and should be able to use school safeguarding reporting systems confidently. Furthermore, practitioner and consultant experts expect trainees to possess skillsets that support and reassure AASB victims and specifically know how to help and direct pupils regarding removing imagery from the Internet. The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED, 2021b) identifies the need to address sexually aggressive behaviour in schools. Therefore, the recommendations here stress the need for trainees to experience consistent AASB training. Further findings indicate that current training resources to address AASB and cyberbullying behaviours in schools are inadequate for novice teachers, and this study recommends updating these resources.