Schools are often the service in closest and longest contact with a child living with domestic violence. Teachers play a vital role in helping families access welfare services. Violence in children's lives often causes disruption to their schooling and harms the quality of their educational experiences and outcomes.
The abuse children experience can result in emotional trauma, physical and psychological barriers to learning and disruptive behavior in school, while the underlying causes of these problems remain hidden. Knowing when and how to seek advice from multi-agency professionals is an essential part of effective practice among school staff.
Parent teacher conferences either scheduled or called for by the teacher is one way to approach the discussion. Calling in the non-abusive parent and relying to them how their child behaves in school and outlining the learning insufficiencies. Trying to get that parent to open up and the first step to helping both of them and maybe other children in the house. Teachers can also try to have a conference with the abusive parent but they must tread lightly for fear of retribution to the child for a bad report from school.
