What an amazing three months I've had! Starting with a very successful week in Fitzroy Crossing, working in the school with staff and students, and training other community members including police officers, childcare staff and parents. The week ended with a community awareness day and the students participated in art and craft activities and performed at a whole school assembly, singing and signing some of our Protective Behaviour songs.
A week later I was on a plane to the UK for a hectic, but very rewarding, month of training practitioners all over the British Isles. The first week was in and around the Midlands, then up near Liverpool for a week, next down in Brighton and lastly up to Sheffield. Everyone I trained was very enthusiastic and excited to see our new resources, songs and activities that have been incorporated into our lesson plans. They also saw the importance of teaching Public and Private and will be taking a serious look at the wording of the second theme of Protective Behaviours. I'd like to thank everybody who attended my workshops and a special thanks to those who assisted me by organizing these events, it wouldn't have been possible without you.
While in the UK, I had the humbling experience of attending a court hearing on a child abuse case. This has only led to strengthening my resolve about importance of teaching public and private, and particularly the correct names for private body parts. Had the young female complainant used the correct terminology in her evidence, I'm sure the jury would have been compelled to convict. The disappointing result was instead a hung jury requiring a retrial. My greatest thanks to my wonderful Uncle and Aunt who made it possible for me to attend.
On my return to Perth I was invited to Derby to spend a week training and mentoring teachers and children in the primary school. I believe child protection needs to be implemented with a whole community approach so in the evening I ran community workshops which were very well attended by police officers, parents and other community members alike. They agreed that it was important for everybody to understand the language and principles of Protective Behaviours for it to be effective in the community and they expressed their support for teaching Protective Behaviours in their school.
A personal highlight for me was meeting up with two students I had taught over a year ago in another remote community. They exclaimed: "I remember you!" and both broke out singing our Public and Private song. I had tears in my eyes I was so proud. Throughout the lessons they kept interrupting with "Don't forget this, Miss!" or "You haven't told them that, Miss!" They had recalled everything I had taught them over year ago. It is extremely difficult to quantify and measure the outcomes of teaching Protective Behaviours and there are critics who will claim that the lack of evidence based research on this topic precludes it from compulsory curriculum in schools. My personal view is that Protective Behaviours can provide a common benchmark for all children, when taught free from prejudice and without ambivalent metaphors or analogy, and these students affirmed for me that, when taught correctly, these ideas do stay with them and they, in turn, will introduce them to others.
Holly-ann Martin
