17.01.2023

Child and adolescent protection is an agenda for Beacon educators

By Lais Carvalho

The 2023 school year started with a lot of energy! Upon returning from vacation, the teachers met with the collaborators and the Maracatu do Congo made a musical opening that made them reflect on the importance of the meetings. The school directors presented Beacon’s expansion projects and what the future holds. The morning ended with a training session on child and adolescent protection.

At Beacon, regardless of the position held, everyone is considered an educator, as at the school we all serve the students. Therefore, our “Safeguarding Policy”, written at the end of 2022, was presented to the community.

In order to illustrate and strengthen the aspects described in the research, we invited Katia Dantas, an international expert and leader in child protection, dedicated to the prevention of institutional abuse with a focus on children and teenagers organizations.

The objective of the training was to bring a reflective look at the complexity of institutional and child abuse. Supporting the adults in the school and also providing a look at the students and their relationships in generating a safer environment is one of the major focuses of Beacon’s training in 2023.

In addition to conducting a technical inspection of our units, including the new High School building to identify points of vulnerability, Katia presented the issue of boundaries and how to maintain them in a healthy way in the school environment. Touches, hugs, gestures that can and should be avoided, ways that potential abusers act and when we should be alert, how social networks expose children and teenagers, sensitive daily activities, among other topics that, together with dynamics, made the participants aware.

The training and formation continue throughout the year and new relevant topics, as well as recycling of the already experienced ones, will be presented to all the educators.