A Survey of Swedish Teachers’ Concerns for Preschool Children at Risk of Maltreatment.

The aim of this study is to identify the extent to which children at risk of maltreatment at home are identified and offered support in preschools.

The analysis is based on four categories regarding the preschool staff's concern for the children's home situation: a) no concern, b) newly arisen concern, c) previous concern, d) prolonged concern. The analysis points to a correlation between the staff's concerns for the child's home situation and the child's health and development in the preschool: Prolonged concern for the child's home situation is associated with a higher degree of the staff's concern for the child's development and health. Moreover, the study indicates that socio-demographic conditions such as low income, parents' level of education and an increased rate of children born outside Sweden correlate with the staff's prolonged concern. There is no significant correlation between gender and the four categories. Furthermore, the results show that the staff reported increasing concerns for all aspects of the child's health and development when concern arose about the child's home situation. In addition, the analysis indicates a correlation between the duration and intensity of the staff's concerns: Prolonged concern was associated with concerns of a more intense nature than that of the other categories. The staff indicated that cooperation with the parents was considerably better when there were no concerns for the child's home situation. Cooperation also deteriorated when there was prolonged concern for the child's home situation.

The authors conclude that the staff's concern for the child's home situation correlates with a very broad picture of the child's health and development as well as with different aspects of the contact between preschool, staff and parents. The authors also conclude that the proportion of children who need special support is highest in the group with prolonged concern. Prolonged concern for the child's home situation increases the probability of reports, yet only a minority of the cases were reported to the child protection agency.

The data material was obtained from the large Swedish SOFIA study (Social Och Fysisk utveckling, Insatser och Anpassning) that followed preschool children born in the period 2005-2007 in the municipality of Karlstad in Sweden. Data consists of questionnaire responses from preschool teachers, principals of the preschool departments and parents of a total of 2017 children. The analysis was conducted as a statistical analysis and divided into three stages: (1) identification of changes in preschool staff's concerns for the child's home situation, (2) analysis of correlations between the child's home situation, socio-demographic background, the staff's concerns for the child's health and development as well as the staff's perception of cooperation with parents, and (3) an estimate of the need for special support in preschools and reports to the child protection agency.

Svensson, B., Andershed, H. & Janson, S. (2015). A Survey of Swedish Teachers’ Concerns for Preschool Children at Risk of Maltreatment. Early Childhood Education Journal 43(6), 495-503.