The school is a central place for children and adolescents, and therefore the discussion of child sexual abuse cannot be left out. “In my childhood I 'sent out' clear signals,” said one of the victims, “for example the sudden social abnormalities that teachers and doctors should have responded to.” This experience of sexual violence is shared by many other victims whose behavior is based on personal experiences of violence has changed in their family or other contexts such as sport. However, affected children and adolescents often stayed and remain alone. “Nobody, really nobody even got the idea to ask questions,” complains one woman, and yet school in particular offers many opportunities to become aware of a child and to break through a dynamic of violence.
Initiatives such as "School against Sexual Violence" by the Independent Commissioner for Issues of Child Sexual Abuse in cooperation with the cultural authorities of the federal states, including the nationwide recognized interactive online training "What is the matter with Jaron?" Aim to inform adults in the educational system and enable them to learn about Talking about sexual violence, looking closely and helping those affected. The importance of empathetic and competent teachers for girls and boys who experience sexual violence is borne out by the victims' reports to the Independent Commission for Coming up with Child Sexual Abuse. Since 2016, this has been inviting people affected to tell their story and thus give testimony to sexual violence in parenting relationships.
The school is discussed in a conspicuously large number of reports. Those affected who have experienced sexual violence there, for example by a teacher or caretaker, see school as a crime scene. Other victims who have experienced violence in the family address school as a place of education and learning where their performance has deteriorated significantly or where they could draw their strength to survive from good school performance. After all, people affected also thematize schools as a shelter; more precisely, they report on individual teachers who have asked questions and sometimes helped them.
Since 2019, the commission has been working intensively on schools as a topic for reappraisal. She conducted workshop discussions in order to collect and evaluate experiences in school colleges with the processing of a violent school history on site, with the development and establishment of protection concepts in public schools or with research results on the practical knowledge of teachers. Important impulses also came from members of the student council. You suggested that those affected be invited to schools to talk about the topic. The long-term activity of an interdisciplinary working group "against sexual harassment of children and adolescents at the Bremen Senator for Children and Education" and their experiences with the intervention in schools sensitized the processing commission tothat sex education should be a core element of pedagogical work across all levels and as legally binding. The expertise of the Bremen Group, originally initiated at the instigation of the Central Parents' Advisory Board, makes it clear to what extent schools and those working there benefit from very well anchored and stable professional support and case processing in the event of sexual assault.