Re-visioning Education and Training for Child Protection Using a Public Health Approach

Abstract

Using the metaphor of ‘a journey of small steps’, this chapter examines the complex process of educating and training of staff in various institutions about how to best respond to child maltreatment. It conceptualises how a public health approach to professional education and training can be used to build capacity in the child protection workforce and thereby enhance child protection. Applying a public health approach involves a 4-step process anchored in the best available evidence, contextual and experiential evidence. These steps are used as a framework for this chapter’s four sections: (i) understanding education and training for child protection; (ii) identifying barriers and facilitators to education and training for child protection; (iii) developing and empirically testing education and training initiatives; and (iv) promoting widespread adoption of education and training initiatives.