Exploring teachers’ lived experiences of child-on-child harmful sexual behaviour at school: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Child-on-child harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) at school is highlighted in the literature, although very little is known about how teachers experience it. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to address this knowledge gap. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers from two special schools and one mainstream school. The proverb of the three wise monkeys was used as an analogy to aid sense-making and to capture the essence of the teachers’ lived experiences of child-on-child HSB, revealing it was not seen, heard or spoken about. Instead, HSB was accepted and expected as part of the special school day because it was not recognised and paid little attention to, whilst in the mainstream school, it was not recognised due to a lack of knowledge and understanding. A lack of training, support and the sharing of information compounded teachers’ fears for personal safety, careers and reputation. Implications for teachers and multi-agency professionals are discussed.