Page 11 - Professional Advisory: Professional Boundaries – An Advisory for Ontario Certified Teachers

• 86 per cent of all offenders were certified teachers
• grooming behaviour was identified in 70 per cent of the cases (excluding cases involving child pornography)
• victims were 75 per cent female (69 per cent high school, 17 per cent middle school, and 14 per cent elementary school), and 25 per cent male (69 per cent high school, 20 per cent middle school, and 11 per cent elementary school).
One aspect of grooming may be to identify and target children and students who
are needy, have low self-confidence or are isolated and/or living independently. Technology and social media may make grooming harder to detect.
“Grooming” isn‘t a term used in Ontario legis- lation and it is difficult to define because
it can include many different behaviours. However, it does appear in professional discipline matters, and elements of grooming behaviour are recognized in the Criminal Code. Offenders prepare students for sexual abuse later by gaining their trust, and sometimes the trust of the adults around them. It often begins with friendship, moves to touching (such as back rubs), escalates to sexual touching and creates emotional dependency leading to abuse.
“Grooming is a very deliberate and calculated process, although it can sometimes begin innocently enough if a teacher is conflicted about his or her role. A teacher may develop a relationship with a student with the best
of intentions, yet the teacher may become predatory and victimize the student to meet the teacher’s own needs. Once this stage is reached, the goal of the groomer is always very specific: to create a strong emotional
connection with a child as a way of gaining that child’s trust prior to initiating a sexual relationship.”10
Inappropriate behaviour may progress incrementally. In students, telltale signs may include regular absence from school, lying about whom they‘re spending time with and where, and being secretive about phone texts, calls or videos. Students who are emotionally vulnerable, struggling academ- ically or having problems with parents at home may be targeted.
Grooming behaviours may include fixating on one student, providing special privileges and gifts or attempting to become close to their family and friends, and telling sexually explicit jokes or discussing sexually explicit information while pretending to teach. The frequency and intensity of these actions are also warning signs.
One of the defining aspects of grooming is keeping secrets that separate a student from their peers. This may result in a student losing connection to peers and their family. The student may be blamed or told they are in trouble for what is occurring.
It‘s up to OCTs to heighten their awareness to protect students and prevent profes- sional assistance from becoming too personal. Behaviour that might not be considered criminal may become grounds for disciplinary action.
Social media and electronic communication
Used thoughtfully and appropriately,
new technologies enable OCTs to model digital citizenship for students and deliver curriculum in innovative and engaging ways.
10 BC College of Teachers magazine 2009
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