Sexual violence and children's rights: A mixed methods study of teachers' and students' perceptions of teaching practice in social science education
A key finding is that teachers rarely teach about harassment and abuse related to the young generation, and the students themselves report that they would like teachers to address these matters to a greater extent.
Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw
PhD Candidate
Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw has been following the PhD programme in Social Sciences, with a specialisation in Sociology and Social Work. She will defend her thesis entitled "Sexual violence and children's rights: A mixed methods study of teachers' and students' perceptions of teaching practice in social science education".
Summary of the thesis:
This doctoral thesis examines teachers' and students' perceptions of teaching practices related to harassment and abuse in upper secondary school in Norway. The thesis consists of three articles and the extended abstract. The research project is based on interviews with 64 social science teachers, and participatory research with two of these teachers to develop and implement teaching lessons about harassment and abuse with subsequent interviews of their students who took part in these lessons. A key finding is that teachers rarely teach about harassment and abuse related to the young generation, and the students themselves report that they would like teachers to address these matters to a greater extent. This points to a discrepancy between the kind of education students receive, and the kind of education students are entitled to. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, the right to education includes comprehensive sexuality education (cf. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 28). The thesis sheds light on how we can understand teachers’ reluctance to address harassment and abuse, particularly related to the young generation, and discusses both structural and emotional barriers that are of importance to such teaching practice; respectively, ambiguous curricula, teachers' interpretations of these curricula, organization of teaching practice and teachers' perceived lack of time, school culture, teachers' educational background and teacher training, cultural taboo and, last but not least, misunderstood care.
Facts about the doctoral defense
Date: 14 April 2023
Where: UiA, Campus Kristiansand, B2 003
Trial lecture: Kl. 10:15 - 11:00
Public defense: 12:15- 15:30.
Title of trial lecture: "How do children's rights and the "about, through and for" in human rights education relate to each other?"
About the candidate: Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw (born 1986 in Sarpsborg) has a Bachelor's degree in European and American Studies at the University of Oslo, and Master's degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Tromsø. She works as a researcher at the Institute for Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Oslo. At UiA she is connected to the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences.
Opponents
- Ann Quennerstedt Professor at Ørebros University.
- Claudia Lenz, Professor at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
- Administrator for the assessment committee: Ove Skarpenes, Professor at UiA
Dean, Anne Halvorsen, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Agder, will chair the disputation.
Supervisors
- Irene Trysnes, Associate Professor, UiA
- Pål Steinar Repstad, Professor emeritus, UiA
See how you can follow the public defense on campus or via Zoom.