APPENDIX 4 TEMPLATE FOR DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION WHEN DISCOVERING HARMFUL SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR File format: docx (Microsoft Word) Pages: 1 File size: 15 kB Download file Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse

THE SCHOOL’S RESPONSIBILITY The Education Act Section 9A-4 (Obligation to act in order to ensure pupils a good psychosocial environment), states: “Everyone working at the school must keep an eye on the pupils to ensure they have a good psychosocial school environment, and if possible, intervene against violations such as bullying, violence, discrimination and harassment. (…) Everyone working at the school must inform the head teacher if they suspect or find out that a pupil does not have a good psychosocial school environment”. THE OBLIGATION TO ACT CONSISTS OF FIVE SUBSECTIONS: Obligation to pay attention (Investigate and observe to gather information on what occurred.) Have conversations with the pupils involved to better understand what happened, and support everyone involved. Obligation to intervene Obligation to notify the school management (principal) Obligation to investigate (investigate and observe to gather information on what occurred.) Obligation to implement measures (make a plan of action) THE SCHOOL MUST CREATE A WRITTEN PLAN WHEN MEASURES ARE TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN A CASE. THE PLAN MUST DESCRIBE: a) What problem the measures are to solve b) What measures the school has planned c) When the measures will be implemented d) Who is responsible for implementation of the measures e) When the measures will be evaluated. The school must document what will be done to comply with the obligation to act. You MUST abide by The Education Act Chapter 9A if you receive information or suspect someone is exposed (by other pupils) to, or exposes other pupils to problematic or harmful sexual behaviour. Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 4.5 The Schools responsibility RVTS Mid 00:00 / 01:57 «A need for observation and information gathering to ensure the correct actions are taken by adults.» - THE TRAFFIC LIGHT, P. 5 Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse

Knappetekst kommer her Høyrejustert 2.5 Om voksne og deres rolle i forhold til barns seksualitet 00:00 / 01:40 Venstrejustert PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF PROBLEMATIC AND HARMFUL SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE This e-learning is developed by RVTS Mid-Norway along with REBESSA (Regional resource team on children and young people displaying problematic and harmful sexual behaviour) with the intention of raising the level of competence about healthy and normal sexuality in children and young people, as well as be a guide to managing cases with children and young people displaying problematic or harmful sexual behaviour. Knowledge about children’s sexuality can help lessen the risk of children developing sexually harmful behavioural patterns, in addition to ensure signs of violations and assault are discovered early, enabling the implementation of necessary measures. ​ Many adults may harbour reservations about entering an arena where the child or young person’s sexuality is so clearly on display. This is exactly why it is important we provide concrete ways of understanding and managing such cases. Children and young people who display problematic and harmful sexual behaviours usually have quite tangled and complex motivations, and interagency cooperation is necessary for managing this successfully. ​ There are several terms for sexual behaviour leading to concerns or injury. It is often appropriate to describe the behaviour or action as violating or abusive. What term should be used depends on the context and the purpose behind using it. In this guide the terms problematic and harmful sexual behaviour are mainly used about everything outside the realm of good and healthy sexuality in children. We still would like to encourage being conscious of your choice of words, both to nuance sexual actions between children and prevent stigmatization and unnecessary stress for those involved. ​ We encourage using the guide actively and to set aside time in professional meetings for discussion and reflection around prevention and management of sexual offences. Every school should make their own guidelines with the names and addresses of their collaborators. The school management is especially responsible for this. INTENDED FOR: EVERYONE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE NEEDED: NONE ESTIMATED LENGTH: ABOUT 6 HOURS REQUIRED REGISTRATION: NO BEGIN PROJECT LEADERS The project leaders for this e-learning are RVTS Mid by Oddfrid Skorpe and Marita Sandvik. ​ The school guide was developed in cooperation with Kjersti Draugedalen, Kristin Larsen and Rebessa (Resource team on problematic and harmful sexual behaviour in children). Oddfrid Skorpe Marita Sandvik Listen to a read-aloud version of the text Prevention and managment of problematic and harmful sexual behaviour in children and youth RVTS Mid 00:00 / 02:24 Begin course Innholdsfortegnelse

GENDER AWARENESS Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 2.4 Gender awarness RVTS Mid 00:00 / 00:19 GENDER AWARENESS When they are 2-3 years old, children begin to understand the differences between boys and girls, and can identify as one or the other. It has traditionally been thought that everyone identifies as either a boy or a girl. We now know gender is a lot more diverse. Illustration: Jens A. Larsen Aas Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse

BEING MENTALLY AVAILABLE DURING CONVERSATIONS “Accommodating” children’s strong emotions and behavioural expressions requires us to stay calm and keep a lid on our own strong emotions and frustrations. This can prove difficult when children seem to reject and actively provoke you. The Window of Tolerance is a widely used metaphor which can help with resisting and regulating outbursts. Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 4.2 Being mentallty available during conversations RVTS Mid 00:00 / 00:27 Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse Dag Nordangers korte og enkle forklaring av toleransevinduet. Spilletid: 4:28

APPENDIX 3 Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 7.4 Appendix 3 Caring for the victim RVTS Mid 00:00 / 01:47 CARING FOR THE PERSON EXPOSED TO SEXUAL VIOLATIONS OR ASSAULT For someone who has been the victim of an assault it is crucial to be seen and believed. For that reason it is important to create a space where this person can decide for themselves what they wish to convey. Do not force anyone to go into detail. The “headlines” are usually enough. Tell the pupil you are glad they told you of the event(s), and that you want to help them so this never happens again. ​ Different people should be in charge of supporting the child exposed to violations or assault, and the adolescent who inflicted the violations or assault(s). ​ Provide comfort and support. Be attentive and ask open questions. “Tell me more about it” is often nice encouragement. Inform the child they can also receive help from the school nurse or a psychologist, to name a few. ​ Document questions and answers after speaking with the child. This can come in handy when planning how to follow up later. It will also be important to the Police if the event is being reported. ​ Don’t promise the pupil you will keep what they tell you to yourself. You can only decide if you should proceed with involving more people after having heard the pupil’s account. There is also a chance of your duty to avert coming into play. ​ If you need to involve other agencies, always let the pupil know what you are doing and why you are doing it. In the case of a police report, confer with the Police to find out what you can tell the pupil, and when. However, do not let this hinder you from being a steady source of support for the child or young person. Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse

LECTURER Oddfrid Skorpe is a psychology Ph.D. at RVTS Mid-Norway (Resource center for violence, traumatic stress and suicide prevention). She is also an associate professor at RKBU Mid. She is the coordinator of the National Competence Network on Children and Young People with Harmful Sexual Behaviour, the leader of editorial staff for the website seksuellatferd.no and coordinates Resource team for problematic and harmful sexual behaviour (REBESSA). SEXUAL JOY AND MASTERY The foundation for sexual happiness and mastery is laid when we are children, along with the security of deciding what happens to our own body. Our early experiences make up the foundation on which we form attachments and experience intimacy later in life. Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 2.1 Sexual joy and mastery RVTS Mid 00:00 / 00:21 What do you think of when I say the word “sexuality”? Or “sex”? If you’re like the rest of us, you probably think of intercourse. We know, however, that sexuality is more than sex, and sex is more than intercourse. The Norwegian Minister of Health has called it “a force”, but the World Health Organization goes into more detail; it is a basic need and aspect of being human, and can not be separated from other aspects of life. It is in the energy driving us to seek love, intimacy and warmth, and expressed through emotions and movement. Sexuality seeps through every aspect of our personality and being; it can’t be separated from the rest of our person. It all has to do with love; wanting to love someone, and wanting to be loved. Sexual development is spontaneous, meaning we don’t have to “activate” it – it just happens on its own. As with other types of development, we are predisposed to it biologically. However, we are also influenced by the environment we grow up in, and different people can learn from different cultural “manuals”. They can come from family, or be a larger part of the culture, but there are “manuals” to follow for nudity, sexuality and relations to others. The goal is to live in a society where our sexuality is acknowledged as something positive. For example, if a teenager is playing with their genitals, we don’t tell them “you need to stop that immediately”, but rather let it happen. Or, if the setting is inappropriate, turn their attention over to something else. This brings us to self-reflection, which is very important in regard to sexuality. How do you, as an adult, feel about your own sexuality? Is it difficult to talk about? Or can you easily speak and think about it? Does thinking about sexuality incite feelings of shame, or joy and excitement? How do you show respect and care towards yourself and others when it comes to sexuality? What does sexuality mean in your life? Becoming conscious of these things is a good step on the way to dealing well with the sexuality of children and young people. But what is sexuality to children? Pleasure, exploration and fun – which also characterize a healthy sexuality. The principles of other games and playing apply too; sexuality occurs and ends spontaneously between peers of a similar understanding and maturity, both physically and mentally. The participants often know each other, and everything should be voluntary with no discomfort or anxiety. It should also be easily disrupted, by adults or other things. To be concise: for infants, sexuality is about closeness and care, because they are forming bonds with their caregivers. When they become two years old, toddlers start noticing the differences between the sexes. An example of this was when a mother stepped out of the shower, and her barely-able-to-speak two-year-old stared intently at his mother’s genitals, before pointing and asking “gone?”. Children slowly become more knowledgeable. Take one of my favorite stories, for example, in which a four-year-old is about to become an older sister; her parents had found her a book about becoming an older sibling, and when her aunt came to visit, the four-year-old grabbed the book to show her what she’d learned. They sat down, and the girl explained, with all the wisdom of a four-year-old: “…and here you see the baby inside the plastic bag, and over there it’s eating cake from the placenta, yum yum.” Role playing is very typical, also for kindergarteners. They may pretend they’re a doctor and patient, or have one child lay on top of the other and move in a way they call “sexing”. This is, of course, immature knowledge. Children’s erotic actions do not have an end goal, unlike with adults. This is important to be aware of when observing them. The time will come when there is more meaning behind their actions, though the timing varies, since all children are different. However, reservations usually develop when they start school. They try to hide away from adults, be more discreet, while still thinking sex is gross. “Ugh, you having four kids means you’ve done it four times.” Children also adopt a mean language at this age, boys to a higher degree than girls, though we believe this, too, is a result of cultural influences. In addition to mean language, they develop an understanding of sexual orientation by learning about homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality, and other terms we use in accordance with orientation. Our society has gotten better at accepting and introducing these concepts, which has helped many children and young people learn about themselves, but there is still a way to go. Leading up to puberty, children become more conscious of how they are sexual beings. They have sexual fantasies and might get turned on. The realization hits that they are sexual and now want to know more: about romance, the world of adults and the world of teenagers. Exploration of their own body is common, along with girls beginning to masturbate. Puberty is characterized by a fascination for body, nudity, sex and sexuality. It’s all about what relation you have with yourself, and your relations with others. You seek to explore, both verbally and online. The phone is never far away, either. Adolescents don’t want to stand out in the wrong way, so they care about when it’s possible to start “doing things”, and what things they can do. They are still uncertain, though, and need knowledge from outside the world of porn and Ex on the Beach; having a penis as big as porn star is not normal. Neither is extreme ejaculation. We’re talking about a teaspoon here. And the clitoris is just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the clitoris is hidden under the skin on each side of the vagina. This is why girls enjoy being touched there, too! Another aspect of sexuality is romantic relationships. Having a partner attempt to control you is not good, and you are allowed to tell them “stop”. This, too, is all about relational competence. Adolescents in these situations are prone to asking friends or the internet, but do express that they wish adults had told them more about it and how to handle it. So, to summarize, sexuality is a part of us from we are born and until we die. It does not disappear, and for this reason I think becoming friends with our sexuality is beneficial. You, as an adult, can assist children and young people in doing exactly that. Oddfrid Skorpe, Rådgiver, Psykolog, ph.d. Read transcript Duration: 8:42

CARE FOR BOTH PARTIES INVOLVED Looking after both parties is imperative to preventing later problems. The party who committed the violations and the party exposed to them must not be left to themselves, but rather taken care of separately by reassuring adults. School staff (contact teacher, school nurse, etc.) will need to be freed up from other work to look after the pupils. Illustration: Jens A. Larsen Aas Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 5.6 Care for both parties involved RVTS Mid 00:00 / 00:25 Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse

7. LIST OF LITERATURE AND APPENDICES PAGES IN THIS CHAPTER LIST OF LITERATURE APPENDIX 1: EXAMPLE OF HOW TO MANAGE HARMFUL SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN PRIMARY SCHOOL APPENDIX 2: EXAMPLE OF HOW TO MANAGE PROBLEMATIC SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL APPENDIX 3: CARING FOR THE PERSON EXPOSED TO SEXUAL VIOLATIONS OR ASSAULT APPENDIX 4: TEMPLATE FOR DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION WHEN DISCOVERING HARMFUL SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR APPENDIX 5: SAFETY PLANS IN SCHOOL APPENDIX 6: SEXUAL OFFENCES APPENDIX 7: AID AGENCIES AVAILABLE FOR COOPERATION Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse

SEXUALITY IN SCHOOL The Knowledge Promotion Reform 2020 emphasizes public health and mastery of life as one of three multidisciplinary subjects in school. The pupils will receive competence which, among other things, promotes good mental health and gives them the opportunity to make responsible life decisions. Relevant parts of the subject are, among others, sexuality and gender, media use, establishing your own boundaries as well as respecting others’ boundaries, and managing thoughts, emotions and relations (Udir, 2019). Illustration: Jens A. Larsen Aas RESSURSER LINK: (Life Mastery in norwegian class rooms) Website https://www.linktillivet.no/ Play It Right Teaching tools describing how to talk to youth and young adults about sexuality. Book: Folkehelse og livsmestring i skolen Ringereide og Thorkildsen, RVTS South, PEDLEX. https://www.pedlex.no/artikkel/flm19/folkehelse-og-livsmestring-i-skolen/ Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 1.3 Sexuality in school RVTS Mid 00:00 / 00:40 Brain-based class leadership – a reflection 1.3 Brain-based class leadership RVTS Mid 00:00 / 09:40 In this audio recording you will hear special education teacher Kristin Larsen and teacher Kjersti Draugedalen’s reflections around “Brain-based class leadership”, and the importance of creating a safe environment for pupils in difficult situations. Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse Read a transcript of the audio recording Nils: Could we repeat how the different parts of the brain work. Kjersti: We are, in short, talking about this thing with the survival brain, the emotional brain and the logical brain. To learn we need the logical brain, but if we sense danger the survival brain will cut the connection to the logical brain. ​ Nils: Meaning scared people aren’t capable of learning? Kjersti: Exactly. ​ Nils: Why is this an important term to bring into schools? Why is that? Kristin: Because we meet different children with different challenges, and some of them can become really activated and end up outside of their tolerance window. If this happens, they won’t be able to respond to messages or learn from the teacher, unless we are aware of what happens when the survival brain cuts the logical brain off. ​ Nils: But communication goes both ways, so doesn’t this just as much apply to the teacher? Kjersti: Yes, it does. And the more assured and more in our window of tolerance we are, the better we can tune in on and regulate the pupils who need help. Unsafe pupils especially need safe people around them to regulate back into their tolerance window. ​ Nils: Are these thoughts newly introduced into schools, would you say? Kristin: It has been a relevant subject for a few years, but there are still many teachers who haven’t heard of it. ​ Nils: Are any teachers of the opinion that all the talk about trust and safety is a bit much, that there are too many niceties? Kjersti: It may seem that way, but it’s true what Kristin says, there is quite the focus on relations. Schools focus a lot on relational competence, but I think what happens when we teachers become uncertain, is the safety and close relationship disappear in favor of enforcing boundaries. We prioritize consequences over safety in the difficult situations. ​ Nils: This isn’t asking too much of the teacher? I personally find this hard to live by. Kristin: But if you don’t have a positive relationship the pupil won’t commit, and making agreements becomes difficult. This can in turn disrupt your lessons, which makes it very important to be aware of. Teachers get a master’s degree in mathematics because they want to teach the subject, so of course it’s natural to prioritize the lesson, but our job is to create a safe learning environment for everyone. ​ Nils: So if I understand this correctly, we require teachers to understand themselves intimately, to know “how to get back into my tolerance window” etc. Isn’t that almost superhuman? Kjersti: Yes, and I think this is one of the hardest things we do as humans; personal development, inspecting ourselves, finding areas we need help to improve on. For teachers this can be an incredibly difficult task, but then we need to look at how sexual assaults against children is a national public health problem. Schools have a unique opportunity to work on prevention at a grassroot-level through these relations, and the more children have safe relations to adults, the more they open up about difficult things in their lives. Building relationships is therefore the cornerstone of our work. At the same time, though, we have to be aware – and I know we ask a lot of teachers, but we have to be aware of the huge ethical responsibility that follows the profession. We carry children’s lives in our hands, watching over and protecting children from violations and hurtful experiences is a part our duty as teachers. ​ Nils: Where do teachers learn all this then? Kjersti: This is based on brain research from only the past few years, so we think teachers should be afforded the space to learn these new theories which can help us better approach children. ​ Nils: But also, teachers are in the first line (which does not need referral) when it comes to regulating unwanted sexual behaviour. They are also in the first line when it comes to encouraging normal sexual behaviour, so in some respects teachers are more important than parents, are they not? Kjersti: In many ways, yes, since they are leaders of a group. Parents and guardians deal with the individual child, but teachers have this unique opportunity to establish ground rules for an entire group of children. This, too, is completely dependent on building relations. The stronger your relation to every individual child in your class is, the easier it is to lay down boundaries and a framework for the group. And if a school is building these safe environments in every classroom, we’re talking about systemic universal prevention of unwanted behaviour – not just sexual, but every form of violating and challenging behaviour. Nils: Why is brain-based class leadership also relevant when talking about sex and sexualized behaviour? Kjersti: When you have a close relationship with a pupil who suddenly infringes on boundaries in some way, it’s natural to tell them “hey listen, you can’t do that” and model the behaviour we want to see instead; a good relation can withstand correction and guidance. However, a bad relation – or none – makes it almost impossible to correct a child who is overstepping boundaries. Nils: When we’re on the subject of good relations; if you are a dictatorial football coach you can sort of gain “good relations” by playing off of fear, but this isn’t actually good, is it? A good relation isn’t necessarily equal, but rather having communication go both ways. Is that right? Kristin: You can scare a child into silence, but it won’t last long; it’s not a long-term solution. You have to start at the bottom, build a relation with emotional equality and safety. Kjersti: I think if you, as a teacher, display this type of leadership, we achieve the opposite of what we want – no children will feel safe enough to talk about difficult things. These relationships are incredibly important, and I think you’re right in saying they should in some way be equal. I think pupils respect teachers who have proven themselves to be authentic, and aren’t afraid to say “we need to look into this” if they don’t know something. Kristin: It is also important to remember brain-based leadership and the tolerance window in the context of not just sexualized behaviour, but every kind of unwanted behaviour – sexual violations and other things like fighting should all be regulated the same way.

CONSULTATION The Child Welfare Service is responsible for coordination in cases about harmful sexual behaviour, and will hold a Consultation. The Consultation is held shortly after the behaviour has occurred, so that all parties gain a common understanding of what is to happen next. Suitable agencies to include – excluding the school (contact teacher, guidance counsellor, principal) – are PPT, family protection services, BUP, the Police, Statens Barnehus, general psychologist, Bufetat. Guardians are allowed in during the last part of the meeting. ​ The purpose of this meeting is to create a plan for the immediate future with everyone involved. Illustrasjon: Jens A. Larsen Aas Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 6.2 Consultation RVTS Mid 00:00 / 00:47 Listen to a read-aloud version of the reflection 6.2 The origin of the Consultation – a reflection RVTS Mid 00:00 / 01:22 In this recording you will hear Helle Kleive, psychology specialist at Resource unit V27/Betanien Bergen, speak on the origin of the Consultation. ​ V27 is a clinical resource unit for the BUP units in Helse Vest. It is connected to BUP at Betanien hospital. The target group of V27 is children and adolescents who display problematic or harmful sexual behaviour toward other children. The unit also offers training and guidance to professionals, authorities and agencies. Read a transcript of the audio recording Consultations were invented by me and a now retired colleague from E27, after half a year of working on the format. We were in Sweden in 2008, and they said: “we never start working a case like this without first calling a consultation”. There was an established routine where every authority was gathered, and then came up with a plan together. We didn’t have this in Norway, we had chaos, so me and my colleague based our idea on interprofessional team meetings, but changed it up a little. People were always talking over each other in those meetings, so we added a rigid structure and a clearly defined end product. This is how we made the Consultation, which is still in use today, I assume because of its effectiveness. The structure should work for more than just children and young people who have committed sexual violations, which is another reason I think it’s stuck around; it has a clearly defined structure, making it ideal for any number of situations.

SAFETY PLANS FOR SCHOOLS Safety measures are measures necessary to prevent repeated harmful behaviour, and which create a feeling of safety for the parties involved. The safety plan should cover areas with risk of repeated behaviour and contain comprehensive steps to ensure a safe school environment for everyone. The measures should be customized to the individual pupil; their age, the severity of their actions, and the current conditions of their school. ​ You need to be specific and concise when writing up measures, before integrate them into a plan conveying when and how the measures are to be implemented, and who is responsible for it happening. (See appendix “Safety plan”.) ​ The degree of supervision should continually be assessed, as pupils can find it stigmatizing to be closely supervised, and the child in question may feel alienated and exposed. This can also affect the child’s developing social competence, since they can’t interact with their classmates as usual. The fear of repeated sexual violations must not result in safety measures contradicting the Act of Education, for instance denying school entrance to pupils. ​ Safety measures requiring an increase in manpower are to be sent to the agency in charge to ensure execution and support. Previous Next Innholdsfortegnelse Listen to a read-aloud version of the text on this page 6.5 Safety plans for schools RVTS Mid 00:00 / 01:24