ABSTRACT
Schools are interesting places of contradiction. Many readers of this book will no doubt have first hand experience of working in schools and the particular experience that this brings. An observer of a lively play ground or busy staff room will see the public business of the school being acted out in countless day-to-day interactions between members of the school community. What may be less obvious is what lies below the surface in terms of the private worlds of individuals. The dynamic that pushes individuals to categorise aspects of their experience into either the public or the private domain is at the heart of sensitive issues in school contexts. Rowling (1996) provides a useful overview of the elements that constitute sensitive issues in schools, noting the central role of values as criteria for defining ‘sensitivity’. Each day, schools communicate a particular set of messages in terms of institutional values on a whole range of matters. There is a kind of expectation from many stakeholders in the enterprise ranging from parents to ‘the state’, that schools should be proactive in this function as being moral /spiritual arbiters in society.
