ABSTRACT
The bigger the school and classes, the more difficult it can be to provide students with adequate support and protection. The concept of inclusiveness is typically applied with respect to race, religion, gender and additional learning needs. Honouring and appreciating students’ diversity not only sends them a direct message of acceptance, but also communicates indirectly to those who are different in less identifiable ways that they will be nurtured within this school. The school’s hidden curriculum needs to be emotionally literate, where ‘emotions are recognized, understood and appropriately expressed by adults and children’. Families who are isolated and lacking in support are more prone to child abuse and neglect, while parents’ substance abuse is an increasing cause of the neglect of children. Sexual abuse involves the exploitation and coercion of children by someone more powerful than them. The main outcome of sexual abuse seems to be symptoms that resemble post-traumatic stress disorder.
