Child protection in Schools [CHIPS]

In Austria and Germany, many schools are developing their own child protection concepts - initiated by legal requirements. Schools are spaces in which children seek recognition, safety and belonging, but also places where emotional violence - whether subtle or overt - can shape participation and exclusion. The CHIPS research project is interested in the experiences and sensemaking of school stakeholders in all-day schooling with regard to well- being and emotional violence. Furthermore, we analyze what role these play in the introduction of child protection concepts. This involves questions of recognition, justice and inclusion. In the project, we ask about norms and value judgements, negotiation processes, differentiations and normalizations. We ask to what extent categories of diversity among students (e.g. gender, ability, race, class) are made relevant in the context of well-being and emotional violence and what role these orders of difference may also play in legitimizing the actions of teachers and educational professionals. Empirically, we are conducting guideline- and case vignette-based interviews with students, teachers and educational professionals at four all-day elementary school in Vorarlberg (Austria) and Germany. By emphasizing the subjective perspective, the project aims to understand how child protection policy is not only implemented, but also perceived and lived in an international comparison. The project is led by Prof. Dr. Sophia Richter (University College of Teacher Education Vorarlberg, Austria) and Dr. Anne Piezunka (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany). The project is funded by the FWF and the DFG and is a sub-project of the DFG Collaborative Research Center 1750 [in:just] "Inclusion - Recognition - Justice. Participation and involvement in processes of growing up".