Child Abuse Review Vol.

22: 93107 (2013)

Published online 27 February 2013 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/car.2241

Are Malaysian Teachers Wan Yuen Choo*

Department of Social and Preventive

Ready to Assume the Medicine, University of Malaya and

Julius Centre University of Malaya,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Duties of Reporting Child Kerryann Walsh

Faculty of Education, Queensland
Abuse and Neglect? University of Technology, Queensland
Brisbane, Australia

Mary Joseph Marret

Mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting laws apply to teachers in many countries Department of Pediatrics, University of
of the world. However, such laws have not yet been introduced for teachers in Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Malaysia, and there is debate about whether the laws should be extended to teachers
at all. This paper aimed to investigate the level of support among teachers to assume
mandatory reporting duties and to identify factors determining this support in
Karuthan Chinna
Department of Social and Preventive
Malaysia. A total of 668 teachers from 14 randomly selected public primary schools Medicine, University of Malaya and
completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Results showed that 44.4 Julius Centre University of Malaya,
per cent of the respondents supported legislation requiring teachers to report child Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
abuse. Teachers of Indian ethnicity, those with a shorter duration of service in
teaching (< 5 years), the availability of knowledgeable and supportive school staff and Nai Peng Tey
a higher level of commitment to reporting were signicant factors affecting teachers
Department of Applied Statistics,
support for mandatory reporting. This study provides important insights into factors University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
inuencing teachers support for the introduction of mandatory reporting legislation for Malaysia
teachers in Malaysia. Teachers do not unanimously support these laws and there is a
lack of clarity about what such laws will mean for teachers. The data highlight the
need for specic training programmes to raise teachers awareness, build their
condence and enhance their willingness to report child abuse. Copyright 2013 44.4 per cent of the
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
respondents
KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES
Malaysia does not currently have mandatory child maltreatment reporting supported legislation
requirements for teachers. requiring teachers to
Factors inuencing teachers support for the introduction of mandatory reporting
include an attitude of commitment to the duty and the availability of other knowledge- report child abuse
able and supportive school staff.
There is a need for specic training programmes to raise teachers awareness,
build their condence, and enhance their willingness to engage with issues
relating to child maltreatment.

KEY WORDS: mandatory reporting; child abuse and neglect; teachers; Malaysia

Teachers and Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect Such laws exist in all
n many parts of the world, laws have been enacted to empower teachers and jurisdictions in the
I other professionals to identify and report child abuse and neglect (CAN)
(Mathews and Kenny, 2008). Such laws exist in all jurisdictions in the USA,
USA, Canada and
Australia
Canada and Australia. While not universally present in all Western countries,
their existence is certainly less common in non-Western countries (International

*Correspondence to: Wan Yuen Choo, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: ccwy@ummc.edu.my

Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted: 11 June 2012
94 Choo et al.

Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, 2010). The number
of cases brought to the attention of authorities or child protection services
each year by professionals in general and teachers in particular demonstrates
the importance of their role in mandatory reporting. National statistics
reported by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System in the
USA suggest that education personnel (16.5%) are the most common
reporters (329 823 cases) (US Department of Health and Human Services,
2010). In Canada, data from the third wave of the National Incidence Study
School personnel are revealed that school personnel are the second most common reporters,
the second most reporting 21 per cent of substantiated maltreatment cases (21 814 cases) with
an above average substantiation rate (Trocme et al., 2005). Data from
common reporters Australia revealed a similar pattern in which school personnel comprise
the second most common reporter group, accounting for approximately
1220 per cent of notications for all types of maltreatment (Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008). Unfortunately, comparative data are
not publicly available concerning the numbers and proportions of reports
made by teachers in countries such as the UK and New Zealand, which have
In Malaysia, reporting voluntary reporting by teachers. In Malaysia, reporting of CAN is also
voluntary for teachers. Data from Malaysias ofcial child protection
of CAN is also
agency reveal that schools (including preschools) annually report approximately
voluntary for teachers 2.2 per cent (61 cases) of the 2780 CAN cases reported nationwide (Department
of Social Welfare Malaysia, 2008).

Factors associated with Teachers Reporting of CAN

Studies have identied a range of factors associated with teachers reporting of
CAN. Key amongst these is a willingness to adhere to mandatory reporting
laws (Zellman, 1990; Crenshaw et al., 1995; Walsh et al., 2008). However,
identifying and reporting CAN is a complex task, and research shows that
teacherssupport for mandatory reporting varies. Some studies have documented
teachers objection to their mandatory reporting of child abuse. Kenny (2004)
found that 46 per cent of USA teachers strongly agreed that they should not be
mandatory reporters of child abuse. These views are likely to affect their
Studies in Australia compliance with reporting. In contrast, studies in Australia and New Zealand
have documented teachers approval of reporting. In one Australian study of
and New Zealand have
school personnel in a state with mandatory reporting, over 70 per cent of
documented teachers respondents agreed that teachers should always be required to notify the
approval of reporting authorities if they suspect that a child has been abused or neglected irrespective
of whether there was a legal requirement to do so (Hawkins and McCallum,
2001). In New Zealand, which has voluntary reporting laws, Rodriguez (2002)
found that educators supported the implementation of mandatory reporting laws
and were the professionals most likely to support the introduction of a full
mandatory reporting policy, with 92 per cent supporting either a full or a
partial policy.
Lack of awareness about signs and symptoms of child maltreatment, uncertainty
about what constitutes reasonable grounds for suspicion and unfamiliarity
with reporting procedures (Alvarez et al., 2004; Kenny, 2004) make it difcult
for teachers to identify and report suspected maltreatment (Crenshaw et al.,
1995). Teachers willingness to report CAN may be inuenced by a belief that
strong evidence is required before child protection services will initiate an
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 95

investigation. This can delay reporting (Zellman, 1990; Bryant and Baldwin,
2010; Feng et al., 2010). Lack of condence or faith in child protection
services resulting from previous experiences with these services has been Previous experiences
found to inuence subsequent reporting (Crenshaw et al., 1995; Bryant and
Baldwin, 2010). Additionally, in deciding whether to report or to not report, with these services
teachers weigh possible benets to the child or family of reporting, against has been found to
potential harm such as repercussions for the child and damage to their inuence subsequent
relationship with the family (Zellman, 1990; Beck et al., 1994; Kenny,
reporting
2004; Walsh et al., 2005). Fear that they may be sued by the family if they
make an inaccurate report can be a further barrier to reporting (Abrahams
et al., 1992; Kenny, 2004; Mathews et al., 2009). Fear exists despite provi-
sions within legislation for immunity from liability for reports made in good
faith (Abrahams et al., 1992; Mathews et al., 2006; Mathews and Kenny,
2008). Studies also suggest that these concerns may be mediated by teachers
work environments. Teachers working in schools where there is open
discussion about CAN and who are able to obtain support from their immediate
supervisor (Walsh et al., 2005; Goebbels et al., 2008) or from child protection
services (Svensson and Janson, 2008) are more likely to report. In addition,
school characteristics such as the number of students, number of teachers, type
of school and the availability of the child abuse reporting team may also
affect reporting (Webster et al., 2005; Walsh et al., 2008). Teachers reporting Teachers reporting is
is also inuenced by teacher characteristics such as gender (Crenshaw et al.,
1995; OToole et al., 1999), education level (OToole et al., 1999), parental
also inuenced by
status (OToole et al., 1999), years of teaching experience (Crenshaw et al., teacher
1995; OToole et al., 1999; Kenny, 2001) and past reporting experience characteristics such
(Crenshaw et al., 1995; OToole et al., 1999; Rodriguez, 2002).
as gender
Social and cultural values of communities may also inuence the personal
attitudes of professionals regarding what constitutes unacceptable behaviour
towards children and may affect their reporting behaviour. Studies of
teachers in the USA and elsewhere have found a negative relationship
between support for corporal punishment as a form of discipline and the
intention to report child abuse (Ashton, 2001; Kenny, 2004). This appears
to be more common in Asian societies (Dunne et al., 2008; Feng et al.,
2010) where there is a high prevalence and acceptance of physical discipline More common in
and the use of force to control or punish children (Tang, 2006; Choo et al., Asian societies where
2011a) despite the fact that violent and severe discipline at school is gener-
ally prohibited. This phenomenon may be the consequence of a higher level there is a high
of tolerance of these acts by parents and other adults, including teachers prevalence and
(Dunne et al., 2008). acceptance of
physical discipline
The Malaysian Context
and the use of force to
Malaysia is an upper middle-income Southeast Asian country with a multiethnic control or punish
and multilingual population of approximately 28.3 million, with 27.6 per cent
aged below 15 years (Economic Planning Unit Malaysia, 2011). Malays comprise
children
half of the total population (51.1%), followed by Chinese (22.6%), other indigen-
ous groups (11.7%), Indians (6.7%) and non-citizens and others (8.9%). Urbani-
sation is growing in Malaysia: today, approximately 71 per cent of the
population live in urban areas, compared with 28 per cent in 1970. Approximately
58.6 per cent of the population have completed secondary-level education.
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
96 Choo et al.

As in many countries, Malaysia has introduced a mandatory reporting law

Malaysia has under the Child Act 2001 that requires family members, child minders and
introduced a medical doctors to report CAN (Lembaga Penyelidikan Undang-Undang,
mandatory reporting 2005) but does not include teachers. In the absence of legislation, ofcial
government policy or regulations mandating teachers to report CAN, reporting
law under the Child by teachers remains voluntary.
Act 2001 The only available population-based data on the prevalence of child abuse in
Malaysia were derived from a school-based survey conducted in Selangor state.
In this study of 1892 school children from 20 randomly selected schools,
adolescents (aged 16 years) reported experiencing multiple forms of abuse both
within their homes and at school. Emotional and physical abuse was found to
be most prevalent (ranging from 1.8% to 72.3% depending on the type of
abusive acts), while at least three per cent reported having experienced penetrative
sexual abuse (Choo et al., 2011a). These data stand in contrast to ofcial incidence
data on reported cases of child abuse from Malaysias Department of Social
There were 2780 CAN Welfare, the government child protection agency, which shows that there were
cases reported 2780 CAN cases reported nationwide (Department of Social Welfare Malaysia,
2008). With a student population of approximately two million children in
nationwide Malaysian secondary schools alone (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2010), this
suggests a large gap between actual prevalence and ofcially reported incidence.
This disparity may be due to failures in recognising CAN, failures to report and
failures of agencies to respond to or substantiate CAN. Professionals and scholars
who have urged the Malaysian Government to consider the introduction of a
mandatory reporting system for teachers have met with little success (Jal Zabdi,
Almost 19 per cent of 2008; Alavi et al., 2012). Given that almost 19 per cent of the total Malaysian
the total Malaysian population of 28.3 million people attend preschool and primary and secondary
schools throughout the country (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2010;
population of 28.3 Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2010), schools are an important avenue for
million people attend active intervention to address the problem of CAN and for the provision of
preschool and primary prevention efforts. A signicant obstacle to further advancing calls for the
extension of mandatory reporting laws to include teachers is the lack of
and secondary
empirical research on this topic in non-Western countries generally, and Asian
schools societies in particular (Feng et al., 2010, and Haj-Yahia and Attar-Schwartz,
2008, notwithstanding).
This study makes an important contribution to understanding teachers
perceptions of child maltreatment reporting laws in countries in which their
reporting remains voluntary. This is important because voluntary reporting
exists in many of the worlds most populated countries including Southeast
Asian countries. This study aims to investigate the level of support among
teachers to assume mandatory reporting duties and to identify factors
May serve as a basic determining this support. It may serve as a basic model for research of this
model for research of type in similar nations.
this type in similar Methods
nations
Data Collection
The national public schools in Malaysia provide education for children aged
seven to 12 years and are funded by the government. The cross-sectional sur-
vey was conducted in 14 randomly selected national public schools covering
both rural and urban regions of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The data were
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 97

collected from July to October 2010. The Malay-language questionnaire was

distributed to the schools. All teachers were invited to participate. Teachers
volunteered to complete the anonymous self-administered questionnaire in a
single session. Of a total of 1081 questionnaires, 668 were returned by teachers,
668 were returned by
representing a response rate of 61.9 per cent. Fifteen cases were excluded from
analysis due to missing and outlying data. Prior to the main survey, a small-scale teachers, representing
pilot was conducted with a convenience sample of 20 teachers. The average a response rate of 61.9
length of time to complete the questionnaire was 30 to 45 minutes. per cent
The questions used in the survey consisted of items derived from a
previous survey (Walsh et al., 2012) and a comprehensive literature review
conducted by the research team. Survey components included are presented
in Table 1.

Ethical Consideration
Permission to conduct the research was obtained from the Selangor Department
of Education, under the Ministry of Education. Ethical clearance was granted
by the University of Malaya Medical Ethics Institutional Review Board. Partici-
pating schools gave written consent for school participation and provided an
approval letter for the conduct of the survey. Individual teachers participation Individual teachers
in the survey was voluntary. Completion and return of the questionnaire indicated participation in the
each teachers consent to participate in the research. Teachers who completed the
questionnaire were given a small souvenir as a token of appreciation for their survey was voluntary
participation. No complaints or adverse events were recorded.

Statistical Analysis
Data were analysed using SPSS Version 15.0. Descriptive analyses were
performed to obtain frequency, proportions, means and standard deviations.
For comparing two categorical variables or more, the Fisher exact test and
the chi-square test were used. Univariate logistic regressions were performed
and all variables with p < 0.25 were entered for multivariate analysis (Hosmer Multivariate logistic
and Lemeshow, 2000). Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine
regression was used to
independent predictors of teachers support for legislative mandatory reporting
laws, after adjusting for confounders. The nal model included all variables determine independent
with p < 0.05. The crude and adjusted odd ratios and 95 per cent condence predictors of teachers
intervals were calculated. support

Results

Table 2 displays the demographic characteristics of the study sample. The

respondents were aged between 19 and 60 years (mean age = 35.3, SD = 9.04)
and predominantly female (81.9%). Female teachers make up approximately
69 per cent of all primary school teachers in Malaysia (Ministry of Education
Malaysia, 2010), therefore female teachers are over-represented in this study.
The participants nominated their ethnic afliation as 46.6 per cent Malay,
29.8 per cent Chinese and 23.6 per cent Indian ethnicity. Approximately 44.2
per cent were degree holders, 39 per cent diploma holders and the remaining
had secondary education only. The respondents had worked as teachers for
an average of 11.2 years (SD = 9.08). Slightly more than a quarter of the
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
98 Choo et al.
Table 1. Description of key variables and its components
Key variables
i) Demographic variables
ii) Past training on child abuse
and neglect
iii) Availability of staff who
were supportive
Six items where
iv) Communication with children
about child abuse
teachers were asked if
they had ever
discussed child abuse
with school children, v) Experience with reporting
especially sexual child abuse and neglect
vi) Teacher reporting attitude
abuse scale (TRAS)
vii) Knowledge on child abuse
reporting guideline or policy
viii) Self-efcacy regarding reporting
ix) Perceived knowledge to detect
x) Teachers support for mandatory
reporting
Only 7.7 per cent
reported receiving any
type of training about
teachers were in service for less than ve years (26.7%). Only 7.7 per cent
child abuse in their reported receiving any type of training about child abuse in their pre-service
pre-service curriculum, and fewer still (4.2%) indicated they had received training on child
curriculum abuse during their teaching service.
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Description of components
Respondents age, gender, educational attainment, marital status,
ethnic group, occupational history, years in teaching service and
parental status
Measured teachers training prior to and during their teaching
service (response of yes/no)
Staff that the respondent could call upon for discussion on abuse in
the school (response of yes/no)
Six items where teachers were asked if they had ever discussed
child abuse with school children, especially sexual abuse (response
options yes/no). Follow-up questions gathered additional
information concerning the year of schooling in which the
discussion took place (response options were year 1 to year 6) and
reasons for not discussing this. Teachers were also asked to rate
their level of agreement with the teaching of sex education in
schools (response options were yes/no) and to provide reasons why
they would or would not support sex education
Teachers experience in reporting suspected child abuse and neglect
during their career (response of yes/no)
A validated short-form Malay version of the TRAS was used
(Choo, 2011; Choo et al., 2012) an 8-item scale with 4-factor
subscales collecting information about specic attitude
components rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (from strongly
agree to strongly disagree). The 4 subscales include: i) concern
teachers personal concerns about reporting (a = 0.826); ii)
commitment their commitment to and understanding of their
professional role and responsibility as reporters (a = 0.821); iii)
value teachers underlying values about the importance of
reporting (a = 0.901); and iv) condence teachers condence
in the effectiveness of the child protection reporting system.
Subscales were summed creating separate scores for concern,
commitment, value and condence (a = 0.576)
Two items tested this knowledge: Does the Ministry of Education
have a formal policy under which teacher must report suspected
child abuse and neglect? and Is there a Ministry of Education
guideline on reporting suspected child abuse and neglect that
teachers could refer to? (response choices were yes/no/dont
know). Correct responses were No for both items. No responses
were scored as 1. Yes and Dont know responses were scored as
0. Two variable categories were derived from these data: those who
scored 0 were categorised as incorrect knowledge and those who
scored 1 as correct knowledge
Assessed teachers level of condence to identify child abuse and
neglect rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = not at all condent
to 5 = very condent). Two categories were derived from these data:
low condence versus high condence
Assessed teachers self-perceived levels of knowledge on the signs
and symptoms of child abuse and neglect using a 5-point Likert-type
scale (1 = no knowledge to 5 = very high knowledge). The responses
were collapsed into two main categories: low knowledge versus
high knowledge
Measured via teachers responses to the statement that Teachers
should be required by legislation to report any child abuse and
neglect in Malaysia (response options were agree/do not agree/
unsure). Two categories were derived from these data. The do not
agree and unsure categories were collapsed into one group as the
latter category had a very small sample size, and it was assumed
that those who were unsure were more likely to be qualitatively
similar to those who disagreed than those who agreed
Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 99

Table 2. Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents

Socio-demographic Number of respondents Percentage of sample (%)

Gender
Male 119 18.1
Female 538 81.9
Ethnicity
Malay 284 43.5
Chinese 227 34.8
Indian 141 21.6
Education level
Secondary 112 17.2
Diploma 258 39.8
Undergraduate degree or higher 279 43.0
Age
< 35 years 350 55.8
35 years 277 44.2
Years of service
< 5 years 172 26.7
510 years 199 30.9
> 10 years 272 42.3
Have own children as parent or guardian 432 65.7
to children
Ever received child abuse and neglect 51 7.7
training during pre-service training
Ever received child abuse and neglect 28 4.2
training during service

Awareness of Reporting Requirements and Self-Efcacy towards Reporting

A large proportion of teachers (87.9%) incorrectly stated that the Ministry
of Education had a policy requiring teachers to report CAN. Approximately
87.9 per cent
two-thirds (69.3%) erroneously thought a guideline on reporting CAN existed incorrectly stated that
for teachers. The majority (85.2%) felt that CAN was a serious problem in the Ministry of
Malaysia. The respondents had low levels of condence in their own ability
Education had a policy
to detect signs and symptoms of child abuse (69.3%). This gure corresponds
closely with the 75.5 per cent who reported themselves as not having enough requiring teachers to
knowledge to detect signs and symptoms of child abuse. report CAN
Availability of Support for Teachers Reporting Suspected Abuse Cases
In this survey, less than half of the respondents (45.8%) reported that they had
colleagues with whom they could discuss and obtain information about
suspected child abuse cases. This result suggests that the availability of supportive
staff to act as advisors in suspected child abuse cases is suboptimal.

Reporting Experiences
Of the respondents, only 3.2 per cent had ever reported child abuse. The mean
number of reports per teacher for these 21 teachers was 1.4 (SD = 0.63). Nearly Nearly 5.2 per cent of
5.2 per cent of the respondents said they had suspected child abuse which they the respondents said
did not report, that is, they had failed to report. In response to a follow-up they had suspected
question regarding whether they would report the case if the law required
teachers to do so, 86.7 per cent conceded they would.
child abuse which they
did not report
Communicating with Children about Abuse
Most teachers did not provide information about or discuss child abuse with
their students. Only 23.9 per cent reported that they had ever done so. Teachers
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
100 Choo et al.

were more likely to discuss sexual abuse with year six students (aged approxi-
mately 12 years and enrolled in their nal year in primary school) than younger
students. The teachers main reasons for not providing information on sexual
abuse to school children were the lack of any appropriate reference for teaching
the subject (43.8%) and the absence of allocated time or a specic subject in
which this topic could be included (41.7%). Respondents also felt that the
children were too young to understand the subject (39.8%).

Teachers Support for Mandatory Reporting

Approximately 44.4 Approximately 44.4 per cent of the respondents supported legislation requiring
teachers to report child abuse. The remaining teachers either disagreed with the
per cent of the
proposal or were unsure. Analysis of the factors determining teachers support
respondents for mandatory reporting are presented in Table 3. At the bivariate level, the
supported legislation number of years in the teaching profession (p = 0.003), the availability of sup-
requiring teachers to portive staff in schools (p < 0.001) and the teachers commitment towards
reporting (p < 0.001) were signicantly associated with teachers support for
report child abuse

Table 3. Final model on factors associated with teachers support for mandatory reporting using multiple
logistic regression
Support mandatory Crude odds ratio Adjusted odds ratio
Variable reporting (%) N = 653 (95% CI) (95% CI)
Gender
Male 42.9 1.00
Female 45.2 1.10 (0.711.71)
Ethnic group
Malay 44.0 1.00
Chinese 40.2 0.85 (0.55-1.31) 0.82 (0.50-1.35)
Indian 50.7 1.31(0.86-1.99) 1.66 (1.04-2.65)*
Educational attainment
Secondary 45.5 1.00
Diploma 44.8 0.97 (0.57-1.64)
Undergraduate and higher 44.4 0.96 (0.57-1.61)
Age
< 35 years 45.5 1.00
35 or more 43.9 0.94 (0.66-1.34)
Years in service
> 10 years 41.5 1.00
510 years 38.9 0.88 (0.58-1.34) 0.91 (0.58-1.42)
< 5 years 56.9 1.86 (1.21-2.88) 1.93(1.20-3.12)*
Having own children or
guardian
No 48.4 1.00
Yes 43.0 0.80 (0.55-1.17)
Past training on child abuse
No 44.3 1.00
Yes 46.8 1.11 (0.61-2.02)
Availability of staff who were
supportive
No 37.5 1.00
Yes 53.1 1.87 (1.32-2.69) 1.59 (1.07-2.37)
Communication with school
children about child abuse
No 45.0 1.00
Yes 45.1 1.00 (0.67-1.48)
Previous experience in
reporting child abuse
No 44.2 1.00
Yes 62.5 2.11 (0.75-5.88)

Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 101

Self-efcacy regarding reporting

Low condence 42.5 1.00
High condence 50.0 1.35 (0.93-1.96)
Perceived knowledge to detect
Low 45.8 1.00
High 42.2 0.86 (0.58-1.29) 1.43 (0.94-2.19)
Knowledge on child abuse reporting guideline or policy
Incorrect 44.9 1.00
Correct 48.1 1.14 (0.65-2.00)
Perceived seriousness of child abuse
Not serious 60.0 1.00
Serious 45.2 0.55 (0.27-1.11) 0.51 (0.24-1.10)
Attitudes toward reporting
Concern 0.96 (0.87-1.06) 0.97 (0.87-1.07)
Belief 0.89 (0.76-1.04) 0.87 (0.73-1.03)
Condence 0.92 (0.82-1.02) 0.90 (0.81-1.02)
Commitment 1.41 (1.21-1.66) 1.35 (1.15-1.59)**
Signicant at *p < 0.05; **p < 0.001.

mandatory reporting. In terms of attitudes, none of the subscale variables was

signicantly related to support for mandatory reporting except commitment
towards reporting.
Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that ethnicity, which was not a
signicant predictor at the bivariate level, became signicant after adjusting for
other variables. Specically, Indian ethnicity was associated with a 66 per cent Indian ethnicity was
increase in the odds of a teacher being likely to support mandatory reporting associated with a 66
legislation for teachers. The number of years in teaching service, the availability
of supportive school staff and the level of commitment to report continued to per cent increase in
make a signicant contribution in the adjusted model. This is displayed in Table 3. the odds of a teacher
A shorter duration of service in teaching (< 5 years) was associated with a being likely to support
two-fold increased odds of supporting mandatory reporting. Having supportive
staff in school greatly increased the odds of teachers supporting mandatory mandatory reporting
reporting by 59 per cent. The attitude component, commitment, remained
statistically signicant in the adjusted model, indicating that a unit increase on
the mean commitment rating score was associated with a 38 per cent increase in
the odds of a teacher being in the category which supports mandatory reporting.

Discussion

This study aimed to investigate the level of support among teachers to assume
mandatory reporting duties and to identify factors determining this support.
The study was undertaken in Malaysia where teachers are not currently mandated
to report child maltreatment and where there is a paucity of research on this topic.
This study is one of the rst studies to examine issues related to teachers child This study is one of
maltreatment reporting in Asian countries. the rst studies to
examine issues
Support for Mandatory Reporting
related to teachers
The ndings suggest that less than half of the respondents in this sample of child maltreatment
Malaysian teachers support mandatory reporting. This nding is similar to
Kennys (2004) study conducted in Florida, USA, where it was found that 46 reporting in Asian
per cent of teachers strongly agreed that teachers should not be mandatory countries
reporters. However, the context of Kennys (2004) study is somewhat different
in that these teachers were already mandated to report. It may be more relevant
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
102 Choo et al.

to make comparisons with earlier studies conducted in the USA prior to the
introduction of legislation on mandatory reporting. However, these data are
not readily available. In comparison with an earlier study in New Zealand
which has voluntary reporting similar to Malaysia, only eight per cent of
teachers surveyed were against the introduction of mandatory reporting
(Rodriguez, 2002).

Factors inuencing Support for Mandatory Reporting

This study has identied a range of key factors inuencing the teachers level of
support for mandatory reporting. First, ethnicity appears to be an important
determinant. Teachers of Indian ethnicity were more likely to support mandatory
reporting than other ethnic groups. This could be a reection of differences in
cultural perceptions between these populations. Cultural background may
inuence an individuals perception of maltreatment or willingness/unwillingness
to report it. Research conducted on populations with an ethnic majority of
Various aspects of Chinese suggests that various aspects of cultural traditions and moral principles
cultural traditions and may inuence willingness to report. These include views that children are
considered to be the property of their parents, the belief that children should
moral principles may always obey and defer to adults, taboos against speaking negatively against ones
inuence willingness family, the importance of protecting the family from shame and the principle of
to report non-interference by outsiders in internal family matters (Tang, 2006; Feng
et al., 2010). While similar values are shared by other Asians including traditional
Malay and Indian communities, it is possible that teachers from the Indian
community may be more willing to forgo these traditional views or accord them
a lower priority when the safety and wellbeing of children are at stake. However,
there is a lack of empirical data from cross-cultural research to validate
this assumption. Further qualitative research may be useful to determine the
underlying reasons. Another possible explanation is that there may be disparities
between ethnic groups with regard to familiarity with organised public efforts to
identify child maltreatment and protect children.
Second, Malaysian teachers with fewer years working experience were more
willing to support mandatory reporting than their more senior counterparts. This
may be attributed to the fact that teachers with fewer years experience have a
youthful view that reports to authorities via mandatory reporting should make
a difference. They are more likely to be younger and unencumbered by negative
experiences with child protective services or with other reporting-related issues.
More senior staff may have longer exposure to a broader range of experiences
Junior staff may have either directly or through their colleagues. Junior staff may have fewer personal
fewer personal considerations about their reputation in the community and their relationship
with the parents of abused children, and could be more likely to oppose normative
considerations about conceptions that would affect their considerations about reporting CAN
their reputation in the (Haj-Yahia and Attar-Schwartz, 2008).
community Third, in this study, the availability of supportive school staff to discuss any
suspected cases of CAN appears to be a signicant predictor of teachers
support for legislation requiring teachers to report. This result concurs with
previous ndings that teachers who did not receive sufcient support, either
from their own colleagues or from other professionals, were most likely to fail
to report (Baginsky, 2007; Svensson and Janson, 2008). Walsh et al. (2005)
found that teachers working in schools where there was open discussion about
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 103

CAN considered that fewer children would be harmed by their reports. It is

possible that in a supportive environment teachers would be more likely to
discuss their doubts on ambiguous or suspected cases, to hear a range of anec-
dotes from their colleagues and become more informed about the potential out-
comes of reports for children. This knowledge could be used to weigh these
potential outcomes in deciding whether to report or to not report.
Fourth, it is hardly surprising that teachers who support mandatory reporting
were found to have greater commitment to reporting. Alvarez and colleagues
(2004) suggested that many professionals have personal motivations that
encourage or prevent them from reporting cases of child maltreatment. Greater
commitment to reporting among teachers may arise from various reasons. Pro-
fessional and moral responsibility may be a contributing factor. On the other Professional and
hand, it has been found that some professionals are reluctant to report for other moral responsibility
reasons (Bunting et al., 2010). These include their unwillingness to be involved
in the professional process of reporting, feeling uncomfortable with the process,
may be a contributing
nding it time-consuming, prior negative experiences in dealing with child pro- factor
tection services, lack of support and concerns about physical or legal retalia-
tion by the perpetrator of maltreatment or family members (Kenny, 2004;
Bryant and Baldwin, 2010). However, there is little evidence that the chil-
drens families or the perpetrators of maltreatment will show any tendency to
sue professionals (Steinberg et al., 1997).

Knowledge of Reporting Requirements

Interestingly, a signicant majority (88%) were unsure about the specic legal and
Interestingly, a
policy requirements for a teacher with regard to reporting of CAN. It is unclear
why Malaysian teachers believed they had a legal obligation to report all types signicant majority
of CAN when in fact there was no legislation or regulation requiring them to do (88%) were unsure
so. The teachers inaccurate interpretation of their legal responsibilities in relation about the specic legal
to reporting CAN have not been reported elsewhere in the literature except one
study conducted in Queensland. Walsh et al. (2005) found that 86.5 per cent of and policy
teachers believed that they had a legal responsibility to report CAN, although requirements
mandatory reporting for teachers was not implemented at the point when the study
was conducted. This may be linked to the nding that almost all teachers in that
study felt that they had a moral and professional responsibility to report CAN.

Knowledge of the Indicators of CAN

The majority of teachers in this study lacked knowledge about the indicators of
CAN and lacked condence in recognising the problem. These ndings are not
unexpected as very few of them had received training on the subject prior to or Very few of them had
during their period of service and this may explain the low reporting rate (3.2%). received training on
Reporting Behaviour
the subject prior to or
during their period of
One in every 20 teachers surveyed in this study reported that they had decided
not to report cases where they believed abuse may have occurred. Although service and this may
they reasonably suspected abuse or neglect and judged that it had occurred, this explain the low
judgment did not exceed their threshold to take action by reporting. The reporting rate
reasons for this are unclear. However, prior research has revealed a range of
possible reasons such as nding the process time-consuming, insufcient
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
104 Choo et al.

evidence, concerns that children may be harmed, the fear of being sued and
lack of condence in child protection services (Zellman, 1990; Kenny, 2004;
Walsh et al., 2005; Feng et al., 2010). Interestingly, most teachers (86.7%)
indicated that they would report if there was legislation compelling them to
report. This nding demonstrates that mandatory reporting legislation for
teachers may be necessary in Malaysia to increase commitment towards reporting.

Communicating with Children about Sexual Abuse Prevention

There is a general lack of discussion between teachers and their students on
issues regarding child abuse particularly sexual abuse. In this study, only one
in every ve teachers had ever discussed this with their students. This is not
Open discussion surprising for a number of reasons. Open discussion about any matters relating
about any matters to sex continues to be an issue which impinges on cultural sensitivities. While
teachers in this study agreed that it is important to introduce sexual education
relating to sex in schools, the issue on when it should be introduced in the curriculum remains
continues to be an contentious. Many felt that primary school children were too young to be exposed
issue which impinges to the topic. This may be due to the Asian tradition of sexual conservatism and
cultural norms that frown upon sexual activity at an early age (Chen et al.,
on cultural 2004). Tang and Yan (2004) found that there was much resistance from adults to
sensitivities child sexual abuse prevention programmes and discussing sexual issues with
children in Hong Kong, due to the social discomfort surrounding sexuality and
sexual communication in the community. There is also much pressure to protect
the family from shame. Therefore, victims and family members of child abuse
are often reluctant to report abuse (Tang and Yan, 2004).

Limitations and Strengths

Interpretation of the results must be considered in the light of the following
limitations. First, generalisability of the results may be limited as the samples
came from one state and may not be representative. Second, the data were
based on retrospective and self-report data that are likely to be subjected to
recall bias. Information, particularly teachers socio-demographic background
and their reporting experience, was not veried using other sources, such as
the National Registration Department, the Department of Social Welfare and
police or hospital records. This study could not examine the extent to which
prevailing attitudes are predictive of actual behaviour based on self-report.
Child abuse is a Third, child abuse is a sensitive topic and thus social desirability bias may also
sensitive topic and exist. However, such bias might not have substantially affected the data as the
survey was anonymous. Given that the survey was anonymous, it was not
thus social desirability possible for us to determine whether respondents differed from non-respondents
bias may also exist demographically or on any of the studys key variables. However, a major
advantage of this study is the high response rate (61.9%) compared to that
in many other reported studies (Bryant, 2009; Feng et al., 2010). With
cross-sectional data, it is not possible to exclude the alternative interpretation
that detection and reporting inuences teachers ratings of their skills, com-
munication with children about abuse, perceptions of support and attitudes
toward reporting. Future research would benet from longitudinal studies,
which track detection and reporting over time to enable identication and
determination of the factors that precede these behaviours. Qualitative
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 105

research would be helpful to elicit information about the ethnic differences in

perceptions of punishment and attitudes toward reporting among teachers. In
addition, other information on Malays, Chinese and Indians views on adher-
ence to teachers roles, conformity to norms, shame, self-control and spiritual
beliefs would facilitate understanding of how these values impact on report-
ing attitudes.

Conclusion

The results of this study provide much-needed insights into the nature and
complexity of teachers awareness, attitudes and willingness to report child
abuse in Malaysia. They also provide information about substantial barriers
that have to be overcome before the introduction of laws that require manda-
tory reporting of child abuse by teachers. The lack of willingness of teachers
themselves to embrace this role indicates that efforts to extend mandatory
reporting to teachers are likely to meet with resistance from them. On the other
hand, it is necessary to have such a law to protect children, and to increase the
commitment of teachers to report as they spend a considerable amount of time
with the children. Finally, there is a need to equip teachers for this role with There is a need to
specic training programmes and to improve available supports in their equip teachers for this
working environment prior to the introduction of legislation including them
as mandatory reporters of CAN. role with specic
training programmes

Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the Malaysian Ministry of Education, Selangor

state Department of Education and various schools for study approval, and
the University of Malaya (grant no: RG017/09HTM) for funding support. Dr
Kerryann Walsh was supported by a Queensland University of Technology
Vice Chancellors Research Fellowship (201012). We thank Pathma Devi
Veerasingam and Lee Sian Boy for their assistance in data collection, and
Rajeswari Karuppiah for assistance in data entry.

References

Abrahams N, Casey K, Daro D. 1992. Teachers knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about child
abuse and its prevention. Child Abuse & Neglect 16(2): 229238.
Alavi K, Amin AS, Subhi N, Mohamad MS, Sarnon N. 2012. Kerja sosial di sekolah:
Memahami dan menangani penderaan kanak-kanak (Social Work at School: Understanding
and Dealing with Child Abuse). Jurnal e-bangi 7(1): 1737.
Alvarez KM, Kenny MC, Donohue B, Carpin KM. 2004. Why are professionals failing to initiate
mandated reports of child maltreatment, and are there any empirically based training programs
to assist professionals in the reporting process? Aggression & Violent Behavior 9(5): 563578.
Ashton V. 2001. The relationship between attitudes toward corporal punishment and the perception
and reporting of child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect 25: 389399.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2008. Child Protection Australia 200607. Child
Welfare Series no. 43. Cat. no. CWS 31. AIHW: Canberra.
Baginsky M. 2007. Schools, social services and safeguarding children. Past practice and future
challenges. NSPCC: London.

Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
106 Choo et al.

Beck KA, Ogloff JRP, Corbishley A. 1994. Knowledge, compliance, and attitudes of teachers toward
mandatory child abuse reporting in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Education 19(1): 1529.
Bryant JK. 2009. School Counselors and Child Abuse Reporting: A National Survey. Professional
School Counseling 12(5): 333342. DOI: 10.5330/PSC.n.2010-12.333
Bryant JK, Baldwin PA. 2010. School counsellors perceptions of mandatory reporter training
and mandatory reporting experiences. Child Abuse Review 19(3): 172186.
Bunting L, Lazenbatt A, Wallace I. 2010. Information sharing and reporting systems in the UK
and Ireland: Professional barriers to reporting child maltreatment concerns. Child Abuse
Review 19(3): 187202. DOI: 10.1002/car.1076
Chen JQ, Dunne MP, Han P. 2004. Child sexual abuse in China: a study of adolescents in four
provinces. Child Abuse & Neglect 28(11): 11711186.
Choo WY. 2011. Teachers Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect: The Case of Primary
Schools in Selangor. Unpublished MAppStats, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (191 pp).
Choo WY, Dunne M, Marret MJ, Fleming M, Wong YL. 2011a. Victimization Experiences of
Adolescents in Malaysia. Journal of Adolescent Health 49(6): 627634.
Choo WY, Walsh K, Karuthan C, Tey NP, Marret MJ. 2012. Teacher Reporting Attitudes Scale
(TRAS): Conrmatory and exploratory factor analyses with a Malaysian sample. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1177/0886260512454720
Crenshaw WB, Crenshaw LM, Lichtenberg JW. 1995. When educators confront child abuse: an
analysis of the decision to report. Child Abuse & Neglect 19(9): 10951113.
Department of Social Welfare Malaysia. 2008. Statistics Report. Available: <URL>http://www.
jkm.gov.my/ [11 August 2011].
Department of Statistics Malaysia. 2010. Population and Housing Census, Malaysia 2010
(2010 Census). Available: <URL>http://www.statistics.gov.my [11 August 2011].
Dunne MP, Chen JQ, Choo WY. 2008. The evolving evidence base for child protection in
Chinese societies. Asia Pacic Journal of Public Health 20(4): 267276.
Economic Planning Unit Malaysia. 2011. Malaysia: The Millenium Development Goals at 2010.
United Nations Country Team, Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur.
Feng JY, Huang TY, Wang CJ. 2010. Kindergarten teachers experience with reporting child
abuse in Taiwan. Child Abuse & Neglect 34(2): 124128.
Goebbels AF, Nicholson JM, Walsh K, De Vries H. 2008. Teachers reporting of suspected
child abuse and neglect: behaviour and determinants. Health Education Research
23(6): 941951.
Haj-Yahia MM, Attar-Schwartz S. 2008. Attitudes of Palestinian pre-school teachers from Israel
towards reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. Child & Family Social Work
13(4): 378390.
Hawkins R, McCallum C. 2001. Mandatory notication training for suspected child abuse and
neglect in South Australian schools. Child Abuse & Neglect 25(12): 16031625.
Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S. 2000. Applied logistic regression, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons:
New York.
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. 2010. World Perspectives
on Child Abuse, 9th ed. West Chicago, Illinois.
Jal Zabdi MY. 2008. Tugas Untuk Melaporkan Kes Penderaan atau Pengabaian Di bawah Akta
Kanak-Kanak 2001: Kenapakah Guru Perlu Dimasukkan Sebagai Pelapor Statutori?
(The duty of reporting suspected child abuse and neglect under Child Act 2001: Why
should be required as mandated reporters?). Paper presented at the Seminar Kebangsaan
Undang-Undang Kanak-Kanak 2008, Primula Hotel Terengganu, 13 Julai 2008.
Kenny MC. 2001. Child abuse reporting: teachers perceived deterrents. Child Abuse & Neglect
25(1): 8192.
Kenny MC. 2004. Teachers attitudes toward and knowledge of child maltreatment. Child Abuse
& Neglect 28(12): 13111319.
Mathews B, Kenny MC. 2008. Mandatory reporting legislation in the United States, Canada,
and Australia: a cross-jurisdictional review of key features, differences, and issues. Child
Maltreatment 13(1): 5063.
Mathews B, Walsh K, Butler D, Farrell A. 2006. Mandatory reporting by Australian teachers of
suspected child abuse and neglect: Legislative requirements and questions for future direction.
Australia & New Zealand Journal of Law & Education 11(2): 722.
Mathews B, Walsh K, Rassaani M, Butler D, Farrell A. 2009. Teachers reporting child sexual
abuse: Results of a three-State study. University of New South Wales Law Journal 32(3): 772813.

Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car
 Malaysian Teachers and Mandatory Reporting 107

Ministry of Education Malaysia. 2010. Statistics (data are as of 31 January 2011). Available:
<URL>http://www.moe.gov.my/ [1 May 2011].
OToole R, Webster SW, OToole AW, Lucal B. 1999. Teachers recognition and reporting of
child abuse: a factorial survey. Child Abuse & Neglect 23(11): 10831101.
Rodriguez CM. 2002. Professionals attitudes and accuracy on child abuse reporting decisions in
New Zealand. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 17(3): 320342.
Steinberg K, Levine M, Doueck H. 1997. Effects of legally mandated child-abuse reports on the
therapeutic relationship: a survey of psychotherapists. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
67: 112122.
Svensson B, Janson S. 2008. Suspected Child Maltreatment: Preschool Staff in a Conict of
Loyalty. Early Childhood Education Journal 36(1): 2531.
Tang CSK. 2006. Corporal punishment and physical maltreatment against children: A community
study on Chinese parents in Hong Kong. Child Abuse & Neglect 30(8): 893907.
Tang CSK, Yan EC. 2004. Intention to participate in child sexual abuse prevention programs: a
study of Chinese adults in Hong Kong. Child Abuse & Neglect 28(11): 11871197.
Trocme N, Fallon B, MacLaurin B, Daciuk J, Felstiner C, Black T. 2005. Canadian incidence
study of reported child abuse and neglect 2003: Major ndings. Minister of PublicWorks
and Government Services: Toronto, Ontario Canada.
Lembaga Penyelidikan Undang-Undang. 2005. Akta Kanak-Kanak 2001 (Akta 611) & Child Act
2001 (Act 611). International Law Book Services: Kuala Lumpur.
US Department of Health and Human Services. 2010. Administration on Children, Youth and
Family, Childrens Bureau. Child maltreatment 2009. US Government Printing Ofce:
Washington, DC.
Walsh K, Farrell A, Schweitzer R, Bridgstock R. 2005. Critical Factors in Teachers Detecting
and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect: Implications for Practice. Queensland University
of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland.
Walsh K, Bridgstock R, Farrell A, Rassaani M, Schweitzer R. 2008. Case, teacher and school
characteristics inuencing teachers detection and reporting of child physical abuse and
neglect: Results from an Australian survey. Child Abuse & Neglect 32(10): 983993.
Walsh K, Rassaani M, Mathews B, Farrell A, Butler D. 2012. Exploratory factor analysis and
psychometric evaluation of the Teachers Reporting Attitude Scale for Child Sexual Abuse.
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. 21(5): 489506.
Webster SW, OToole R, OToole AW, Lucal B. 2005. Overreporting and underreporting of child
abuse: teachers use of professional discretion. Child Abuse & Neglect 29(11): 12811296.
Zellman G. 1990. Report decision-making patterns among mandated child abuse reporters.
Child Abuse & Neglect 14(3): 325336.

Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 22: 93107 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/car