A new study by Marianna Kopasz, Boglárka Herke, and Karolina Balogh has been published in the Q1-ranked journal Children and Youth Services Review. The study examines how 270 Hungarian primary school teachers responded to hypothetical child protection scenarios (vignettes).

The findings suggest that teachers’ decisions were shaped not only by the type of problem the child was facing, but also by the child’s family background. Teachers were more likely to identify children from poor families as being at risk and to report these cases within the school. In cases involving Roma children, the clearest difference emerged in teachers’ likelihood of identifying the child as being at risk. The results suggest the possible presence of social and ethnic biases in teachers’ child protection decision-making.

The study also highlights the importance of child protection training: teachers who had participated in such training were more likely to identify children at risk and to report the cases within the school.