Applying the duty of care outside the formal school day at primary schools

Abstract

Underpinned by the Contextual Safeguarding Theory, this study investigated how primary schools apply their duty of care before and after the formal school day. A qualitative approach using the interpretivist paradigm was adopted to better understand the experiences of the participants in their application of duty of care. Twenty-four participants from six primary schools participated in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and the analysis of documents provided by the participating schools. The findings suggest that contextual factors play an important role in how schools apply their duty of care before and after form school hours. The participating schools acknowledged that safety of learners is compromised when learners are dropped off early at school or learners are left waiting after school to be collected. As a result, all the participating schools have institute pro-active and reactive measures to mitigate the safety threats to their learners during these times when they are most vulnerable. In addition, this study proposes a Contextual Safeguarding Framework for South African Schools.