Child Protection in Public Schools: A Correlational Study of Teachers’ Awareness and Responsiveness

This study assessed the level of teachers’ awareness of the Child Protection Policy (CPP) and their responsiveness in implementing its provisions in public secondary schools in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. A descriptive-correlational design was employed, with 147 teachers and 1,470 students selected through simple random sampling. Data were gathered through structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results showed that 71.43% of teachers had encountered at least one child protection case in the past five years, with bullying being the most prevalent issue (177 reported cases). Teachers demonstrated very high CPP awareness (mean score = 4.21/5) and self-rated their responsiveness as very high in prevention (mean = 4.64), intervention (4.49), and disciplinary (4.59) domains. Students rated teachers’ responsiveness highly (mean scores 4.39– 4.51), albeit with slight but significant differences between teacher and student perceptions in some domains. Importantly, teacher CPP awareness was moderately positively associated with student-rated responsiveness (Spearman’s rho ≈ 0.47, p < 0.001), indicating that greater policy knowledge corresponds to stronger child protection practices. However, the findings are limited to the two Sibulan districts studied, one academic year, and self-reported perceptions, which may affect generalizability. Nonetheless, the study provides empirical evidence that strengthening teacher awareness and training in child protection can enhance implementation of the CPP, highlighting the need for ongoing professional development and support systems to ensure a safe learning environment.