Exploring support within educational provisions for children and young people who experienced sexual exploitation

Background: Child sexual exploitation (CSE) can have huge impacts on a child’s physical and emotional wellbeing and have long-term consequences. Literature has found that professionals can have negative perceptions of children who are being sexually exploited, and this can affect the support they receive. Aims: This research aimed to explore CSE, specifically regarding the support available within educational provisions, seeking perspectives from adult survivors of CSE. The following research question was addressed; what are adult survivors of CSE’s retrospective experiences of support from secondary educational provision in the UK? Sample: Semi-structured interviews sampled four adult survivors of CSE. Methods: The research used semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Findings show that there are many challenges that young people being sexually exploited faced within schools, including negative attitudes around CSE and victim blaming, which affected the level of support received. Findings should be interpreted in light of the small qualitative sample and retrospective nature of the accounts. Conclusions: This study provides insight into the challenges young people who have been sexually exploited faced within schools, and provides implications for practice, including taking a holistic, person-centred approach, liaising with other agencies, gaining child voice, and promoting supportive relationships between the young person and adults in school.