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When a student reports harassment

When a learner reports harassment to you, you pass it on promptly to the person your school names for it, you keep it away from anybody who does not need it, and you do not decide whether it counts.

Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.

What it is for

Somebody tells you something in the doorway at the end of a lesson and asks you not to tell anybody. That promise cannot be made, and the kindest thing available is to say so immediately and say what happens next.

How to think about it

Listen and do not question. Say plainly that you have to pass it on and to whom. Write down what was said in the words that were used, with the time. Pass it on the same day, to the named person, and to nobody else.

Worked example

'I have to tell one person whose job this is, and I will tell you when I have.'
Said at the time and not afterwards. A promise of secrecy is the one thing you cannot give.
Write it down in the words used, with the time
Your own note, made the same day.
Pass it to the named person the same day
Who that is, and the window, are set where you work and will be given to you.
Do not weigh it up or decide whether it is serious enough
That decision belongs to the process. Your duty is to pass it on.

Your turn

Write the line that says what you do not decide about a report.

You pass it on; you do not decide whether it .

The trap

Promising confidentiality to keep somebody talking. The promise gets broken within the hour and what they learn is that adults at school cannot be trusted, which is the opposite of what the duty exists for.

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