AEM Podcast #25 - Theuns Opperman - Headteacher Talks About Duty of Care, 'Breaking Children Down To Build Them Up' and Abuse in Boarding Schools 

Today I am speaking with Theuns Opperman who is a headteacher based in South Africa. 

He has been in teaching for 20 years and has worked in several boarding schools. 

Today we explore his take on why elite schools and especially boarding schools seem to put the institutions first rather than the children. 

He goes on to explore what we can start to do to change the system and stop the abuse and sexual grooming which goes on in some of these schools. 

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Theuns Opperman is a headteacher in South Africa. He set up the Teach! Conferences which support teacher development in 2012. He has been a teacher for over 20 years and has worked in boarding schools both as a teacher and on a senior level. He now works as a principal in a secondary school in Johannesburg.

Here are some of the questions that he answers: 

1. I would love for you to begin by sharing some of your own journey. What inspired you to get into teaching? What was the inspiration behind speaking up about some of the high profile suicide and sexual abuse cases in South Africa, especially in boarding schools?
2. Could you explain a little bit about Thomas Kruger please? What happened? W
3. Why, in your opinion, do schools cover up any negative press, especially around sexual abuse? Why is it that it is school first, children second? Has it changed?
4. You mention in your article that in some boarding schools they want to break the child down in order to build them up. I know from my boarding experience that this approach didn't work for me. What is your feeling about this? What should schools be doing instead?
5. Having worked in a boarding school do you feel that the load placed on the teachers and houseparents is too much? For this reason is this why they miss the abuse? What can be done? 
6. Many schools in South Africa and across the UK have had military style discipline. And most of the discipline has been meted out by the children. Does this work? 
7. What is the importance of having teachers that have emotional intelligence? How do they cultivate this?
8. What in your opinion are the “layers of experience in a boarding environment?” 
9. In your opinion as a headteacher how do we start to change the system? How do we make it so that it is children first, schools second? What needs to happen?

Some of Theuns' quotes:

 “If schools cannot meet the needs of the students that they serve, they need to stop existing.”

 “My theory is that - because of our romanticization of the suffering - we look past the real harm. We justify the bullying and dehumanisation as part of a process of growing up and “becoming a man”.”

To read his article on Duty of Care: https://theunsjan.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-only-story-and-our-duty-of-care.html#comment-form

For his blog: https://theunsjan.blogspot.com/

On N

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Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross

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For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community

Many blessings,

Piers Cross

http://piers-cross.com/