Preventing Violence by Teachers

Plain-language summary

Brief Summary: Violence against children is regarded as a key contributor to poverty and damages lifetime prospects for children in disadvantaged communities. However, physical violence is legally accepted as a disciplinary measure in schools in 68 states worldwide. For example, in Tanzania, corporal punishment is still lawful at school. It is thus not surprising that recently very high rates of violence (\~90%) were found at secondary schools. For children of primary school age, no such information is available from representative samples to date. Moreover, in recent studies teachers often report having to resort to violent disciplinary methods referring to a lack of nonviolent disciplinary alternatives . However, only few interventions that aim at equipping teachers with non-violent action alternatives in Sub-Saharan Africa have been implemented, and even fewer have been scientifically evaluated. Thus, in this study the investigators will implement and assess the efficacy of an intervention aimed at reducing the use of harsh and violent disciplinary measures in schools. Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teacher (ICC-T) aims to enable teachers to use non-violent disciplinary measures and to strengthen their competencies in non-violent interactions. Previously its feasibility and efficacy were proven in secondary schools in Tanzania. The present study aims to adapt ICC-T to, and evaluate its efficacy on, primary school level. The training is expected to improve the teacher-student relationships, change teacher's attitudes towards corporal punishment and their use of violent disciplinary measures.

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