Preventing Violence by Teachers Against Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

Summary

Violence has severe and long-lasting negative consequences for children's and adolescents' well-being and psychosocial functioning, thereby also hampering communities' and societies' economic growth. Studies show high prevalence of violence by teachers against children in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in countries where violence is lawful as disciplinary measure at school and in countries where it has been officially banned. In addition to legal and structural factors (e. g. stressful working conditions for teachers), attitudes favoring violence against children as an effective and acceptable discipline method and the lack of access to alternative non-violent strategies are likely to contribute to teachers' ongoing use of violence against children.

Notwithstanding, there are currently very few school-level interventions to reduce violence by teachers that a) have been scientifically evaluated and b) that focus both on changing attitudes towards violence and on equipping teachers with non-violent discipline strategies.

Thus, the present study tests the effectiveness of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. Previous studies have provided initial evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce teacher violence in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania and secondary schools in Uganda. This study aims to provide further evidence for the effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce violence and to improve children's functioning (i.e. mental health, well-being, academic performance) across educational settings, societies and cultures.

Conditions

• Violence by Teachers

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T)

Core training components include teacher-student interaction, maltreatment prevention, effective discipline strategies, identifying and supporting burdened students and implementation of the training materials into the school setting

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Daressalaam University College of Education (DUCE)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Presbyterian University College Ghana (PUCG)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Bielefeld University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tobias Hecker, Prof. Dr. · Bielefeld University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-09-20

Primary Completion

2024-12-31

Completion

2025-07-31

Countries

• Ghana
• Tanzania
• Uganda

Study Locations