Reducing violent discipline by teachers using Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T): study protocol for a matched cluster randomized controlled trial in Tanzanian public primary schools

Conceptualisation of violence and discipline among students, teachers, and parents in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania

BACKGROUND

Little academic research has been conducted on how people conceptualise 'violence' and 'discipline', especially in humanitarian settings. This may limit the transferability of violence prevention interventions. This paper examines the understanding of violence and discipline concepts among students, teachers, and parents in the Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in Tanzania.

METHODS

A qualitative study was undertaken as part of the larger trial testing the effectiveness of the EmpaTeach intervention to prevent physical violence from teachers to students implemented in 27 schools in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp. Data from baseline and midline surveys in control schools that did not receive the intervention informed this paper where a total of 14 in-depth interviews (eight with students and six teachers) and six focus group discussions (two with teachers and four with parents from the Parent Teacher Association) were analyzed. Both audio recordings from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim, and translated from Kiswahili to English (Congolese) and Kirundi to English (Burundian). Translated data were verified and coded using thematic analysis based on the views of students, teachers, and parents.

RESULTS

Participants revealed that the same behavioural acts could be differentially classified as violence or discipline. Violence was understood in relation to the consequences of acts, which could include physical or psychological harm, or other harms which were seen as detrimental to children's futures and life chances, particularly adolescent pregnancy. Sexual acts without consent were also seen as violence. In contrast, discipline was understood according to intent, and perceived acts done towards students to correct bad behaviour.

CONCLUSION

Results imply that education about the harmful consequences of behavioural acts intended as discipline, may be important for violence prevention interventions and that framing interventions in terms of positive child development could help change discipline strategies in schools.

Reducing Violent Discipline by Teachers: a Matched Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Tanzanian Public Primary Schools

Violent discipline in schools infringes on children's rights and is associated with harmful developmental consequences for students. This calls for effective intervention programs, particularly in countries with high prevalence of violent discipline in schools. This study tested the effectiveness of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children-for Teachers (ICC-T) in reducing violent discipline by teachers in a two-arm matched cluster-randomized controlled trial. The sample comprised teachers (n = 173, 53.7% female) and students (n = 914, 50.5% girls) from 12 public primary schools from six regions in Tanzania. Teacher physical and emotional violent discipline reported by teachers and students was assessed before and six to eight and a half months after the intervention. The schools were randomly allocated to either intervention (6; ICC-T) or control condition (6; no intervention). Teachers were not blinded. Students and research assistants conducting the follow-up assessment were blinded. A series of multivariate multilevel models revealed significant time*intervention effects on physical violent discipline reported by teachers and students and teachers' favorable attitudes towards physical violent discipline, FDRs < .05. In addition, we found a spill-over effect on peer-to-peer violence and students' externalizing, ps < .05. There were no significant time*intervention effects either on emotional violent discipline, FDRs > .05, teachers' favorable attitudes towards emotional violent discipline or on student's internalizing problems and academic performance, ps > .05. Our results provide further evidence that ICC-T may positively change teachers' violent disciplining behavior and their attitudes towards violent discipline. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03893851.

Externalizing problems mediate the relation between teacher and peer violence and lower school performance

BACKGROUND

The association between children's exposure to family violence and poor academic outcomes is well-established. Less is known about how exposure to violence in the school context, i.e., by teachers and by peers, affects academic functioning. Moreover, the role of children's mental health problems in this link has hardly been examined.

OBJECTIVES

We examined direct and indirect associations between children's experiences of violence by teachers and peers and children's mental health and school functioning while controlling for children's experiences of parental violence.

PARTICIPANTS

Using a multistage random sampling approach, we obtained a representative sample of 914 students (50.5 % girls, M_age = 12.58 years) from 12 primary schools in Tanzania.

METHODS

In structured interviews, students' experiences of violence and mental health problems were assessed. Students' academic performance and absenteeism were documented using school records. Associations were examined using structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

Experiences of more teacher and peer violence were each significantly associated with higher externalizing problems (teachers: β = 0.27 [95 %-CI: 0.12, 0.47]; peers: β = 0.17, [95 %-CI: 0.07, 0.32]). Higher externalizing problems were significantly associated with poorer academic performance (β = -0.13, [95 %-CI: -0.23, -0.02]), implying significant indirect associations between students' experiences of teacher violence (β = -0.04, [95 %-CI: -0.08, -0.01]) and peer violence (β = -0.02, [95 %-CI: -0.05, -0.01]) and their academic performance via externalizing problems.

CONCLUSION

Exposure to violence at school may impair children's academic performance indirectly by increasing attention and behaviour problems. Further investigations in longitudinal studies and implementation of interventions to reduce violence in schools are indicated.

Factors Contributing to Violent Discipline in the Classroom: Findings From a Representative Sample of Primary School Teachers in Tanzania

The need for intervention strategies aiming to reduce teachers' use of violent discipline methods has been expressed repeatedly, especially for countries where this practice is socially and legally accepted. Nevertheless, initial targets for interventions are not clearly identified, as factors contributing to teachers' use of violence are still understudied. In the present study, we examined the interplay between teachers' own experiences of violence, their attitudes, current stress, and their use of violent discipline in a representative sample of 173 Tanzanian primary school teachers (53.7% female, M_age = 38.1 years, SD_age = 10) using structural equation modeling. Our model showed good model fit (χ² [48, n = 173] = 78.058 (p = .004), CFI = .962, TLI = .948, RMSEA = .060 [90% CI [.034, .084], PCLOSE = .233], SRMR = .048). Results indicated direct associations between positive attitudes toward violent discipline (β = .41), stress (β = .23), and teachers' own experiences of violence (β = .21) with teachers' use of violence. Teachers' own experiences of violence were significantly associated with positive attitudes (β = .39), and these significantly mediated the association between teachers' own experiences of violence and their use of violent discipline (β =.23). Our findings underscore the relevance of past experiences, societal norms, and current working conditions in understanding teachers' violence against students. Interventions aiming to reduce teachers' use of violent discipline may focus on stress management, societal norms, personal beliefs on violent discipline, and how teachers' own previous experiences of violence may influence teacher's disciplining behavior.

Preventing Violence by Teachers in Primary Schools: Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Haiti

Context

Although teacher violence at schools is a serious problem in Haiti, there is a lack of systematic evidence on the effectiveness of school-based interventions in reducing teacher violence in this low-income country.

Objective

To test the effectiveness of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T) aiming to reduce teachers' use of violent disciplinary strategies and to improve their interaction competences with children in the Haitian context.

Design, Setting, Participants

The study is designed as a two-arm matched cluster randomized controlled trial. The sample consists of 468 teachers and 1,008 children from 36 (community and public) primary schools around Cap-Haïtien (Département du Nord) in Haiti. Data will be collected in three phases, before the intervention, and 6 and 18 months after.

Intervention

In the group of intervention schools, ICC-T will be delivered as a 5-day training workshop. Workshop sessions are divided into five modules: 1) improving teacher-student interactions, 2) maltreatment prevention, 3) effective discipline strategies, 4) identifying and supporting burdened students, and 5) implementation in everyday school life.

Main Outcome Measure

The main outcome measure is teacher violence assessed in two ways: (i) teachers' self-reported use of violence, and (ii) children's self-reported experiences of violence by teachers.

Conclusions

Prior evaluations of ICC-T had been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa with promising results. This study will test for the first time the effectiveness of this intervention outside the context of sub-Saharan Africa.

Reducing physical and emotional violence by teachers using the intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T): study protocol of a multi-country cluster randomized controlled trial in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda

Background

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. Positive attitudes towards violence and the lack of access to alternative non-violent strategies are likely to contribute to the high levels of teachers’ ongoing use of violence against children in sub-Saharan African countries. 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.

Methods

The study is a multi-site cluster randomized controlled trial with schools (clusters) as level of randomization and three data assessment points: baseline assessment prior to the intervention, the first follow-up assessment 6 months after the intervention and the second follow-up assessment 18 months after the intervention. Multi-stage random sampling will be applied to select a total number of 72 schools (24 per country). Schools will be randomly allocated to the intervention and the control condition after baseline. At each school, 40 students (stratified by gender) in the third year of primary school or in the first year of secondary/junior high school and all teachers (expected average number: 20) will be recruited. Thus, the final sample will comprise 2880 students and at least 1440 teachers. Data will be collected using structured clinical interviews. Primary outcome measures are student- and teacher-reported physical and emotional violence by teachers in the past week. Secondary outcome measures include children’s emotional and behavioral problems, quality of life, cognitive functioning, academic performance, school attendance and social competence. Data will be analyzed using multilevel analyses.

Discussion

This study aims to provide further evidence for the effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce teacher violence and to improve children’s functioning (i.e., mental health, well-being, academic performance) across educational settings, societies and cultures.

Trial registration

The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.org under the ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04948580 on July 2, 2021.

Mental health problems moderate the association between teacher violence and children's social status in East Africa: A multi-informant study combining self- and peer-reports

School victimization has been negatively associated with children's social status. However, previous studies have primarily focused on peer victimization, leaving a significant knowledge gap regarding violence by teachers. We hypothesized that, when almost all children experience violence by teachers, not only the experience of violence, but also other factors, for example, mental health problems, may influence children's social preference and centrality. We therefore examined potential moderation effects of children's internalizing and externalizing problems. We implemented a multistage cluster randomized sampling approach to randomly chose fifth- and sixth-grade students from primary schools throughout Tanzania. Using a multi-informant approach, data were collected from 643 children (51.0% girls, Mage = 12.79 years). Results showed inconsistent direct associations between teacher violence and social status, whereas mental health problems were consistently associated with lower social status. Significant interaction effects were found for internalizing problems; that is, teacher violence was associated with lower social status for increasing internalizing problems. However, no interaction effects were found for externalizing problems. The findings underline the burden of exposure to violence by teachers and the importance of mental health for children's social functioning. Knowledge about interrelations can be applied in interventions to effectively reduce violence by teachers toward students.