Teacher training for the prevention, reporting and addressing of violence against children

Each year an estimated one billion children (one out of two children worldwide) suffer some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence or neglect (Hillis, Mercy, Amobi, & Kress, 2016). Being a victim of violence in childhood has lifelong impacts on education, health, and well-being. Exposure to violence can lead to poor academic performance due to cognitive, emotional, and social problems (WHO, 2019). The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence is affirmed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its General Comment No. 13 (UNCRC, 2011). Moreover, the Sustainable Development Goals contain a clear call to eliminate violence against children, most explicitly in Target 16.2 (UN, 2015). Many efforts have been made globally to achieve these goals. Schools have been identified as one of the crucial contexts for conducting violence prevention efforts. They offer an important space where children, teachers and educators can learn and adopt pro-social behaviours that can contribute to preventing violence (WHO, et al., 2016). Teachers can play a key role, helping to build a “violence-free world” (UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF, End Violence Against Children, 2020), both by promoting positive relationships and by identifying signs of violence early. In fact, while international strategies provide a necessary framework for the promotion and protection of children's rights, it is the people who can make a difference in the prevention and detection of violence against children (Biffi, 2018). Based on these premises, the paper will focus on how teacher training can help prevent, report and address violence against children. Teachers are often not trained on this: some of them know the contents, but have doubts about how to deal with certain situations. Teachers should learn what to do with students who have gone through a traumatic experience because children choose someone who can see and recognize them (Miller, 1979, En. transl. 1995; Miller, 1980, En. transl. 1983). To be able to really recognize the child, a training course with teachers is necessary, to raise awareness and help them see the signals that children send (The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, End Violence Against Children, UNICEF, WHO, 2020). This paper, through literature and presentation of a training course with teachers in Italy, will offer a pedagogical reflection on teacher training in the prevention, reporting and addressing of violence against children, in order to start building a common shared strategy.