Training strategies for early childhood educational and care professionals for preventing corporal punishment against children at home

This paper aims at offering a reflection on the training strategies needed by early childhood educational and care (ECEC) professionals in order to prevent and tackle the phenomenon of corporal punishment of children in the... [ view full abstract ]

This paper aims at offering a reflection on the training strategies needed by early childhood educational and care (ECEC) professionals in order to prevent and tackle the phenomenon of corporal punishment of children in the home. 

Corporal punishment, as recently stated by the International NGO Council on violence Against Children Report, 10 years on: Global Progress & Delay in ending violence against children – the rhetoric & the reality (2016),   is the most common form of violence experienced by children throughout the world. 

In the battle against corporal punishment a specific role can be played by the professionals of education, which can be considered a precious resource for this battle (Walsh & Farrel, 2008; McKee & Dillenburger, 2012), as they can help parents and adult in general in building a non-violent culture of the education.

Based on a pilot exploratory study, realised through an an hermeneutic research (Van Manen, 1990) from an arts-informed method (Butler-Kisber, 2010; Biffi & Zuccoli, 2013) and involving professionals from public institutions, this paper will focus on the  strategies useful in training and supporting ECEC professional in the implementation of their role in facing violence against children. The study is going to demonstrate that, in order to face the mentioned phenomenon, professionals need a personal, deep training in order to cope with their own personal stories and inner meanings related to the violence itself. ECEC professionals must develop the capability to relate empathically to their pupils, as well as to recognise their own vulnerability when addressing topics such as violence, which is related to other complex dimensions of education, such as the role of power, the boundaries between permission and control, and the potential for education itself to become a form of abuse (Biffi, 2013; Riva,1993).