Exploring the Sri Lankan Teacher Attitudes Pertaining To Corporal Punishment against Their Knowledge and Perceived Skills Pertaining To Child Protection

The present study explored the Sri Lankan pre/school teachers’ (n = 365) knowledge, and perceived skills of child protection against their general attitudes pertaining to violence/ abuse as well as their specific attitudes pertaining corporal punishment using a four point rating scale.  Results conveyed that while teachers’ knowledge and perceived skills of child protection was high, teacher who favored corporal punishment as an acceptable mode of disciplinary strategy had higher knowledge (M = 32.1, S.D = 3.02) than those who did not (M = 31.29; S.D = 2.97), t(363) = 2.634, p = .009. Based on its findings, the study offers recommendation for teacher trainers and child protection practitioners.