Early Violence Prevention in Sri Lankan Preschools: Perceived Preschool Teacher Practices

Early Violence Prevention (EVP) programs are a concept alien to policy makers of the Early Childhood Care and Education in Sri Lanka, even though Sri Lanka as a has country experienced violence for almost fourt decades. This study explores the perceived preschool teacher practices pertaining to EVP (preventing/minimizing aggressive behaviors and promoting prosocial behaviors) within Sri Lankan preschool teachers using a survey (n = 275) and a semi structured interviews (n = 23). The results conveyed that Sri Lankan preschool teacher recognize such practices as a necessity and seemed to be practicing a wide spectrum of behaviors. These could be categorized on several dimensions: telling/teaching vs. doing activities, individual focused vs. group/social, authoritative/instructive vs. democratic, child initiated good practices vs. bad practices. Practices could also be categorized into religious activities, activities with emphasis on silence, praise, techniques to prevent discrimination, techniques to divert attention, socially focused, direct conflict management, instructional emphasis, empowering the children, moral and teacher initiated action. These activities were carried out using stories, puppets and role-plays. The study also provides recommendations to policy developers in the context of culture sensitive early violence prevention practices for Sri Lankan preschool children.