Emotional Abuse in the Classroom

Abstract Current research shows that emotional abuse has been under researched within the classroom and yet it is now considered to be the most devastating form of child abuse. The main objectives of the present study are to determine who the perpetrators of emotional abuse are, and why some teachers emotionally abuse pupils in Zimbabwean primary schools. The Teacher Trainees and Pupil Questionnaires were administered to randomly selected samples of teachers and teacher trainees, and Form One pupils, respectively. This was a retrospective study because teacher trainees were required to recall their experiences about why some teachers emotionally abuse their pupils in schools. Results clearly show that emotional abuse of pupils by teachers is a now reality in Zimbabwean primary schools.