Les élèves victimes de violences intrafamiliales vus par leurs enseignants : représentations des enseignants, sentiment d’efficacité et relation à l’élève

Introduction

In the era of inclusive schooling, teachers must provide all students with quality education that meets their needs. However, children who are victims of domestic violence constitute an unknown public for teachers and their particularities are hardly taken into account. Their schooling is tested by the context of vulnerability they experience.

Objective

The aim of this article is to examine teachers’ perceptions of pupils who are victims of domestic violence, their relationship with these pupils and their self-efficacity in classroom management.

Method

Seventy-six school teachers (72 women and 4 men) were interviewed using questionnaires: the Child-teacher relationship scale (Gosselin, 1999), the Self-efficacy scale for teachers in management class (Gaudreau et al., 2015) and an open-ended question focusing on the representation of the child.

Results and conclusion

Our results show that the representations constructed about the child who is a victim of domestic violence are linked to the pupil-teacher relationship. The teachers’ experience is also a factor influencing their self-efficacy, particularly in the teacher's beliefs in dealing with the challenging behaviors of these pupils in the classroom. These results suggest the importance of supporting teachers to promote the educational trajectory of these pupils with special needs.