The Examination of Preschool Teachers Recognition of Child Neglect and Abuse

The early childhood years, which constitute the first eight years of life, are called developmentally critical years. Research conducted with children in these years revealed that children who did not receive necessary care or were neglected experienced more problems than other children. However, meeting the child's basic needs is very effective in helping him adapt to society. Child neglect and abuse involve behaviors or omissions by caregivers—such as parents—that harm or impede a child's development, and actions or inactions that are considered inappropriate or harmful by experts and that disrupt or limit the child's growth and development. Teachers have an important role in the healthy growth, development and the protection of children. They are also effective in detecting cases of neglect and abuse early. Starting from this point, the aim of the study is to examine preschool teachers' recognition of child neglect and abuse in terms of demographic variables. A General Screening Model was used in the research. 341 preschool teachers, who constitute the sample of the research, work in independent kindergartens and kindergartens in Meram, Selçuklu and Karatay districts of Konya city center in the 2020-2021 academic year. 'Child Neglect and Abuse Symptoms Scale' and 'Demographic Information Form' developed by Karadağ, Sönmez and Dereobalı (2014) were used as data collection tools in the study. The data were analyzed using the SPSS26 package program. While analyzing the findings, frequencies and percentages were calculated to determine demographic information. Since the normal distribution assumption of the variables was not met, Mann-Whitney U-Test was used in pairwise group comparisons, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used in groups where the normal distribution assumption of the variables was met. As a result of the research, it was found that there was no significant difference between the recognition of child neglect and abuse by female and male preschool teachers according to gender; however, there was a statistically significant difference between the recognition of child neglect and abuse by teachers aged 31-35 and those aged 46 and over. In addition, no statistically significant difference was found between married and single teachers in terms of their recognition of child neglect and abuse. According to another result of the research, it was determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the recognition of child neglect and abuse by professional seniority and between the recognition of child neglect and abuse by the variable of whether or not teachers received in-service training. The results of the research were discussed with the relevant literature and suggestions were presented.