Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Zululand, 1992. / The aim of this study was :
to describe the life-world of the abused child from a psychopedagogical perspective; and
to determine, in the light of the findings obtained, certain guidelines according to which accountable support could be instituted in order to meet the needs of the abused child.
The study initially outlines current thinking and research on child abuse, first identified as a clinical phenomenon in the 1960's. The early definition of child abuse included only physical abuse, known as "baby battering", but the definition has been broadened to include neglect, emotional abuse, failure-to-thrive, sexual abuse and cultural abuse. Furthermore, the characteristics of abusing parents and those factors that appear to pre-dispose a child to become the object of abuse are discussed.
From a psychopedagogical perspective the abused child finds himself in a situation of dysfunctional education mainly because he goes through the difficult road to adulthood without the assistance and guidance of a responsible parent or adult. This results in the psychic life of the abused child being under-actualised. The lack of responsible adult intervention and guidance, which is based on the pedagogical principles of understanding, trust and authority, results in the abused child forming relationships within his life-world which are inadequate for his emancipation. The abused child thus fails to constitute a meaningful life-world.
It would seem that poverty together with cultural sanctions which condone violence, stressful living conditions such as overcrowding, insufficient personal, financial and social resources, discrimination and deprivation, all interact with each other to produce fertile ground not only for abuse, but all forms of deviance. It was found that mothers were mainly responsible for abuse, particularly emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that they are in the main responsible for the care of the children.
The literature has shown that abusing parents have been abused themselves as children and know no other way of disaplining their children. They have not learned how to "parent". There are factors that pre-dispose the child to abuse ; prematurity, retardation, physical handicaps and the fact that the child is perceived by the parents as being "different".
The review of the literature has emphasised the importance of the multi-disciplinary team in the treatment and prevention of child abuse. The role of a specialised unit in treating and preventing child abuse is recommended by some authors. Case conferences are described as a useful means of discussing cases intensively and reporting back to a committee or specialised unit.
Education for family life, the outlawing of family violence, involving lay people in running community programmes, the development of better services in the community are all discussed as ways of preventing child abuse.
In the light of the findings of this research, the following was recommended :
* school social workers should be trained and placed at schools to assist and identify pedagogically neglected children;
* that there should be a staff training programme for teachers with regard to the identification, intervention and counselling of abuse cases;
* educational programmes directed at school children, parents, parents-to-be and professionals, are essential for the prevention of child abuse.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/760 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Abhilak, Vishnu |
| Contributors | Urbani, G. |
| Publisher | University of Zululand |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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