Educating students to prevent gender-based violence: predicting teachers’ intentions in Italy and Hungary

Schools can play an important role in educating for the prevention of gender-based violence against women, as recognized by the Istanbul Convention treaty. However, in many countries, teachers do not receive mandatory training and it is up to them to develop and implement curricular, or extracurricular, activities to raise students’ awareness about gender-based violence. In the present research, we used a mixed-methods approach to investigate predictors of behavioral intentions to educate on this topic among Hungarian and Italian school teachers. In an initial pilot study, we interviewed teachers (N = 17) to understand perceived barriers to tackle this topic at school. In the main study, we then administered a questionnaire to Italian (N = 467) and Hungarian (N = 253) teachers. Our findings showed that teachers’ self-efficacy in their educational role and their moral attitudes toward combating gender-based violence positively predicted their behavioral intentions to organize awareness-raising initiatives at school. Conversely, perceived low students’ interest negatively predicted teachers’ intentions, while time constraints and lack of training were additional predictors among Italian school teachers only. Importantly, compared to Italian, Hungarian school teacher participants reported lower behavioral intentions, lower sense of self-efficacy, more perceived barriers, and that preventing GBV was more a family than a schools’ role. As Italy has ratified the Istanbul convention whereas Hungary has rejected it, the present findings suggest the potential importance of a regulatory framework in shaping teachers’ behavioral intentions and their role in educating to prevent gender-based-violence, in addition to individual moral values and beliefs about one’s skills. Implications of the findings for teachers’ training are discussed.