The Irie Classroom Toolbox: developing a violence prevention, preschool teacher training program using evidence,...

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Behavioral Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• School-based violence prevention is crucial for early childhood development.
• Teacher training programs require effective and adaptable strategies for diverse settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the Irie Classroom Toolbox, a school-based violence prevention and teacher training program for children aged 3-6 years.
• To identify teachers' preferred behavior management strategies and training methods.
• To understand enablers and barriers to implementing such interventions in preschool settings.

Main Methods:

• In-depth interviews with Jamaican preschool teachers post-intervention and 5 years later.
• Ongoing process evaluation of a classroom behavior management program.
• Integration of behavior change theory (behavior change wheel, theoretical domains framework).

Main Results:

• Teachers favored strategies like positive reinforcement and explicit teaching of expected behaviors.
• Preferred training methods were active, hands-on, and aligned with social-cognitive theories.
• Key enablers included positive relationships, choice, collaboration, and perceived benefits; barriers were also identified.

Conclusions:

• The Irie Classroom Toolbox is a low-cost, adaptable intervention developed using teacher perspectives and behavior change theory.
• The program is suitable for training preschool teachers in low-resource settings.
• The findings highlight the importance of teacher-centered approaches in intervention development.