Emotional violence by teachers toward students: the adultcentric bias hypothesis

Emotional violence (EV) from teachers toward students is a serious and underexplored issue in school settings. This study aims to review current research on EV, explore the concepts of Bleak Pedagogy (BP) and Adultcentrism as conceptual frameworks, and explain the underlying causes of emotionally violent behaviors. Given the global prevalence of EV, we infer that it may be influenced by embedded structural biases in adult–child relationships, rather than from individual traits. Furthermore, it is proposed that these systemic biases and attitudes may act as key predictors of EV from teachers toward children. Finally, empirical investigations into teachers’ pragmatic and paradigmatic beliefs in relation to students’ self-reports of victimization are suggested to test this hypothesis. Further implications of this perspective and directions for future research are discussed.