A MISSING PIECE: EXAMINING TEACHERS’ RESPONSES TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS IN BURKINA FASO

Abstract

Gender inequality leading to gendered violence in schools is a concerning reality worldwide. This study examines gender-based violence (GBV) in an educational context by conducting a vertical comparative case study on gender-based violence at two secondary schools in the central area of Burkina Faso, West Africa. The study sought to understand the multiple influences that guide secondary schoolteachers’ responses to GBV and the implementation of existing national policies in combatting the violence in Burkina Faso. Using the feminist poststructuralist framework, the study conducted discourse analysis of policies and explored teachers’ discourse of the phenomenon through how teachers’ meaning-making of GBV in schools contributes to decisions around addressing the violence. This qualitative research contributes to the on-going discussion of how teachers can be change agents in schools. These findings can help inform teachers’ training programs and national policy.