Domestic Violence and Implications for Citizenship Teaching and Learning

This comparative qualitative study was conducted in four countries: Cyprus (central scientific coordinator), Italy, Romania, Slovakia. Research priorities are domestic violence and children's rights. I present the results of the Italian portion of the study and report some of the themes drawn from testimonies (n = 58) from focus group interviews of women-mothers (n = 31) who were victims of domestic violence. The participants described their awareness of the effect of violence on children and themselves. The documents collected confirm international and national evidence about: typology and reasons for the violence, violence reported to the police, and societal tolerance of violence against women and children. From the research results it is possible to think of new strategies for the teaching and learning of active citizenship that could help to uncover the hidden issues surrounding domestic violence.