WebCorporal punishment should be brought back in some circumstances, but NEVER on hands! In my own personal view as a non-lawyer, I find some of the argumentation quite difficult to follow. What do the Friends Reunited anecdotal recollections tell us about the nature, distribution and incidence of corporal punishment in English schools in the 1960s and 1970s? It had been very regularly used on both boys and girls in certain schools for centuries prior to the ban. There was no explicit legal ban on it,[101] but in 2008 a teacher was fined 500 for what some people describe as slapping a student. WebA key European Court of Human Rights judgment (1982), which hastened the demise of corporal punishment in British state schools. "[146], Article 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code does not prohibit actions, such as corporal punishment, subject to certain conditions (that no "grievous hurt" be caused, that the act should be done in "good faith", the recipient must be under 12 etc.). [3] There is a vast amount of literature on this, in both popular and serious culture. This optional facility was known in some schools as "getting your detentions caned off". Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, National Association of Secondary School Principals, History of youth rights in the United States, Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth, International Falcon Movement Socialist Educational International, National Union of Students LGBT+ Campaign, French petition against age of consent laws, Legal status of tattooing in European countries, Legal status of tattooing in the United States, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, School corporal punishment in the United States, Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada, Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007, Christian Education South Africa v Minister of Education, R (Williamson) v Secretary of State for Education and Employment, School corporal punishment in global perspective: prevalence, outcomes, and efforts at intervention, Student/Parent Information Guide and Code of Conduct 2008-2009, "United Kingdom: Corporal punishment in schools", "Corporal punishment in schools: position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine", "Corporal punishment in U.S. public schools: Prevalence, disparities in use, and status in state and federal policy", "School corporal punishment in global perspective: prevalence, outcomes, and efforts at intervention", "Spanking Lives On In Rural Florida Schools", Education (Corporal Punishment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1987, "School Standards and Framework Act 1998", "North Korean Defectors Face Huge Challenges", "Chinese schools try to unlearn brutality", "More Harm Than Good: A Summary of Scientific Research on the Intended and Unintended Effects of Corporal Punishment on Children", "H-515.995 Corporal Punishment in Schools", "Guidance for effective discipline. In schools it may involve striking the student on the buttocks or on the palms of their hands[1][2] with an implement such as a rattan cane, wooden paddle, slipper, leather strap or wooden yardstick. Rosenczveig, Jean-Pierre (1 February 2008). [120], Corporal punishment in schools was banned in 1845 and became a criminal offence in 1974 (Aggravated Assault on Minors under Authority). Although there was usually less ceremony about it than the cane, the slipper, if wielded sufficiently enthusiastically, could deliver a salutary lesson. What did CP in British schools involve? Several more Labour-controlled LEAs followed suit in the early 1980s. One common method was to have the offender stretch across a desk, as in the fictional film still reproduced at the top of this page (from Melody, 1971). The Rules authorising this should be repealed. [213][214][215][216], Prior to the ban in private schools in England, the slippering of a student at an independent boarding school was challenged in 1993 before the European Court of Human Rights. WebThe movie is set in a girl's high school, where the teachers liberally dish out corporal punishment, like beatings, on the students. Punishment of this type was used in schools up until 1988/ 90 when it was banned. As far as is known, corporal punishment was nowhere systematically made a matter of choice either for parents or students, as is nowadays routine in some American schools. Corporal punishment in Norwegian schools was strongly restricted in 1889, and was banned outright in 1936. Newcastle) this was given to both sexes on the hands, as in Scotland. [4][5], In the English-speaking world, the use of corporal punishment in schools has historically been justified by the common-law doctrine in loco parentis, whereby teachers are considered authority figures granted the same rights as parents to discipline and punish children in their care if they do not adhere to the set rules. Nor, it judged, did the punishment violate the boy's "moral or physical integrity". School corporal punishment, historically widespread, was outlawed in different states via their administrative law at different times. Text of legislation prohibiting corporal punishment of any student, whether in a state or independent school, whose education is to any extent publicly funded. The schools claimed that their "freedom of belief", as protected by human rights legislation, was infringed because it was their Christian belief that naughty children should be spanked. When parents or teachers use spanking, it doesnt lead to the desired outcomes in discipline or teach children how to regulate their [citation needed], Much of the traditional culture that surrounds corporal punishment in school, at any rate in the English-speaking world, derives largely from British practice in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly as regards the caning of teenage boys. Its use was particularly prevalent in the gym in the hands of physical education or "PE" teachers. R v Secretary of State for Education and Employment and Others ex parte Williamson and Others One also hears of rulers having been rapped across knuckles, but I am not sure if this was common. [126], The Education Act of 2008 prohibits all corporal punishment in schools. So too is this 1945 case in which a bare-bottom slippering at a prep school was held not to be excessive or unreasonable. Certainly a hard slippering of several whacks would be eye-wateringly more painful than a feeble caning, and could leave the student's backside bruised for some days. It sanctions the notion that it is meritorious to be violent toward our children, thereby devaluing them in society's eyes. (But see this 1973 newspaper article for a round-up of the caning situation then prevailing at seven "top" private schools. [8], Advocates of school corporal punishment[who?] However, the majority of punishments and main aim of them have remained the same in 2022. Web(1) Corporal punishment given by, or on the authority of, a member of staff to a child (a) for whom education is provided at any school, or (b) for whom education is provided, Two others, Kingston and Richmond, much more sensibly, came close to saying the opposite -- that caning of the hands was strongly discouraged as potentially injurious. He takes the view, which I tend to share, that corporal punishment, in the great scheme of things, is not actually a very important issue one way or the other. He went on to observe that "nature provided a special place for boys to be punished upon and it should be used". Anecdotal evidence suggests that boys tended to be caned harder than girls. Committee on the Rights of the Child (2001). In the UK, this is a state high school for boys aged 11 and over. In Ukraine, "physical or mental violence" against children is forbidden by the Constitution (Art.52.2) and the Law on Education (Art.51.1, since 1991) which states that students and other learners have the right "to the protection from any form of exploitation, physical and psychological violence, actions of pedagogical and other employees who violate the rights or humiliate their honour and dignity". [176], The proverb "If you love your cow, tie it up; if you love your child, beat him" is still considered "wisdom" and is held by many Thai parents and teachers. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Page updated May 2021, separate article about CP in Scottish schools, going back from caning to birching in 1904, article on Sharmans Cross High School in Solihull, made the slipper their "official" implement, campaigned aggressively in favour of keeping the cane, Children sent to Caribbean for 'basic' schooling, The Cane and the Tawse in Scottish Schools, In Loco Parentis, Corporal Punishment and the Moral Economy of Discipline in English Schools, 1945-1986, R v Secretary of State for Education and Employment and Others, Public schoolboy awarded 8,000 for caning ordeal, Scottish cases helped to ban the beatings, Parents win right to forbid school caning, The Debate on Corporal Punishment before the European Commission and European Court of Human Rights (1978-1998), Hansard: New clause 21: Corporal punishment, Text of England and Wales law banning corporal punishment in all schools, House of Commons: Corporal punishment lawful with parental consent. The Cane and the Tawse in Scottish Schools [114], On 25 January 2000, the Supreme Court of Israel issued the landmark Plonit decision ruling that "corporal punishment of children by their parents is never educational", "always causes serious harm to the children" and "is indefensible". The Ministry of Education has stipulated a maximum of three strokes per occasion. Other things being equal, each stroke of the cane was probably therefore sharper in its effect than in the days when trousers were made of wool and underpants of heavy flannel. [139][140][141], This was criminalised on 23 July 1990,[142] when Section 139A of the Education Act 1989 was inserted by the Education Amendment Act 1990. It was located in the extensive docks area near Tower Bridge in the East End of London. Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, Report of corporal punishment of children in Luxembourg 2013, Legilux, Lgislation sur les mesures de discipline dans les coles 2015, Department of Education, Administrative Memorandum 531, 1956. [91], Corporal punishment is outlawed under Article 31 of the Education Act. Education Act 1996, section 548 As far as I know, this is what the 1986 legislation already said, so perhaps this was just a consolidating act. In primary schools (ages 5 to 11), and in the pre-1950s all-through elementary schools (age up to 13), slapping with the hand, applied to bottoms or hands or arms or legs, appears to have been the physical punishment of choice. [190][191] Any teacher who engages in the practice would not only lose their job and teaching license, but will also face criminal prosecution for engaging in violence against minors and will also face child abuse charges. According to the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, "All children and young people have a right to be treated well. [6] It lets school officials stand in for parents as comparable authority figures. [84][80][85], In 2004 (Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada), the Supreme Court of Canada outlawed corporal punishment in all schools, public or private. [172] Those who broke this law risked losing job and career; as a result, this historically well-entrenched practice soon disappeared. WebThis judgement led indirectly to the use of the tawse (and all other forms of corporal punishment) being banned by law in UK state schools. [8], The Society for Adolescent Medicine recommends developing "a milieu of effective communication, in which the teacher displays an attitude of respect for the students", as well as instruction that is stimulating and appropriate to student's abilities, various nonviolent behaviour modification techniques, and involving students and parents in making decisions about school matters such as rules and educational goals. Anyway, the issue was never tested in the Human Rights Court, as the applicant eventually accepted a "friendly settlement", i.e. removal from a class or group. Some might feel that it would be difficult to think of a more appropriate case for a smart swishing. Most secondary schools (whether independent, autonomous or government-controlled), and also some primary schools, use caning to deal with misconduct by boys. [182][183] Anecdotal evidence suggests that the caning of girls is not particularly unusual, and that they are just as likely to be caned as boys. The boy's mother removed him from the school shortly afterwards, but persisted with this legal action, which must have cost the taxpayer many thousands of pounds. [7], An estimated 1 to 2 percent of physically punished students in the United States are seriously injured, to the point of needing medical attention. In the remaining private schools it was banned in 1999 in England and Wales, 2000 in Scotland, and 2003 in Northern Ireland. If administered vigorously, this would leave painful weals or "tramlines" across the student's posterior lasting several days, and often some bruising as well. (4) Guide to LEAs' Corporal Punishment Regulations in England and Wales, Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment, Croydon, 1979. (2) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to such person." Again, practice varied widely. Corporal punishment sets clear boundaries and motivates children to behave in school. To that extent the plaintiffs, who had initially claimed a breach of Article 3 ("inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"), in fact lost their case, a fact almost unnoticed when the outcome was reported. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there are three broad rationales for the use of corporal punishment in schools: beliefs, based in traditional religion, that adults have a right, if not a duty, to physically punish misbehaving children; a disciplinary philosophy that corporal punishment builds character, being necessary for the development of a child's conscience and their respect for adult authority figures; and beliefs concerning the needs and rights of teachers, specifically that corporal punishment is essential for maintaining order and control in the classroom. [19] [citation needed] Other communist regimes followed suit: for instance, corporal punishment was "unknown" by students in North Korea in 2007. [212], By the 1970s, in the wake of the protest about school corporal punishment by thousands of school pupils who walked out of school to protest outside the Houses Of Parliament on 17 May 1972, corporal punishment was toned down in many state-run schools, and whilst many only used it as a last resort for misbehaving pupils, some state-run schools banned corporal punishment completely, most notably, London's Primary Schools, who had already began phasing out corporal punishment in the late 1960s. In fact it had no such effect, and the Head Teachers' union advised its members to continue to be "cautious" about using CP on girls. WebCorporal punishment was common in schools for thousands of years as a punishment for bad behaviour. In 2008 a new round of controversy over the issue was set off when a survey found that one teacher in five, and almost a quarter of all secondary-school teachers, would still like to see corporal punishment reinstated. [197], The implement used in many state and private schools in England and Wales was often a rattan cane, struck either across the student's hands, legs, or the clothed buttocks. "[116] Soon after, a new Pupils' Rights Law, 5760-2000 established (art. It was not completely abolished everywhere until 1983. [23][89], Colombian private and public schools were banned from using "penalties involving physical or psychological abuse" through the Children and Adolescents Code 2006, though it is not clear whether this also applies to indigenous communities. (3) A point of view dating back at least to 1903. NASUWT members tended to complain that the NUT was much too dominated by female primary-school teachers who had no experience of the problems facing teaching staff in tough secondary schools. Examples of punishments (sometimes called sanctions) include: a telling-off. [168][169][170] Anecdotal evidence suggests that the caning of girls is not particularly unusual, and that they might be as likely to be caned as boys. Certainly, from the late 1970s onwards, it put out plenty of controversial propaganda, especially in the form of letters to local newspapers, but there is some evidence that the real push for abolition within a number of LEAs came rather more from left-wing Labour councillors in collaboration with a far-left ginger group within the National Union of Teachers (NUT) called "Rank and File", with which STOPP's (always small) membership somewhat overlapped. [12] According to the United States Department of Education, more than 216,000 students were subjected to corporal punishment during the 200809 school year. However, there are no prohibitions of it at home. ", "Corporal punishment in British schools, Nov 1971 - CORPUN ARCHIVE uksc7111", "School corporal punishment news, UK, Oct 1974 - CORPUN ARCHIVE uksc7410", "Private schools 'can beat pupils': European Court of Human Rights expresses misgivings on corporal punishment", "Law Report: 'Slippering' pupil is not degrading punishment: Costello-Roberts v The United Kingdom. Mass punishments in front of the class are common, and the large number of corporal punishment scenes in films suggest that caning is an accepted cultural norm in education. In some Middle Eastern countries whipping is used. [113], A 1994 Supreme Court ruling in The State of Israel v Alagani declared that "corporal punishment cannot constitute a legitimate tool in the hands of teachers or other educators", applicable to both state and private schools. ", "Flashback: Corporal punishment in school was lawful until 1990", "The cane and the strap Hard News Public Address", "Education Act 1989 - New Zealand Legislation", "202C: Assault with weapon - Crimes Act 1961 No 43 as of 18 April 2012 - New Zealand Legislation", "School in corporal punishment spotlight", Corporal punishment of children in Norway, "PAKISTAN: Corporal punishment key reason for school dropouts", Corporal punishment of children in the Russian Federation, "DCI Sierra Leone urges the Government to prohibit: "all corporal punishment of children", "Sierra Leone | Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children", "To hit or not to hit: The use of the cane in schools in Sierra Leone", "SCHOOL CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: Video clip: Sierra Leone", "WORLD CORPORAL PUNISHMENT WEB LINKS: corporal punishment in schools", "Speech by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Acting Minister for Education", "Singapore: Corporal punishment in schools", "South African Schools Act, 1996, Chapter 2: Learners, Section 10: Prohibition of corporal punishment", "CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: video clips: schoolgirl canings in South Korea", "SCHOOL CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SOUTH KOREA", Global Initiative to End Corporal Punishment - Spain State Report, "Changing concepts of Grammar School teacher authority in Sweden 1927-1965", "Corporal punishment of children in Thailand", "WORLD CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: COUNTRY FILES, INCLUDING REGULATIONS, DESCRIPTIONS AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS - page 3: countries T to Z", "In Thailand, Students Take on the Military (and 'Death Eaters')", "Strict discipline at Thai schools by Richard McCully", "Many Thais favour use of cane for unruly youths: poll", "SCHOOL CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: video clips: Thailand 3", "Teacher in hot water for caning students 100 to 300 times", "End pupils' fear of teachers' canes (2018)", http://www.khda.gov.ae/pages/en/commonQuestionssch.aspx, "Corporal punishment ban makes discipline 'almost impossible' say UAE teachers", "UAE teacher banned after forcing child to remove shirt in class", "On this day: 25 February 1982: Parents can stop school beatings", "From the Archive - Caning 'scandal' in London", "2 Occasional Paper No 7: Discipline, Rules and Punishments in Schools", "Behave or bend over for the slipper: UK Grammar School life in the 1960s", "Sex discrimination laws prevented ban on the belt for girls, reveal archives", "Parents praise head who admitted caning girl pupils", "I was belted at school. WebSchool corporal punishment, historically widespread, was outlawed in different states via their administrative law at different times. [10] (46 of these countries also prohibited corporal punishment of children in the home as of May 2015). (To a cynical young audience today, this will no doubt sound like what is inevitably nowadays called "abuse", but it felt perfectly reasonable in the context of the time.). The caning of sixth-formers (up to and including age 18) was much less common, but by no means unknown, as in this 1959 grammar-school case and at two Croydon boys' schools as late as the early 1980s. One education committee, Romford (then in Essex but now part of Greater London), unusually banned public CP in 1961 after six girls were caned in front of 600 schoolmates. Effects of Corporal Punishment The only rule laid down by central government was that all formal CP was supposed to be recorded in a punishment book.(1). He had previously been caned at his prep school, without complaint. It should also be noted that the Article 2 claim stood up only because there were no alternative non-belting state schools within reach, and the parents in question could not afford private schools. More often, though, "getting the cane" was a punishment that (unlike detention) at least had the advantage, from the student's point of view, that with any luck one's parents might not get to hear about it. This is the legislation voted into law on 25 March 1998, which took effect the following year. The most common reported injuries were bumps and contusions. Some restricted the number of staff permitted to inflict CP, e.g. To put this in context, it should be remembered that the 1970s and early 1980s in Britain was a period when the extreme left was successfully infiltrating many local Labour Parties and several trade unions. There had been disputes about CP since the early days of universal state education. WebBeyond this, even in countries where corporal punishment is not part of the justice system, such as China, it is still largely used within family homes and many schools. [117], Although banned in 1947, corporal punishment is still commonly found in schools in the 2010s and particularly widespread in school sports clubs. All that was the situation as at 1979. Three (Newcastle, Shropshire, Wiltshire) said exactly the opposite: that there should be a cooling-off period before discipline was administered.(4). My suspicion that there isn't really a solid consensus about this, and that perhaps an apparent consensus on the final outcome is being fabricated for reasons of political expediency, is strengthened by the fact that one of the judges here, Baroness Hale, goes so far as to say that she is "deeply troubled" by the approach adopted by the Court of Appeal. The only thing on which everybody seems to agree is that, for better or worse, there is no realistic prospect of CP ever being restored in Britain. WebExtraordinary records reveal how corporal punishment was meted out in our schools Headmaster only permitted to use a 'thin flexible cane' Youngsters were given smacks There is no single, simple answer. The idea of parental consent was largely unknown, but a few schools did send a letter home with the student after the event, or listed the punishments received in the pupil's end-of-term report. The request, if granted, would be fulfilled forthwith, and the slate thereby wiped clean. According to one report, corporal punishment is a key reason for school dropouts and subsequently, street children, in Pakistan; as many as 35,000 high school pupils are said to drop out of the education system each year because they have been punished or abused in school. In Scotland, it was banned in 2000, and in Northern Ireland in 2003. [193][194] In other private schools, it was banned in 1998 (England and Wales), 2000 (Scotland) and 2003 (Northern Ireland). argue that it provides an immediate response to indiscipline so that the student is quickly back in the classroom learning, unlike suspension from school. [ 24] [citation needed] In late 1987, about 60% of junior high school teachers felt it was necessary, with 7% believing it was necessary in all conditions, 59% believing it should be applied sometimes and 32% disapproving of it in all circumstances; while at elementary (primary) schools, 2% supported it unconditionally, 47% felt it was necessary and 49% disapproved. It is a myth that abolition was overwhelmingly demanded by school pupils themselves. A similar justification exists in Chinese-speaking countries. [217] The Court ruled 54 in that case that the punishment was not severe enough to infringe the student's "freedom from degrading punishment" under article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. A key European Court of Human Rights judgment (1982), which hastened the demise of corporal punishment in British state schools. This was a rare case of the media writing about the existence of the slipper in their coverage of school CP, which usually dealt only with the cane. As reported in these February 2005 news items, the highest court in the land dismissed their claims, upholding government and parliament in the 1998 blanket prohibition of all and any school CP. [82][83] This was used on boys and girls alike. WebCorporal punishment not only violates childrens fundamental rights to dignity and bodily integrity but can have long-lasting implications for their life-chances by reducing their I seriously doubt whether more than a minute fraction of ordinary people share this view. One of them was never even threatened with it, but his mother failed to get an assurance from the school that he would not be belted in some future hypothetical circumstance. Wind forward nearly 70 years, and their unique, historic memories - and the sense of camaraderie and community that came with them - are marked in print and picture. Headmasters, too, could be robust in defence of their right to use corporal punishment, as seen in this June 1968 report from their annual conference. [20] In the 1960s, Soviet visitors to western schools expressed shock at the canings there. Among the majority of mainstream state secondary schools, caning (usually across the seat of a bending student's trousers) had been particularly prevalent in boys-only schools of all types, from mediaeval grammar schools(5) to brand-new secondaries modern. Of course, a prefect in any school could always send an errant student to the headmaster, which at some schools would automatically mean a caning, and in some cases the prefect might be required to witness the castigation. In this 1894 court case, a clearly out-of-control teacher was successfully prosecuted and fined for assault. Reading between the lines, I wonder whether the whole thing was pursued by the mother rather against the boy's wish, and since by the time the case reached Strasbourg he had become an adult, he was able to decide for himself to back out. To me, this decision seems perverse. [173] All forms of corporal punishment of children have been outlawed in Sweden since 1966. [196] The regular depiction of caning in British novels about school life from the 19th century onwards, as well as movies such as If., which includes a dramatic scene of boys caned by prefects, contributed to the French perception of caning as being central to the British educational system. An extract from the ubiquitous polymath's memoir Moab Is My Washpot (1997). Opponents, including many medical and psychological societies, along with human-rights groups, argue that physical punishment is ineffective in the long term, interferes with learning, leads to antisocial behavior as well as causing low self-esteem and other forms of mental distress, and is a form of violence that breaches the rights of children. No source is cited for this claim. They include the American Medical Association,[26] the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,[11] the AAP,[7][27][28] the Society for Adolescent Medicine,[8][29] the American Psychological Association,[30] the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health,[31][32] the Royal College of Psychiatrists,[33] the Canadian Paediatric Society[34] and the Australian Psychological Society,[35] as well as the United States' National Association of Secondary School Principals. [50], Corporal punishment in schools was banned in Austria in 1974. [49] According to the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, "Prohibition is still to be achieved in the home in all states/territories and in alternative care settings, day care, schools and penal institutions in some states/territories". U. L. Rev. Campbell and Cosans case Article 17 states: "(1) No child shall be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment. From the 1917 Russian revolution onwards, corporal punishment was outlawed in the Soviet Union, because it was deemed contrary to communist ideology. Various emails have told me that boys were occasionally caned, but punishment