corporal punishment in schools uk
[88], Some Canadian provinces banned corporal punishment in public schools prior to the national ban in 2004. Several more Labour-controlled LEAs followed suit in the early 1980s. If the modern system of "school choice" had been in operation then -- or even if the local education authority had made an effort quietly to find ways of satisfying the requirements of a tiny number of (in my personal view) cranky parents, instead of being so arrogant and rigid about the whole thing -- the case would never have got off the ground and things might have gone differently over the last 40 years. 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, [ 24] The punishment was administered by the headmaster, Mr Blackshaw, who allegedly took a run-up at each stroke (though this was denied by the authorities). Includes an excellent gallery of historical drawings and numerous other illustrations as well as some well-chosen historical texts. I think we can probably view this case as the absolutely final and definitive nail in the coffin of school CP in Britain. [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". [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. Also, some schools, even new-built comprehensive ones, introduced a system of "students' courts" at which a recommendation for CP might be one of the "sentencing" options available, but this was subject to confirmation by the teachers in charge, and it would be a member of staff who delivered the actual punishment. (7) National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers. They suggest that student self-governance can be an effective alternative for managing disruptive classroom behaviour, while stressing the importance of adequate training and support for teachers. [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. [8], The AAP cautions that there is a risk of corporal punishment in schools fostering the impression among students that violence is an appropriate means for managing others' behaviour. [158][159][160], Corporal punishment is legal in Singapore schools, for male students only (it is illegal to inflict it on female students) and fully encouraged by the government in order to maintain discipline. [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. [221] It is still common in some schools in the South, and more than 167,000 students were paddled in the 20112012 school year in American public schools. It remains commonplace in a number of countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East (see list of countries, below). also constituted "philosophical convictions" and that they were therefore being denied an education in accordance therewith, since no schools are now allowed to use any corporal punishment. 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. The article is illustrated with pictures of a gym shoe said to have been used for the purpose at a different school in the 1970s. The student might be asked to stand in front of it and put his or her hands or elbows on the seat, or to stand behind it and bend over its back. Some (Barnet, Brent, Clwyd, Derbyshire, Mid-Glamorgan, Oxfordshire) forbade the caning of girls other than on their hands while explicitly stating that boys could be disciplined either on the hands or on the clothed buttocks. WebSchool corporal punishment: The High School Cane: a Eulogy, a thoughtful comment on the cane's usefulness and efficacy in keeping mischievous teenage schoolboys in order, [6] It lets school officials stand in for parents as comparable authority figures. But this was unusual, and the great majority of slipperings in British schools are believed to have gone unrecorded. True, a flurry of activity by the very short-lived "Schools Action Union" in 1972 briefly gained some press publicity, but this was a tiny, and almost certainly highly unrepresentative, group based entirely in a small number of London schools and manipulated, if not indeed created, by older students on the far left. Corporal punishment was banned in Soviet (and hence, Ukrainian) schools in 1917. (3) Richmond was also unusual in adding that girls, unlike boys, must not be caned at all, though they could be slapped with the open hand. Attempts to push through local bans in Cardiff (1968) and Liverpool had both collapsed in the face of hostility from head teachers. Probably the most significant exception is that gym/PE teachers, at any rate in some boys' secondary schools, would occasionally mete out slipperings in the changing room, where recipients might happen to be in a state of undress at the crucial moment. [132], Caning and other forms of corporal punishment in schools was abolished in 1920. [3] There is a vast amount of literature on this, in both popular and serious culture. [222] Students can be physically punished from kindergarten to the end of high school, meaning that even legal adults who have reached the age of majority are sometimes spanked by school officials. [119] An education ministry survey found that more than 10,000 students received illegal corporal punishment from more than 5,000 teachers across Japan in 2012 fiscal year alone. [2] However, some schools in Alberta had been using the strap up until the ban in 2004. The most common reported injuries were bumps and contusions. [171][184][185][186][187], In Uganda, it is common practice for teachers to attempt to control large, overcrowded classes by corporal punishment. This right includes a non-violent education and upbringing Consequently, all forms of physical and humiliating punishment are prohibited". [7], School teachers and policymakers often rely on personal anecdotes to argue that school corporal punishment improves students' behavior and achievements. [10], Corporal punishment in the context of schools in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has been variously defined as: causing deliberate pain to a child in response to the child's undesired behavior and/or language,[11] "purposeful infliction of bodily pain or discomfort by an official in the educational system upon a student as a penalty for unacceptable behavior",[7] and "intentional application of physical pain as a means of changing behavior" (not the occasional use of physical restraint to protect student or others from immediate harm).[8]. This academic paper (2018) is very interesting despite some woolly jargon. 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. (3) A point of view dating back at least to 1903. (6) Back in 1914 that same union went so far as to claim that all teachers, not just head teachers, had the right to cane, and that this right "must not be interfered with by local regulations" -- a position they never in fact achieved. In most of continental Europe, school corporal punishment has been banned for several decades or longer, depending on the country (see the list of countries below). [79], In public schools, the usual implement was a rubber/canvas/leather strap applied to the hands or sometimes, legs,[80][81] while private schools sometimes used a paddle or cane administered to the student's posterior. 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. The method has been criticised by some children's rights activists who claim that many cases of corporal punishment in schools have resulted in physical and mental abuse of schoolchildren. In many countries, like Thailand, where the corporal punishment of students is technically illegal, it remains widespread and accepted in practice (for both boys and girls). In the remaining private schools it was banned in 1999 in England and Wales, 2000 in Scotland, and 2003 in Northern Ireland. Only 13% of the worlds children Private schools, about which even fewer generalisations are possible, will have to await separate treatment elsewhere. [167], However, caning is still known to be practised indiscriminately on both boys and girls. [225], Corporal punishment is technically unlawful in schools under article 75 of the Education Law 2005,[226] but there is no clear statement that corporal punishment is prohibited. CP in girls-only schools was, by all accounts, very rare. The Compulsory Education Law of 1986 states: "It shall be forbidden to inflict physical punishment on students". 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. [206][207][208] Nearly 6 in 10 girls were strapped in school. [110][111], In the law of the Republic of Ireland, corporal punishment was prohibited in 1982 by an administrative decision of John Boland, the Minister for Education, which applied to national schools (most primary schools) and to secondary schools receiving public funding (practically all of them). (2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a sentence which could be imposed for assault.[165]. [209] In a few English cities, a strap was used instead of the cane. [99] The systematic use of corporal punishment has been absent from French schools since the 19th century. [156][157] Harsh caning of girls and boys remains very common in schools. According to the Children and Adolescents Code, "The child and adolescent has the right to good treatment, comprising a non-violent upbringing and education Any physical, violent and humiliating punishment is prohibited". WebCorporal punishment was banned in private schools in England in 1999. WebCorporal punishment is illegal in schools in a total of 132 countries. Then in 1977/78 came the National Union of School Students, marginally longer-lasting but scarcely any more representative of pupils generally. See likewise Children sent to Caribbean for 'basic' schooling, a news report from July 1996, and UK Ugandans rush kids to Kampala schools, from May 1998. [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 humorous take on how to bend over for the cane, from Terry Deary, "Cruel Crime And Painful Punishment", illustrated by Mike Phillips, in the "Horrible Histories" series, Scholastic Children's Books, London, 2002. The author finds that, "far from being a relic of a cruel Victorian past, corporal punishment became more frequent and institutionalised in 20th-century England", but seems to overlook the obvious fact that the main reason it became more prevalent was that the number of secondary-school students soared, as the age up to which education was compulsory was steadily increased by law over the decades. [126], The Education Act of 2008 prohibits all corporal punishment in schools. [210], Schools had to keep a record of punishments inflicted,[211] and there are occasional press reports of examples of these "punishment books" having survived. (4) Guide to LEAs' Corporal Punishment Regulations in England and Wales, Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment, Croydon, 1979. Contrary to popular myth, the court found that corporal punishment, of the kind then routinely administered in Scottish schools, was not of itself a breach of the Human Rights Convention. Webjudicial corporal punishment example 27 Feb. judicial corporal punishment example. He was often caned at Stouts Hill prep school around 1970, but harbours no grudges. 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. However, there was one element of "voluntary CP" at some state boys' schools, like Maidenhead Grammar School (as also at some independent schools, such as Emanuel School in London), where it was understood that a student who had accumulated other punishments, such as detentions or impositions, could present himself at the headmaster's office and apply to be "swished" instead. [8], Advocates of school corporal punishment[who?] [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. In this article about a secondary modern school in Norfolk in the 1950s, it is claimed that boys were slippered hard on the backside, sometimes with "six of the best", while girls were rulered on their hands. L. Rev. WebWhat was corporal punishment in schools in England? A left-wing back-bench move in Parliament to ban CP at national level failed by 181 votes to 120 in 1976. The 100+ local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales -- created in 1902 to replace the old local school boards -- formulated their own rules, or in some cases decided not to have any rules. The article makes no mention of caning. School corporal punishment, historically widespread, was outlawed in different states via their administrative law at different times. [47][48], Legislation also varies among states and territories with regard to corporal punishment meted out to children in other care settings. 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. In 1977, the Supreme Court ruling in Ingraham v. Wright held that the Eighth Amendment clause prohibiting "cruel and unusual punishments" did not apply to school students, and that teachers could punish children without parental permission. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2010 provide for implementation of the Act, including awareness raising about the rights in the Act, procedures for monitoring implementation, and complaints mechanisms when the rights are violated. About half of all LEAs said that only women teachers could punish girls, but only two, Inner London and Oxfordshire, also laid down that only men could cane boys. [128][129] The cane is applied on the students' buttocks, calves or palms of the hands in front of the class. At least one (Bradford) laid down that the punishment must follow as soon as possible after the offence. Manchester Grammar School was exceptional in going back from caning to birching in 1904 and in 1907 staunchly defending the practice as greatly preferable to caning. With the troubles with some pupils at some schools that you hear about on the News, the [118] As recently as December 2012, a high school student died by suicide after having been constantly beaten by his basketball coach. [174], In Tanzania, corporal punishment in schools is widely practised and has led to lasting damage, including the death of a punished pupil. The Rules authorising this should be repealed. 14229/88 It was not completely abolished everywhere "I'd pull their tracksuits down and cane their bare bottoms until their cheeks burned red and they wept with pain and shame", she wrote in the influential Daily Mail. In particular, evidence does not suggest that it enhances moral character development, increases students' respect for teachers or other authority figures, or offers greater security for teachers. [96], Corporal punishment in public schools was banned in 1914, but remained de facto commonplace until 1984, when a law banning all corporal punishment of minors, whether in schools or in the home, was introduced. [7] According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, "Corporal punishment signals to the child that a way to settle interpersonal conflicts is to use physical force and inflict pain". Newcastle) this was given to both sexes on the hands, as in Scotland. The legislation came into force in 1987, but most Scottish local education authorities had already abolished it Liberal regions in South Korea have completely banned all forms of caning beginning with Gyeonggi Province in 2010, followed by Seoul Metropolitan City, Gangwon Province, Gwangju Metropolitan City and North Jeolla Province in 2011. The move failed, but the debate is not without interest. WebCorporal punishment was common in schools for thousands of years as a punishment for bad behaviour. Such documentary evidence as is available tends to show that third-, fourth- and fifth-formers (ages 13 to 16 inclusive) were by far the most frequent beneficiaries. 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, Much of it seems rather subjective, and I can't entirely avoid the feeling when reading judgments of this kind that the judges are, to put the matter in demotic terms, "just playing with words" or "making it up as they go along". Web51K views 2 years ago. [162] This is administered in a formal ceremony by the school management after due deliberation, not by classroom teachers. Opinions seem to have differed quite widely; at all events, the national authorities remained unpersuaded that CP for girls should be banned altogether, though one or two LEAs did so, and many others strongly discouraged it. 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corporal punishment in schools uk