corporal punishment in schools uk

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. [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. [161] Only a light rattan cane may be used. It had been very regularly used on both boys and girls in certain schools for centuries prior to the ban. [21] In mainland China, corporal punishment in schools was outlawed in 1986,[22] although the practice remains common, especially in rural areas. He was often caned at Stouts Hill prep school around 1970, but harbours no grudges. 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. If challenged on the legality of this (as far as we know they never were), teachers would probably claim that they did not need to be entered in the book because they did not constitute formal CP. [8], Advocates of school corporal punishment[who?] The medical evidence was that the marks on his bottom were already fading by the following day. This academic paper (2018) is very interesting despite some woolly jargon. When parents or teachers use spanking, it doesnt lead to the desired outcomes in discipline or teach children how to regulate their Various emails have told me that boys were occasionally caned, but punishment An equivalent law for Scotland came into force in 2000. Corporal punishment used to be prevalent in schools in many parts of the world, but in recent decades it has been outlawed in 128 countries including all of Europe, most of South America, as well as in Canada, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and several other countries. [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. The European Court of Human Rights first challenged corporal punishment of children in 1978. The UK government argued, unsuccessfully, that opinions about corporal punishment did not amount to "philosophical convictions". 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. A 'reasonable chastisement' 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, In some countries, almost all students report being physically Its use by ordinary teachers in grammar schools had been outlawed in 1928. The beneficiary would emerge sore and stinging, but with suddenly a lot more free time. Stephen Fry on Corporal Punishment Concern had been raised among doctors as long ago as 1934 about the possible medical dangers of caning schoolgirls, who (it was suggested) might well be suffering nervous strain and/or pain already as a consequence of menstruation. WebEuropean Court of Human Rights. "[108][109], However, corporal punishment is still widely prevalent in schools in Indian rural communities. WebIn the mid-20th century, discipline and punishment in English schools was relatively benign. [200] Striking the buttocks (or sometimes hands) with a rubber-soled gym shoe, or plimsoll shoe (called slippering), was also widely used in many schools. [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. Newcastle) this was given to both sexes on the hands, as in Scotland. Copyright C. Farrell 2008-2021 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. ", "Web linnks: corporal punishment in schools", "Supreme Court takes strap out of teachers' hands", "Corporal Punishment ~ Canada's Human Rights History", "New measures taken in schools to improve teacher-student relations", "Colombia country report - Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children", "Kansakoulun perustamisesta 150 vuotta lukemisen pelttiin laiskistavan", "Lasten ruumiillinen kuritus kiellettiin 30 vuotta sitten viel joka neljs tukistaa", "It's 40 years since corporal punishment got a general boot", http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/country-reports/India.pdf, "Corporal punishment against children and the law", "Teacher suspended over video of beating boy", "15-Year-Old Dies By Suicide After Being Beaten Up By Teacher, Suspended From School", "R.R. Corporal punishment is also unlawful in private schools in Iowa and New Jersey. [ 24] Several more Labour-controlled LEAs followed suit in the early 1980s. [204][205] This was wielded in primary as well as secondary schools for both trivial and serious offences, and girls got belted as well as boys. Any individual school could choose not to use CP. Eventually, all forms of corporal punishment were banned in Spain in 2007.[172]. "Bend over!" The request, if granted, would be fulfilled forthwith, and the slate thereby wiped clean. [177] Corporal punishment (especially caning) on students of both genders remains common[178][179][180][181] and accepted in practice. [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". School: 1999 In this long-running series, the use of corporal punishment in South Korean schools is shown. According to the AAP and the Society for Adolescent Medicine, these injuries have included bruises, abrasions, broken bones, whiplash injury, muscle damage, brain injury, and even death. 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. Attempts to push through local bans in Cardiff (1968) and Liverpool had both collapsed in the face of hostility from head teachers. The Cane and the Tawse in Scottish Schools The term corporal punishment derives from the Latin word for the "body", corpus. Around 60% of children aged 214 years regularly suffer physical punishment by their parents or other caregivers. [223] American legal scholars have argued that school paddling is unconstitutional and can cause lasting physical, emotional, and cognitive harm. Only 13% of the worlds children 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. Examples of punishments (sometimes called sanctions) include: a telling-off. Privately funded schools came a little bit later: 1998 in England and Wales, 2000 in 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. [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". In my own personal view as a non-lawyer, I find some of the argumentation quite difficult to follow. There are actually three different opinions here, by three judges who appear somewhat to disagree with each other, arriving at the same conclusion by different routes. Application No. Guidance from the government about the legal position in England concerning corporal punishment (not permitted) and other physical contact or reasonable force (still allowed). 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). [132], Caning and other forms of corporal punishment in schools was abolished in 1920. This kind of arrangement seems to have been typical of many secondary schools. Clearly, it is widely felt that the anarchy and chaos now evidently prevailing in so many state schools -- and the poor educational standards that result -- are due at least in part to the enforced absence of corporal punishment. In some cases, the punishment is carried out in front of the rest of the school instead of in private.[164]. Probably the most frequently used aid to punishment was a chair. It was not completely abolished everywhere 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. Much more often, though, in the rare instances where corporal punishment cases reached the stage of prosecution, heads and teachers were vindicated by the courts, which generally upheld the punishment as "reasonable" and therefore lawful. 575 (2003). In any case it has now been superseded by the following: Hansard: New clause 21: Corporal punishment (New URL) European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, 25 March 1993", "The States Where Teachers Can Still Spank Students", "Prohibition of all corporal punishment in Venezuela (2007)", "Promoting positive discipline in school", VIET NAM BRIEFING FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW 5th session, 2008, "Hanoi in shock after teacher beats primary school students for being late - VnExpress International", "SCHOOL CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: video clips: Vietnam - caning of schoolgirls", "SCHOOL CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: video clips: Vietnam - caning of secondary boys and girls", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=School_corporal_punishment&oldid=1136396437, Articles with Spanish-language sources (es), All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, CS1 Chinese (Malaysia)-language sources (zh-my), Articles with dead external links from July 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from December 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009, Articles lacking reliable references from March 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 03:29. A few Christian private schools held out, and fought the ban through the courts, ultimately without success (see links below). The court held that three whacks on the buttocks through shorts with a rubber-soled gym shoe, applied by the headmaster in private, did not constitute inhuman or degrading punishment. 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. Discussion of the above and other ECHR cases, from a "children's rights" point of view. [117], Although banned in 1947, corporal punishment is still commonly found in schools in the 2010s and particularly widespread in school sports clubs. Other crimes often punished corporally included bullying, cheating, insolence, missing detention, and truancy. There is no federal law addressing corporal punishment in public or private schools. In that year a sentence by the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof, case number NStZ 1993.591) was published which overruled the previous powers enshrined in unofficial customary law (Gewohnheitsrecht) and upheld by some regional appeal courts (Oberlandesgericht, Superior State Court) even in the 1970s. WebIn the UK, corporal punishment in state-funded schools has been outlawed since 1986. Others, though, including probably most politicians and "experts", will still defend abolition as the right decision on balance, or at least as inevitable under European human-rights legislation. 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. (But see this 1973 newspaper article for a round-up of the caning situation then prevailing at seven "top" private schools. 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. 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. CP in primary schools seems generally to have tailed off rather earlier than in secondary schools: common enough in the early 1950s, it was clearly less so by the end of the 1960s, though it had by no means disappeared everywhere even in the early 1980s, as these punishment-book extracts show. [198][199], Sometimes, a long ruler was used on the bare legs or hands instead of a cane. The legislation came into force in 1987, but most Scottish local education authorities had already abolished it After all, the boy had a history of bullying, and was a tough lad -- captain of the rugby team, for heaven's sake. ", "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. Corporal punishment According to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, "Children do not lose their human rights by virtue of passing through the school gates the use of corporal punishment does not respect the inherent dignity of the child nor the strict limits on school discipline". WebSchools Corporal punishment is prohibited in all state and private schools, but it has yet to be enacted in relation to some unregistered independent settings providing 1992 judgment by the Human Rights Court about a seven-year-old who was slippered at a boarding prep school. 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. This optional facility was known in some schools as "getting your detentions caned off". WebWhat was corporal punishment in schools in England? [7], A number of international human-rights organizations including the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have stated that physical punishment of any kind is a violation of children's human rights.[37][38][39]. See also this May 1978 news item about unofficial slippering at a famous boys' comprehensive school in inner London. Costello-Roberts v United Kingdom Most teachers would hold the implement by its heel and apply the sole to the offender, but some maintained that it was even more effective the other way round, with the heavier heel end being the part that made contact. ), The state education system in England and Wales used to be highly decentralised, and there were always wide variations of practice between schools, even between different schools of the same kind in the same area. Most secondary schools (whether independent, autonomous or government-controlled), and also some primary schools, use caning to deal with misconduct by boys. WebA key European Court of Human Rights judgment (1982), which hastened the demise of corporal punishment in British state schools. It is interesting that the judge in that case deprecated caning on the hands and boxing the ears, and said they were "exceedingly dangerous forms of punishment". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [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". Clearly, all the school authorities actually did wrong was to fail to spell out, in their information to prospective parents, that corporal punishment was a possible consequence of misbehaviour -- though I think they might have been forgiven for assuming that anybody who knew anything about anything would have been perfectly well aware that that was an entirely normal practice at boys' independent prep schools at the time. 9146/80 [115] This decision repealed section 7 of article 27 of the Civil Wrongs Ordinance 1944, which provided a defence for the use of corporal punishment in childrearing, and stated that "the law imposes an obligation on state authorities to intervene in the family unit and to protect the child when necessary, including from his parents. Other kinds of punishment were more damaging, he suggests. 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. Sit-ups with ears pulled and arms crossed, kneeling, and standing on the bench in the classroom are other forms of punishment used in schools. R (Williamson) v Secretary of State for Education and Employment (2005) was an unsuccessful challenge to the prohibition of corporal punishment contained in the Education Act 1996, by several headmasters of private Christian schools who argued that it was a breach of their religious freedom. A similar justification exists in Chinese-speaking countries. Anyway, the issue was never tested in the Human Rights Court, as the applicant eventually accepted a "friendly settlement", i.e. [UPDATE: This is more or less what later happened in Williamson, the "Christian schools" case, see above.]. [92], Corporal punishment was prohibited in the public schools in Copenhagen Municipality in 1951 and by law in all schools of Denmark on 14 June 1967. [201], In Scotland, a leather strap, the tawse (sometimes called a belt), administered to the palms of the hands, was universal in state schools,[202][203] but some private schools used the cane. 294 of 2002 gives the authority to order corporal punishment to the headmaster of a school, who can delegate to any teacher on a case-by-case basis. WebNew laws which came into force at midnight allow mild smacking but criminalise any physical punishment which causes visible bruising. A few schools made the slipper their "official" implement, administered it formally in the office, entered the slipperings in the punishment book, and did not use the cane at all. Some of the rugby shorts seen here probably cover painful "tramlines" acquired during a recent visit to the headmaster's study -- in some cases perhaps voluntarily. [97][98], Caning was not unknown for French students in the 19th century, but they were described as "extremely sensitive" to corporal punishment and tended to make a "fuss" about its imposition. 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. ", "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. 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. Anecdotal evidence suggests that boys tended to be caned harder than girls. [citation needed] Other communist regimes followed suit: for instance, corporal punishment was "unknown" by students in North Korea in 2007. [150], In 1783, Poland became the first country in the world to prohibit corporal punishment. [25], A number of medical, pediatric or psychological societies have issued statements opposing all forms of corporal punishment in schools, citing such outcomes as poorer academic achievements, increases in antisocial behaviours, injuries to students, and an unwelcoming learning environment. By 2016, an estimated 128 countries had prohibited corporal punishment in schools, including all of Europe, and most of South America and East Asia. To me, this decision seems perverse. In 2011 another survey found that half of parents and 19% of students also wanted to bring back the cane. Verbatim record of a House of Commons debate on the March 1998 legislation which had the effect of banning corporal punishment in all private schools in England and Wales, CP in state schools having been outlawed 11 years earlier. [155], Corporal punishment of children remains legal in schools, homes, alternative care and day-care centres. We are solemnly informed that the caning brought tears to his eyes and that he was in severe pain for an hour -- well, that is actually the object of the exercise! "[154], Corporal punishment was first explicitly prohibited in schools in article 67 of the Law on Public Schools 1929, passed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, of which Serbia was then a part. In some schools, every teacher had his or her own "slipper". 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, Such punishment continues to be used,[227] and there are frequent media reports of excessive corporal punishment in schools. An outlier in this regard was Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe, where big boys were empowered to formally slipper smaller ones until as recently as 1965. [7][8] Other reported injuries to students include "sciatic nerve damage",[7] "extensive hematomas", and "life-threatening fat hemorrhage". Application No.

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