Caning in school comes in for some stick, survey reveals
In 1980 a local weekly newspaper in west London surveyed attitudes to school canings and found mixed feelings. Corporal punishment in schools was eventually outlawed in 1985.
Caning
... what youngsters think
CANING in schools is coming in for a bit of stick- but
schoolkids are split down the middle on it.
A new Inner London Education Authority report claims caning
at senior schools is as popular as ever – despite the introduction of a
no-caning law on February 1 next year [1981.]
In a Gazette probe, however, pupils at
Christopher Wren School in Bloemfontein Road, Shepherds Bush, expressed mixed
feelings on the matter.
Our survey took place against a background of mounting
concern in some educational circles. Some feel teachers should have found other
ways of punishing children by now.
An ILEA sub-committee met last Thursday to consider
making it a serious offence for teachers to continue to cane children.
But, out of all the teacher associations in the
country, only London members of the National Union of Teachers supported the
cane ban.
Mr Andy Dyer, President of the West London branch of
the National Union of Teachers, said: “This is a matter of great concern for
all of us. Teachers in West London have consistently opposed corporal
punishment.
“When caning was banned in primary schools people said
that discipline would fall apart but it just didn’t happen.
“There is no real evidence that caning has any good
effect at all, yet some schools use this form of punishment once a day. No
other European country outside the British Isles uses the cane – it actually
encourages bullying, the physically strong having a hold over the weak.”
Mr Tom Scott, Education Secretary of the Society of
Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment, said he favoured the punishment of
teachers who persisted in ignoring the cane ban.
“It’s the last thing we want really, but it is the only
solution if teachers continue to flout the wishes of the local authority. They
wouldn’t be doing anything illegal, so it would have to be a matter of internal
disciplinary action.
“It is ludicrous to think that caning will fade away
of its own accord. It’s entirely dependent on the wishes of individual
headmasters.”
As published in the Hammersmith &
Shepherds Bush Gazette, 3 April 1980.
Picture credit: British-Discipline.
Below are some interviews the newspaper conducted:
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