Caning best answer to violence and vandalism, headmaster tells conference

 

Caning best answer

to vandalism – head

CANING should remain the penultimate deterrent for unruly schoolchildren, a teachers’ union was told yesterday [19 April 1979].

The National Association of Schoolmasters - Union of Women Teachers, the country’s second largest teachers’ union, heard caning should be used as a second best to expulsion in the control of disobedient youngsters.

Mr. Alan Woodward a JP [Justice of the Peace] and head of a Birmingham secondary school, said: “It is acceptable to use corporal punishment when there is thieving, vandalism, violence and fighting.

“There are good reasons for a sharp reminder. The knowledge that the sanction is there is often sufficient deterrent.”

Mr. Woodward said teachers should be left to use their professional judgement when discipline was necessary – but they needed the trust and support of the community.

“This judgement enables us to decide what action is necessary and when,” he said.

“Sometimes it is just a cautionary word, sometimes detention, sometimes expulsion and sometimes a short, sharp physical reminder.

“The important thing is that it should be a school decision and children should know where they stand.”

Mr. Woodward said no effective alternative to caning had ever been put forward.

He told delegates to the NAS-UWT annual conference in Eastbourne that good order is kept in the “vast majority of our schools.”

As published in the Belfast Telegraph, 20 April 1979.

Picture credit: Sting Pictures

Traditional School Discipline

Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com