Astonishingly, in this country anyone can advertise for pupils and establish a school, with only a cursory check from officialdom. They don’t even have to be trained as a teacher. The only people who are barred from teaching are those with a criminal record. They are named on a notorious list 99 at the Education […]
Caning was abolished 20 years ago. But do some teachers still wish it hadn’t been? Mark Gould reports Twenty years ago, after weeks of impassioned debate, warnings of total social breakdown and a hair’s-breadth vote, legislation banning corporal punishment in UK state schools became law. Debate raged over whether the change would necessitate slashing class sizes […]
MIDDLE-CLASS children are being turned into spoilt “little Buddhas” as a rising number of parents refuse to require that they do household chores, a teachers’ leader has warned. Too many pupils lack proper boundaries because over-indulgent mothers and fathers “wait on them hand and foot” and no longer ask them to help around the home, […]
THE controversial co-founder of one of Education Secretary Michael Gove’s flagship free schools has said he would happily bring back corporal punishment if he were allowed. Writer and journalist Toby Young, who is chairman of governors of the West London Free School in Hammersmith, says that he was regularly beaten at school by his PE […]
When I read of the goings on in some UK schools today; with pupil-on-teacher violence, savage bullying and a total disrespect for authority, it horrifies me. Sure in my day we may have transported the art master’s cycle from the bike sheds to the roof on one occasion, and sent an explicit Valentine’s card to […]
42 per of Leave voters back the return of corporal punishment but only 14 per cent of Remain voters want Britain to ‘bring back the birch’ after leaving EU Forty-two per cent of those who voted Leave in the Brexit referendum think Britain should bring back caning in schools after the country exits the EU. […]
As a mother whose youngest has just started secondary school, I’ll admit that I’m on the alert for stories of youngsters being targeted by gangs of older teenagers. But this week, two sickening incidents remind all of us, even if we don’t have children, of the horrors of bullying. Exhibit One: A viral video of […]
A GRUESOME whirlwind has been tragically reaped. The mindless and fearful consequences of decades of overindulgence of our youth, the crazed and misguided obsession with seeking to elevate their status almost to the level of an oppressed minority, and the craven acceptance of wilful and unacceptable behavior reached its inevitable peak with the shocking […]
Beaten into them: Representations of chastisement of medieval students The savage history of beating, flogging and whipping schoolchildren for educational benefit has been studied by an academic. Dr Ben Parson, from the University of Leicester, has written a paper on corporal punishment in the Middle Ages and come to the conclusion that classroom beatings […]
When I say that M.L. Forster loomed over me, it wasn’t too difficult. At 11 years old, I was the smallest boy in the school. Also the skinniest. And at that moment, by far the most frightened. M.L. Forster, headmaster, and frightener-in-chief, was over 6ft tall, more than 16st, a huge and powerful […]
The time has come for the mystery apple thrower at Hellesdon Secondary Modern School to step forward. Come clean, admit it was you, and the guilt which has hung over you like a cloud for more than 60 years will finally be lifted. Among all your stories about life at the school, now Hellesdon […]
Lancing College has produced many famous sons — and many of them were in the vintage sixth form of 1921. A leading light was Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh who wrote about his Lancing days in his autobiography, A Little Learning. He remembered especially trips with his parents to Brighton at half-term, and the lunches […]
New Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell spent much of last week trying to live down his Rugby schooldays nickname of ‘Thrasher’. It won’t be easy. Fellow ex-pupils say that by the time Mitchell became head of house at Rugby in the Seventies, all the boarding houses had abolished beatings – except one, Tudor, where […]
Sir Rhodes Boyson, the former Conservative MP for Brent North, who has died aged 87, performed for his party a similar function to that of John Prescott in the Labour Party — reminding the grass roots that, however far its leadership deviated from the “True Path”, the party’s heart was still in the right place. […]
How we chattered happily away about the whackings, the liver every Tuesday and the school’s obsession with our bowels. The headmaster produced the cane used by the teachers on us in the olden days, and we passed it around with great ceremony[stock photo used in web version only, not in print edition] I used to […]
Corporal punishment should not be reintroduced but ministers have failed to suggest a deterrent as effective, conference hears Children’s behaviour has grown considerably worse since the abolition of corporal punishment 25 years ago, teachers have warned. Successive governments have failed to introduce an effective way to deal with misbehaviour since striking pupils with a cane […]
Six blows on the rump! Extraordinary records reveal how corporal punishment was meted out in our schools Youngsters were given smacks and slaps Items discovered by head as he tidied school basement Bad behaviour including biting ears and repeated acts of violence By Phil Vinter It may seem hard for youngsters of today to believe, […]
Half of parents and 19% of pupils think corporal punishment should be brought back Almost half of parents and nearly a fifth of children believe caning should be brought back to the classroom in cases of very bad behaviour, a survey suggests. The survey, commissioned by the Times Educational Supplement (TES), reveals that the majority […]
BEHAVIOUR among schoolchildren has got worse since the cane was abolished, according to parents. Government research showed some mothers and fathers believed corporal punishment was an “effective method of control” when they were at school. They said the decision to outlaw corporal punishment had contributed to a decline in discipline. The comments — in a […]
EARLY moves to ban teachers from giving girls the belt at school were thwarted by sex discrimination laws, newly released government papers reveal. National Archives of Scotland documents also show Scottish education officials feared a move to ban the belt altogether would be met with “violent opposition” from teachers. The documents, dating from the late […]
HE MAY have been such a diligent pupil at school that he went to university at 16 and has barely eased up on his work rate since. But Gordon Brown was not always so well-behaved. For now, 41 years after he left school, the Prime Minister has revealed that he was subjected to the belt […]
One in five teachers would like to see the cane brought back in schools for “extreme cases”, a survey suggests. The deterioration of class behaviour was the main reason given for backing the return of corporal punishment. The Times Educational Supplement poll of 6,162 UK teachers found more support for the cane in secondary schools. […]
THERE’S a daily newspaper feature in which readers send in questions, answers to be supplied by other readers. Somebody wrote asking what became of Eric Wildman and his society for the Retention of Corporal Punishment in Schools. Good heavens! I went to school with him in the 1930s. We used to make him mad by […]
By Steve Doughty Senior judges are expected to demand leniency for parents brought to court for smacking children too hard. If they do not intend to cause physical harm, they should be given only light penalties and should not be jailed, advice for the courts is likely to say today. The recommendations will make Labour’s […]
By Lynette Burrows In the light of yesterday’s revelation that in some schools as many as one pupil in 20 has been suspended for assaulting staff, it is interesting to speculate what would happen if bouncers in clubs, discos and pubs were subject to the same restrictions as teachers when trying to enforce good behaviour […]
By Emma Henry and agencies A schoolboy had a 16th birthday to remember after a stripper ordered by his mother turned up at his drama class. The boy’s mother apparently booked a “gorilla” to mark her son’s big day through an agency, but a stripper turned up instead. The woman even asked her son’s teacher […]
An east London institution that permits smacking is posing a problem for ministers By William Stewart A christian “tuition group” is successfully fighting for its right to give children corporal punishment by arguing it is not legally a school. The Government has been trying to bring Tyndale Academy into line since 2003. But despite two […]
(extract) Archives on show: The exhibition at Mora School chronicles its 100 history SEASONS come and go but one thing never changes – children will always be naughty, writes Alex Wellman. In preparation for its big centenary birthday bash, Mora Primary School, in Mora Road, Cricklewood, is throwing open its archives for all to see. […]
By Macer Hall Political Editor ALAN Johnson ruled out returning to traditional school discipline yesterday – because of his own memories of “barbaric” corporal punishment. And he even singled out a former teacher who he said was dedicated to using the cane. On the day schools were given authority to check pupils for guns and […]
By Sam Clarke Sam Clarke THREE Rs are two too many. Wow, an English and arithmetic lesson in six words – more than some youngsters will get in a lifetime of schooling. But Glasgow kids have proved they can get by on one: rampage. Well, in between the dope, the booze and the occasional beating […]
How Dave the fruit thief was given six of the best…with a clothes brush By Glen Owen Long before he urged people to “hug a hoodie”, David Cameron experienced a more old-fashioned approach to discipline — the wrong end of a clothes brush. Mr Cameron suffered the punishment in the Seventies as a pupil at […]
By Adi Bloom Why did the British cleave to the cane long after other countries banned it? It is the familiar refrain of many teachers: they are poorly paid and burdened with a heavy workload. They are surrounded by misbehaving pupils, whom they need to prepare for vital exams. It was also an argument used […]
By Graeme Paton Education Correspondent Parents have called for the return of the cane to restore order in the classroom. Families told a Government-backed study that discipline had deteriorated since corporal punishment was abolished more than 20 years ago. Many parents also said that teachers had less power to enforce good behaviour and backed the idea […]
(extract) The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has rejected a call for the belt to be brought back to tackle indiscipline in secondary schools. John Swinburne, of the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, told BBC Scotland he believed corporal punishment worked. But EIS general secretary Ronnie Smith said it would be a backward step and […]
I READ with some dismay about the number of exclusion orders being issued to Dundee school children. One of the reasons given was abuse towards teachers. I am of the old brigade and, although I do not like to hark back to the old days, I believe it is time to take drastic action to […]
By Chris Wickham (extract) THE governors of St James’ Independent Schools have apologised unreservedly after a report stated some pupils had been assaulted by teachers in its early years. The schools, which includes St James’ School for Senior Boys in Cross Deep, Twickenham, commissioned the report following allegations about the use of discipline by teachers […]
By Mark Reynolds OLD SCHOOL CRIES: Discipline as administered in bygone days CANING should immediately be reinstated in schools to stamp out spiralling yob culture. This is the overwhelming conclusion of most parents and education pressure groups, according to new research. Two-thirds of parents who were questioned said they would favour a return to caning, […]
Middle of the road THIS issue is not going to be resolved immediately without a fundamental change in approach to schooling from the earliest stage. Discipline has been denigrated too long by social workers, educationalists and the like as having negative connotations (physical violence and so on). But discipline is about setting out clear and […]
By John Carvel Social Affairs Editor The Council of Europe will deliver a ruling today on the human rights of children that will intensify pressure on the British government to introduce legislation banning smacking in the home. Children’s charities were last night jubilant about a decision by the European Committee of Social Rights to uphold […]
What can be done about the increasing levels of violence and bad behaviour in state education? I AGREE with J.R. Burland (Debate, April 28) that children with behavioural difficulties should be given a reward system to encourage them to stick to classroom rules. This works very well in an environment where everybody has similar problems. […]