School Exclusions, Public Pronouncements, Court Cases & Solutions - 1996 in review

The discipline of children (or lack of it) was rarely out of the news in 1996. The year began with widespread concern about the declining standards of behaviour among younger and younger children and ended with a call for the return of corporal discipline in maintained schools. And in between, there were cases of children taking their parents to court and public statements by political and religious leaders on the value of loving chastisement.

Here we highlight some of the main events:

March

The Government launched an £18 million project to crack down on classroom violence amid concern that assaults on teachers had reached record levels and expulsions in England and Wales had risen to 11,000 per year. (Daily Mail 4.3.96)

May

The Times reported that expulsions of children aged under 11 from primary schools had increased fourfold over a period of just four years (from 378 in 1990/91 to 1,445 in 1994/95).

The same issue carried an article about a primary school teacher who suffered spinal injuries when she was assaulted by a 10 year-old boy in 1989. She remarked, 'In 1989 my case was exceptional, but teachers will tell you that violence is no longer unusual and that the situation is getting worse.' (28.5.96)

David Hart, General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers said that the exclusion figures confirm that 'the problem is moving down the age range. Increasing numbers of pupils are out of control at home and exhibit unacceptably violent and disruptive behaviour at school. We do seem to be seeing a growing number of pupils for whom violence or threats of violence is a first reaction to whatever problem is besetting them.' (Daily Telegraph 28.5.96)

June

In an interview published in Parents magazine, the Labour leader, Tony Blair said he had occasionally smacked his children for naughtiness or nastiness to other children. He added, 'There is a clear dividing line between administering discipline on the one hand and violence on the other, which most parents understand perfectly well.'

While falling short of positively encouraging physical correction, the leader column in The Guardian said, 'It is terribly pious to pretend that smacking can never be justified.' (6.6.96)

July

The Daily Mail reported that delegates at the conference of the Professional Association of Teachers expressed concern that children were breaking up lessons with temper tantrums because their parents had never used the word 'No!'. (30.7.96)

August

An International Conference on the Ending of Physical Punishment of Children, attended by representatives from 25 countries, called for smacking to be made illegal by the year 2000. (The Independent 23.8.96)

September

The European Commission of Human Rights declared 'admissible' the complaint of an 11 year-old boy who had been caned by his step-father in 1993. (The step-father had been found not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm when the case was heard in England during 1994). Press reports speculated that the European Court might call for legislation prohibiting all corporal discipline in the UK.

The Prime Minister, John Major, confirmed that he had no plans to change the law on parental chastisement and added, 'My children were dealt with at home by Norma and I in a way that was appropriate and personal to them. That is the way most parents should look after their children and do.'

Stephen Dorrell, the Health Secretary, told listeners to Radio 4's Today programme that he supported the current law on reasonable chastisement: 'I think you can do damage to children the other way - by bringing them up in a world where it becomes a surprise to them in later life when indiscipline leads to penalties. The earlier they learn that within the home, the less painful the lesson will be.'

With regard to the campaign to have smacking outlawed, Mr Dorrell said, 'I think that is absurd... the Government is totally opposed to allowing the law to move in that direction.'

A 5 year-old boy was excluded from his Essex primary school after carrying out 30 assaults on teachers, ancillary staff and fellow pupils. (The Guardian 13.9.96).

Nigel de Gruchy, General Secretary of the NAS/UWT blamed 'negative parenting' for a rush of expulsions and disputes in schools. He said some parents were not merely failing to control their children, but encouraging them to defy teachers who tried to impose discipline. (The Times 14.9.96)

John Burn, Chairman of the Christian Institute and Principal of a state-maintained city technology college in Gateshead, called for the immediate reinstatement of corporal punishment in state schools. His call was supported in a Daily Telegraph leader column (20.9.96)

October

In an interview on Radio 4, Education Secretary, Gillian Shephard, expressed her view that corporal punishment in schools is 'a very useful deterrent'. She was supported by a number of MPs, although the Prime Minister stated his opposition as did officers of the larger teachers' unions.

The report of a Commission of Enquiry into Child Abuse, set up by the NSPCC at a cost in excess of £300,000, defined abuse as 'anything which individuals, institutions or processes do, or fail to do, which directly or indirectly harms children or damages their prospects of safe and healthy development into adulthood.'

The Commission estimated that 1 million children in the UK are abused each year and, among its 85 recommendations, called for legislation against the reasonable physical chastisement of children. Junior Health Minister, Simon Burns, commented, 'The report is wrong to equate sensible discipline with child abuse.' (Guardian 23.10.96)

During a Radio 2 interview, the Archbishop of Canterbury said there is 'nothing wrong' with gently slapping children when they transgress firm boundaries set by their parents, 'as long as it is done with love and with firm discipline.'

Dr Carey's position was supported by other church leaders and prominent politicians, including two members of the Labour front-bench team: David Clark, shadow defence secretary, said, 'We are not talking about beating them up, but a little slap doesn't do them any harm. The key thing is that it brings you up sharp.' And David Blunkett stressed the importance of distinguishing between smacking and physical violence. He went on to describe appropriate physical discipline as 'a perfectly reasonable way of bringing home the severity of what a child has done.' (Sunday Telegraph 27.10.96)

November

Polls by Mori for the Mail on Sunday, NOP for the Express on Sunday, and Gallup for the Sunday Telegraph indicated that around two in three people support the return of corporal discipline in schools. A telephone poll of 506 parents carried out by The People also showed 67% in favour. (The Guardian 4.11.96)

30,000 viewers responded to a GMTV poll with a staggering 97% voting in favour of a return of corporal punishment in schools. (Daily Mail 6.11.96)

The Daily Mail reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics was reviewing its injunction against the physical correction of children following the publication of a report by Dr Diana Baumrind of the Institute of Human Development at the University of California. Dr Baumrind demonstrated that parental spanking in support of consistently applied rules was accepted by children and that judicious smacking between the ages of 18 months and six years minimises the need for punishment in adolescence. (8.11.96)

This article was originally published in the Families for Discipline newsletter, Issue 5, Spring 1997

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