Can Sri Lankan teachers afford to spare the rod? Teacher attitudes towards corporal punishment in school

Abstract

This study attempts to understand teacher attitudes towards corporal punishment (CP) in Sri Lankan Government schools. A purposively selected sample of 28 Government school teachers from four schools in Colombo participated in the study. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with the teachers. It was found that a majority of teachers in the sample have resorted to some form of CP at some point in their career as teachers. Given the teaching-learning culture teachers have been exposed to as children and the authority traditionally attributed to teachers in Sri Lanka, they were mostly of the opinion that CP can have positive impacts on children and their future success. Teachers did not seem hostile to the idea of CP per se but the “form” and “severity” of CP administered on students. They thought that CP becomes an “issue” only when teachers use it in brutal/inhuman manner with vindictive intents and as a means of stress release. High levels of work related stress and weaknesses in teacher recruitment were highlighted as resulting in situations of “brutal/inhuman beating” in schools. The views expressed by teachers raise important policy implications particularly in the areas of teacher training and recruitment.

Keywords

• corporal punishment
• physical punishment
• teacher authority
• traditional classroom
• sri lankan government schools