With the ideology of apartheid came oppression and punitiveness in the classroom, whereby children were disciplined through the administration of corporal punishment. The advent of democracy initiated the abolishment of corporal punishment in policy, but failed to do so in practice. In spite of the legislation prohibiting the use of corporal punishment, there were still many reports about its use due to there not being efficient alternatives to corporal punishment. This study explored the aftermath of corporal punishment, specifically focused on the perceptions about the administration of discipline from the vantage point of both learners and educators in LSEN schools. A mixed methods approach was used with learners between the ages of 16 and 19 as well as educators who had been employed for over 6 months. The findings suggest that working at a LSEN school is challenging for educators, and that a consistent school structure is lacking. They therefore adapt their methods of discipline to suit the situation, consequently perpetuating the lack of structure. It was also discovered that the learner-educator relationship facilitates discipline. LSEN schools would benefit from revisiting their management style, in order to facilitate the administration of discipline.

Education within South Africa has undergone significant change within a short period of time. This change has primarily been written in terms of human rights and the equitable distribution of educational resources. This has necessitated a paradigm shift for many teachers and the study explores some of the factors that have prevented teachers from experiencing a paradigm shift. The introduction of the South African Schools Act of 1996 heralded the start of the complete abolition of corporal punishment within all South African schools. The object of this investigation was to explore teachers' attitudes towards the abolition of corporal punishment and the factors that would contribute towards their attitude. The research explored whether the attitude of teachers, in relation to corporal punishment, had been influenced by the disruptive behaviour of pupils and their perceptions of the efficacy of alternate methods of behaviour management.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Education degree. / Educationalists throughout the ages have supported the belief that corporal punishment creates harmful effects and should be avoided at all costs. Furthermore, corporal punishment has been found to be neither effective nor permanent in stopping undesirable behaviour in the classroom. Despite the evidence however, South Africa frequently used corporal punishment for the sake of discipline, social control and even 'moral education'. In the not too distant past, it was sanctioned by law, by parents and by teachers (Rice, 1987). However, in 1994 judicial corporal punishment was outlawed and corporal punishment at schools became unconstitutional (clause 3(n) of the National Education Policy Bill, 1995; clause 22 of the Gauteng Schools Education Bill). While policy and legislatlon must play their role, this is not enough to bring about a change in the practices and perceptions of teacher's at the grass roots. An understanding of its harmful effects, and recognition of alternatives is necessary in order to bring about its complete abolishment. This study investigates teachers' and pupils attitudes to corporal punishment as well as what discipline strategies are being used and are considered effective. A sample of teachers and pupils were randomly selected from private, oommunity and public high school types. A total of 602 subjects participated in this study (240 teachers and 362 pupils). Responses to an anonymous questionnaire were tabulated and analysed. Findings demonstrated that teachers are ambivalent towards corporal, punishment, while pupils are clearly anti-corporal punishment; and support its abolishment. Teachers do report Key Words: corporal punishment , classroom discipline. alternative discipline strategies used in the classroom. / AC2017

Education within South Africa has undergone significant change within a short period of time. This change has primarily been written in terms of human rights and the equitable distribution of educational resources. This has necessitated a paradigm shift for many teachers and the study explores some of the factors that have prevented teachers from experiencing a paradigm shift. The introduction of the South African Schools Act of 1996 heralded the start of the complete abolition of corporal punishment within all South African schools. The object of this investigation was to explore teachers' attitudes towards the abolition of corporal punishment and the factors that would contribute towards their attitude. The research explored whether the attitude of teachers, in relation to corporal punishment, had been influenced by the disruptive behaviour of pupils and their perceptions of the efficacy of alternate methods of behaviour management.

Esta pesquisa analisa violência física contra crianças, nas suas diferentes manifestações rotineiras e em seu modo de reprodução da sociedade. A violência física é compreendida como uma prática cotidiana na qual adultos dispõem do corpo da criança, seja na “palmada educativa”, seja nas violências ou no abuso sexual. A violência se apresenta de múltiplas formas: de Estado, contra o Estado, simbólica, nas relações familiares e nos diversos processos de disciplinarização. Nesta última forma, é onde residem as violências sobre o corpo, que podem ser observadas em diferentes sociedades, diversos processos sociais e, podem até constituírem-se em ‘marcas’ de cada sociedade. É nesta perspectiva que esta tese se fundamenta, sobre a compreensão das formas de disciplina que incidem violentamente no corpo infantil. Os discursos sobre a violência contra crianças são a matéria-prima considerados como fonte de pesquisa para a realização desta tese. Para tal foram analisados: 1) A criança em toda a sua complexidade, seu lugar social, as representações construídas, os discursos produzidos sobre ela e sua história; 2) Os discursos da literatura, onde a violência contra a criança se apresentava; 3) O discurso da mídia, a violência contra a criança no jornal, especificamente, a campanha “O Amor É a Melhor Herança. Cuide das Crianças”, veiculada no jornal Zero Hora, de Porto Alegre/RS, nos anos de 2003-2004; 4) O discurso da Lei, com todo o debate legislativo que resultou na promulgação da Lei 13013/2014, a Lei Menino Bernardo ou Lei da Palmada; 5) O discurso da clínica, onde são apresentadas quatro histórias de crianças atendidas em psicoterapia, por ordem judicial, no Conselho Tutelar de uma cidade do interior do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Compreendemos que discursos trazem em si práticas, neste caso, práticas que incidem sobre o corpo do infante. Sobre estes corpos, o discursoprática produz um efeito de subjetivação ou sujeição onde a posse e o domínio aparecem sob a égide da disciplina. Ao final desta tese, concluiu-se que a permanência do castigo corporal no processo educativo denota a privatização da família e a impossibilidade da formulação de políticas eficazes para conter estas práticas e por estas razões permanece no processo de socialização primária das crianças. / This research reviews physical violence against children, in its various routine expressions and in its reproduction mode in the society. Physical violence is understood as a routine practice where adults dispose of the child's body, whether in the "educative smack", or in violence or sexual abuse. Violence is presented in multiple forms: state violence, violence against the state, symbolic, in family relations and in several discipline processes. The latter is where there are violence on the body, which may be noted in different societies, in several social processes and may even represent "trademarks" of each society. This thesis is based on this perspective, on understanding the forms of discipline that violently affect the child's body. The speeches on violence against children are the raw material used as a research source to build this thesis. Therefore, the following items were analyzed. 1) The child in all his/her complexity, his/her social place, the representations built, the speeches produced on him/her and his/her history; 2) The literature speeches, where violence against children was presented; 3) The media speech, the violence against children in the news, specifically the campaign "Love Is The Best Heritage. Take Care of Children", conveyed in the Zero Hora newspaper, from Porto Alegre/RS, in the years 2003-2004; 4) The speech of the Law, with all the legislative debate that resulted in the Law 13,013/2014, the "Menino Bernardo" Law or Slap Law; 5) The speech of the clinic, where we present the story of four children assisted in psychotherapy by legal order, in the Guardianship Council of a city in the country side of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. We understand that speeches involve practices, in this case, ones that affect the infant's body. On this bodies, the speech-practice produces a subjetification or subjection effect, where possession and domination appear under the aegis of discipline. By the end of this thesis, the conclusion is that the permanence of corporal punishment in the education process shows the privatization of the family and the impossibility of formulating effective policies to restrain these practices and, due to these reasons, it remains in the process of primary socialization of children.

BACKGROUND: The rights of the child are a subject that never stops to be of immense significance and import. All people are bearers of human rights yet children are, due to their vulnerability, always subordinated adults. It is therefore of great magnitude that we learn to respect and treat the child with dignity. It is our duty as preschool teachers to implement these rights and to raise the children in a democratic spirit, to achieve this we need to act accordingly. This can sometimes be a complex matter. South Africa has a history of violence and discrimination; nonetheless the country has made substantial progress in these areas. I decided to go and see for myself how the work with children’s rights was coming along. PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study is to find out how a few preschool teachers work with children’s rights in the country of South Africa. I decided to focus on children’s participation and on corporal punishment and the teachers own views on these topics METHOD: This study takes a hermeneutic scientific conduct, through ethnographic research I try to analyze and interpret a few preschool teachers’ views and actions concerning children’s rights. In this field study data was collected through interviews and observations. RESULT: Earlier research and concluding observations say that South Africa is having difficulties in realizing children’s rights in numerous areas. Both the child’s participatory rights and the continuous use of corporal punishment are expressed as concerns. In this thesis I find that teachers are unfamiliar with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and that they receive no education or support from the government in these matters. The teachers are however aware of the concept “children’s rights” and they have some understanding of what it is relating to. The teachers states that the work with children’s rights every day and in all activities but no organized situations about this is observed. The child’s possibilities to participate are scares and the teachers are relatively novel towards the involvement of the child. Most teachers consider benefits from corporal punishment and the continuous use is evident.

Corporal punishment is an accepted and widely used form of discipline in the United Stated. Frequent use of corporal punishment has been correlated with many maladaptive outcomes and depressive symptoms in adulthood. The Reasons for Living Inventory - Survival and Coping Beliefs subscale identifies those with coping strategies that enable them to deal effectively with negative feelings. The present study seeks to identify whether adaptive characteristics, particularly survival and coping beliefs, are present in individuals who received little or no corporal punishment. Participants were administered a brief demographic inventory, a corporal punishment history questionnaire and the Reasons for Living Inventory - Survival and Coping Beliefs subscale. Results revealed no significant differences between those who received little or no corporal punishment and those who received high levels of corporal punishment. The results were contradictory to past research and indicate the need for further investigation regarding outcomes of corporal punishment use.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2006. / The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that alternatives to corporal punishment had on the culture of teaching and learning at Lepato High School in the Limpopo Province. The methods used for data collection involved the use of questionnaires, personal interviews and participation observation. The findings indicated that implementing alternatives to corporal punishment without proper support from all stakeholders in education was disastrous for this school. This study further revealed that parental involvement in education is necessary for the successful application of alternatives to corporal punishment in schools. The study findings will make a positive contribution to the improvement of the handling of disciplinary problems in various schools especially in the Limpopo Province and South Africa in general.

Corporal punishment is a worldwide problem. The purpose withthis thesis is to promote a constructive discussion about the problem andconnect this to children’s rights. This gives the possibility to start adiscussion about suggestions and measures to reduce the problem. Thetheory is that corporal punishment is used as a disciplinary method tochange behavior. Children’s rights is regulated by conventions and nationallaws. The method is to conduct an analysis with interpretations andcommentaries of the research materials from South Africa and Sweden.The conclusion is that those who are positive to corporal punishment thinksit is an efficient working method, and it is about children’s safety. Thosewho are negative have experienced that alternative methods works. Asuggestion is to involve children in the work with children’s rights andeducate them in human and children’s rights with focus on obligations andresponsibility.

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy