Abstract
Banning corporal punishment in South African schools generated influential unmanageable behaviour towards school management. Schools’ management in South Africa fined it difficult to manage schools without applying corporal punishment. The goal of punishment in schools is to discourage or stop transgressed behaviour by the learners. Corporal punishment is illegal in South Africa but persists as a common disciplinary practice at numerous schools. It is outlawed in South African schools by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), National Education Policy Act (1996), South African Schools Act (1996), South African Council for Educators Act (1996), Employment of Educators Act (1996), Children’s Act (2005), Further Education and Training Colleges Act (2006), and policies. The questionnaire survey was conducted about teacher perceptions regarding the abolishment of corporal punishment in selected schools in Tshwane North District, Gauteng Province. The researcher collected data by quantitative (descriptive) research design, using SPSS 29.0 version software. Simple random sampling was done to create a sample representative of the population. The sample comprised of schools’ management (principals, deputy principals, heads of department, and teachers) (N=280) in five public secondary schools in the township, and five public secondary schools in town. The findings revealed that despite having guidelines on how to maintain discipline, several schools still practiced corporal punishment. Utilising corporal punishment could lead to being reported to the SAPS, the DoBE, the DoSD, or even in the removal from the SACE’s teachers’ register for a specified period, or indefinitely, or even demoted, or fined, or else written warning or if not written final warning.
The study, therefore, recommends that besides prohibiting the application of corporal punishment by teachers, learners should be encouraged and supported to participate in extracurricular activities. Furthermore, to enhance the learners’ sense of agency and improve their academic achievement and social competence, learners should be involved in designing classroom rules, admission, religious or language policy, and the code of conduct of the school to enhance ownership via collaboration. In addition, schools should also have good safety rules, as school safety is a prerequisite for good discipline. However, in some schools, safety is poor as was demonstrated by the data. Hence, this study also advocates that teachers-parents/guardians ought to become involved in their
vi
children’s lives by supervising homework, checking their absenteeism, and bunking class, signing their children’s books, attending school functions and
meetings. Moreover, the school should have an effective learning environment as it is one of the contributing factors to school’s environment. Teachers play a significant role in creating an effective learning climate through their commitment to introducing various learning practices such as support, cooperative work, group work, connective instruction, culturally responsive teaching, experimentation, problem-solving, and creativity, and controlling misbehaviour. Teachers should never ridicule any learner, nor suggest that a task is too easy. It may be easy for the teacher, but not for the learner. Disciplinary procedures should be taken against teachers who beat learners as corporal punishment has been abolished in South African schools since 1996.Teachers can ensure that more effective learning occurs, in a climate characterised by a caring attitude and appropriate teaching skills, where learning becomes something that learners accept responsibility for. Teaching skills should be updated via regular refresher courses either by the SMT or via other initiatives driven by SACE and a willingness to change reticent mental models needs to be demonstrated.
Keywords: corporal punishment, discipline, learner, school governing body, school management, public secondary school.