Corporal punishment in Queensland state schools
Corporal punishment in Queensland state schools was a constant problem for educational administrators from the inception of the Queensland system of education in 1860 to its abolition in 1995. While the law did not change to any great extent during those years, the regulations of the Department of Education progressively restricted the use of corporal punishment. Some teachers disregarded these regulations.
Until the 1970's, the consensus of opinion in the Queensland educational field was that corporal punishment was a necessary evil to be used as a last resort. The consensus of public opinion accepted this viewpoint, with discontent directed mainly at violations of the regulations.
In 1992 a decision was made to phase out corporal punishment. At the beginning of the 1995 school year, corporal punishment in Queensland state schools was abolished.
The information on these pages comes directly, with minor editing and updating, from the publication Corporal punishment in Queensland State Schools, written by Eddie Clarke, an employee of then Education History Unit of the Queensland Department of Education. It was originally published in February 1980 as No.1 in the series Historical perspectives on contemporary issues in Queensland education.
- Legal aspects
- Corporal punishment in the theories and methods of teaching
- The regulations used in Queensland state schools
- Attitudes and responses of education administrators
- Attitudes and responses of teachers and the Queensland Teachers Union
- Public reaction
- Abolition of corporal punishment
- Extracts from the regulations of the Department of Education
- References