Education Minister Christopher Pyne has backed away from his hand-picked education expert Kevin Donnelly after he yesterday aired controversial views on the return of corporal punishment.
And school leaders across all systems have described the attitudes as “anachronistic”, “deplorable” and “totally unacceptable”.
Dr Donnelly, who co-chairs the national curriculum review, caused the stir on Tuesday when, in response to Fairfax Media reports the rate of suspension was rising in NSW, he said corporal punishment was “very effective” if used properly.
A spokesman for Mr Pyne said: "The minister does not support a return to corporal punishment in any form... Dr Donnelly's views are a matter for him."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said: "This was a remarkable comment - I don't agree with it at all. Corporal punishment has been rejected by many experts for a very long time."
Dr Donnelly told 2UE radio he was aware of “one or two schools around Australia” that still use corporal punishment. There have been reports in recent years about corporal punishment being used in private schools in Queensland and Western Australia, where it is not explicitly forbidden in law.
In 2011, Nollamara Christian Academy in WA was still using the cane and parents could only enrol their child on that basis.
“This is the way we do it,” the school’s leader, Pastor Roger Monasmith, said in comments published by News Corporation. “It sounds like a dictatorship, but it’s not. If you don’t sign the agreement to give them the cane, then we cannot let them come in.”
“We always give them a warning before we use it and we’ll give them one swat (on the behind) and then the next time if they do the same thing, they get two swats,” he said.
The executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of NSW, Geoff Newcombe, said no private schools in NSW supported the “totally inappropriate” practice.
“We’ve got very strict legislation here and we make it very clear in our support of schools that corporal punishment, apart from being against the law, is a totally unacceptable way to discipline.”
Corporal punishment was banned by law in NSW schools in 1995, at which time it had already been rejected by most schools.
Bundaberg Christian College in Queensland stopped using corporal punishment in 2012.
But, prior to the change, then principal Mark Bensley told Fairfax Media the paddle was used as a “last resort” for misbehaving primary school students if the parents allowed it.
“For a 7- or 8-year-old, a whack on the bottom is instant, they know why, it is dealt with and you move on,” he said.
The president of the NSW Primary Principals' Association, Geoff Scott, who has been a teacher for 50 years, said corporal punishment was “completely irrelevant and is not going to be effective in any way”.
“When I read that I just thought ‘oh dear, we’ve moved so far beyond this’,” he said. “We've moved beyond capital punishment in Australia, we've moved beyond incarcerating people in penal colonies and corporal punishment is virtually in the same anachronistic category.”
“In those days - 50s, 60s, 70s - corporal punishment by parents was more common and schools were an extension of society. Well society has changed and schools have changed to reflect that.”
Research has found corporal punishment can lead to disruptive and anti-social behaviour, poor academic achievement, mental health problems and drug and alcohol abuse, while other studies have found it can be effective in achieving immediate child compliance.
The acting principal of St Joseph's Primary School at Taree, Mark Mowbray, has been teaching in Catholic schools for more than 20 years and agrees the cane might elicit short-term behavioural improvements.
“If an adult belts me with a stick it’s going to hurt and it might be two or three months before I’m going to repeat the behaviour” he said. “But that hides the behaviour, it doesn't fix it. Poor behaviour is often a result of things going on in their life, so hiding that behaviour isn't going to solve anything in the long term.”
“Taking to the kids with a stick is not even something I would consider if I was allowed. We need to teach children to take responsibility for their behaviour.”
Lila Mularczyk, the president of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council, said physical discipline was “a deplorable alternative to even raise”.
“Quite seriously, I would assume the profession and the general public would be shocked at such a suggestion,” she said.
