Teacher Shortage Crisis

EarthRod

I know, just pinching and enhancing your 'tender care' comment .

In those days, the punishments administered by the head (slipper) or the teachers (ruler across the back of the hand) was considered normal and parents were not upset by the punishments. As far as the kids were concerned it was painful at the time but quickly forgotten. No big deal.

These days it is considered with shock and horror at the 'brutality' of 'beating' children.

IronGiant

We were just entering the world of "enlightenment" so the Head distanced themselves from Corporal Punishment.  So used to send you to see the Metal work teacher and his plimsoll .  In his (metal work teacher) own classes of course it was a metal ruler you got your knuckles rapped with.  He didn't bother the Head with discipline in his own classes.

EarthRod

Enlightenment = not carrying out any punishment yourself, but sending the child to be punished by another teacher .

krish

We had a mix of thugs and nonces administering it during my 70s/80s schooling in Suffolk.

One or two teachers pulling down pants (the pupil's) and smacking bare cheeks. One or two giving kids a good smack in the face and head and perhaps smash against the wall. Always to boys, girls always got away with the stand outside the room 'punishment'.

Cliff

Without any punishment it is difficult to maintain discipline.
So many young kids today, do not respect (or fear) their teachers. In fact the first thing they do is 'report' them to their parents if they don't like what they are told to do.

Maybe in times gone by there were some teachers who had ' suspicious' motives, but the bottom line was the kids knew that if they were naughty they got punished. It worked- and most teachers were respected.

EarthRod

Teaching methods have progressed and children are no longer subjected to corporal punishment. I assume that is the case but it could be some form of punishment is still carried out today on the QT, otherwise how can boys be kept in line? Must be a difficult situation to be in teaching these days.

Moving on: most outside jobs involve continuous change of methodology - every new CEO introducing new working practices and different staffing arrangements. Its the same with government departments and I bet its the same with teachers - having to meet the challenge of changing working methods every few years.

On top of that, most outside jobs and people working in government departments (including the military, police etc) have had their pensions cut, wages and salaries cut and working under the continuous threat of staff cuts.

The good old days of job security, a decent wage and pension have gone and gone for good. It is something working people have got to learn to live with, unfortunately.

officerdibble11

I can remember my brother coming home from school in the early 80's with a black eye the  PE teacher who was a nasty piece of work had given him, the teacher responsbile had gone home by the time my dad got there that day and the headmaster didnt want to know. Next morning he waited at the gates, questioned every male teacher driving through the gates, located his man and kicked the sh*t out of him.

Ruperts slippers

I had a chalk board rubber thrown at me for flicking spit out of my pen top, my dinner plate was rubbed in my face, I didn't clean it correctly, allegedly, this happened in front of a packed dining room...
And I was suspended twice, once for fighting and once for going to my mates to listen to Simple Minds Live in the City of Light instead of going to Home ec..
And was given a final warning of expulsion for managing to get under the main stage with some other lads and ruin an assembly by shouting out profanities....

In fact 4 weeks ago me a two other men fitted two brand new Andrews water heaters for my old school..

Pecker

It's getting worse:

Huge shortfall in teachers forces schools to look overseas for new recruits

tapzilla2k

That's more to do with poor parenting skills by some which goes across the social strata.
Studies have shown that physical violence is damaging to a child's development. Caning and what not doesn't do anything apart from instil fear. If you have a healthy teaching environment where children are invested in their education then you don't need to reach for a cane. Trust is a two way street.

If you respect earned by fear then you are clearly forgetting children in the 70's demanding punishments of that nature to be stopped. You also have to keep in mind when you hit the teenage years you become rebellious and no amount of caning will ever change that.