Teaching in the 1970s
This recollection was told to me by a teacher who was working at a school during the mid 1970s and into the 1980s.
I had been teaching for a couple of years after training college, teaching Mathematics up to O level standard in a mixed comprehensive school in the West Midlands when an opportunity back near my hometown came up. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy my current job, but the school had employed quite a few new teachers during a period of transition, and I saw my path to progress was likely to be blocked for some while. The school was a decent standard and was doing its best to improve in all areas, including education, sports, facilities and discipline. The headmaster had been in place for three years prior to my arrival and the governors had supported his plans to have a tougher line on the use of corporal punishment. It was not excessive by any means but the use of the both plimsoll and cane were increased by several hundred percentage, albeit from a low basis. As a new teacher I wasn’t permitted to administer any physical punishment during my first two years but ironically I was due to be authorised to do so in my third year if I hadn’t handed in my notice.
Since college, I had lived away from home in a shared rented house and my starting wages left little room for much at all. A move back home, meant I could move back in with parents and save a fortune that would eventually allow me to buy my own place. I knew of the school that I was to be working from my own schooldays through sports, and had played there many times in various activities. It was larger than my previous school with over 1000 pupils. The catchment area was mostly private housing and most families who sent their sons and daughters there were of reasonable means. I learnt on my training day that I would be the form teacher of a first year group, which was pleasing as it meant they didn’t know more about the school than me. At this school there was a headmaster who had two deputies, one male and one female. Corporal punishment was used here, with boys receiving either cane or plimsoll, and the girls mostly receiving the plimsoll. I was told that girls could be caned but it hadn’t been necessary in the last five years. I would not be authorised to use it on either gender but could refer a pupil to a senior teacher who would carry it out if I wished them to. At the time I was very indifferent about corporal punishment. I’d experienced it myself growing up and whilst I hated getting it, I knew that it acted as a good deterrent for the majority of pupils in my school and was a big part of the good order that our school knew. As a new teacher at the school I confidently expected that I wouldn’t need to send anyone off with what was known by the kids as a “whacking note”.
However that soon changed, as I realised that I needed to make it known that I wouldn’t stand for any nonsense, and it was only a few weeks into the term when a third year class, wouldn’t respond to my threats, so I sent three boys and a girl to respective senior teachers and told them to explain why they had been sent. About twenty minutes later, the three boys returned within a minute or so of each other, looking less confident and apologised to me. I didn’t ask what had happened, but some of the other lads did and I heard the response of “slipper, six hard ones”. The girl however didn’t return during the remainder of my class. I learnt during break time that she was a frequent visitor for such purposes and the teacher I’d sent her to had decided that a visit to the deputy headmistress was needed. Consequently she received six smacks with the plimsoll on her bottom and was also told to seek me out and apologise. When she did find me, it was at least an hour after I’d sent her out of class, but she was still crying. It would be fair to say that subsequent lessons with that group were fair easier to manage, and so it was that my attitude to the use of corporal punishment changed overnight.
Over the next two years I sent a few boys and a small number of girls off to teachers to receive corporal punishment, and I became rather blasé about the whole thing. It was just the way that the school operated, and all the pupils and staff knew that.
It was in the summer term of my first year, that I got to witness a girl receiving punishment. She was in my tutor group, and had been caught forging a note to say why she’d missed school. It was her housemistress, who had been alerted by the secretaries office that the letter was a forgery, and I was called in to offer my opinion of the girl's overall behaviour. I had to admit it was out of character, as she’d presented no problems to any of her teachers so far.
She was called into the office midway through a lesson and asked to explain why she’d missed school, and given lots of opportunities to say if there was a problem, but she said nothing in mitigation. Mrs Davies told her she had no option but to use corporal punishment and explained what that meant, which brought immediate tears to the girls eyes. Then came the moment. She was told to bend over the desk and stretch as far as she could. She could just reach the other side on tiptoes.
Mrs Davies went to a cupboard and took out a white plimsoll, probably about size 5, and without warning brought it down across the girls skirt very hard. There was a scream and she went to rise but was pushed back down. Mrs Davies kept one hand on the girl's back to keep her down and then gave two more lighter smacks in quick succession. That was it, over and down in less than a minute, but remembered for a lifetime by me and probably by the girl as well. She was soon on her way back to class, crying, and I returned to the staff room soon after.
I retired from teaching in 2003 but during my time there were lots of incidents to tell you about in due course.
I had been teaching for a couple of years after training college, teaching Mathematics up to O level standard in a mixed comprehensive school in the West Midlands when an opportunity back near my hometown came up. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy my current job, but the school had employed quite a few new teachers during a period of transition, and I saw my path to progress was likely to be blocked for some while. The school was a decent standard and was doing its best to improve in all areas, including education, sports, facilities and discipline. The headmaster had been in place for three years prior to my arrival and the governors had supported his plans to have a tougher line on the use of corporal punishment. It was not excessive by any means but the use of the both plimsoll and cane were increased by several hundred percentage, albeit from a low basis. As a new teacher I wasn’t permitted to administer any physical punishment during my first two years but ironically I was due to be authorised to do so in my third year if I hadn’t handed in my notice.
Since college, I had lived away from home in a shared rented house and my starting wages left little room for much at all. A move back home, meant I could move back in with parents and save a fortune that would eventually allow me to buy my own place. I knew of the school that I was to be working from my own schooldays through sports, and had played there many times in various activities. It was larger than my previous school with over 1000 pupils. The catchment area was mostly private housing and most families who sent their sons and daughters there were of reasonable means. I learnt on my training day that I would be the form teacher of a first year group, which was pleasing as it meant they didn’t know more about the school than me. At this school there was a headmaster who had two deputies, one male and one female. Corporal punishment was used here, with boys receiving either cane or plimsoll, and the girls mostly receiving the plimsoll. I was told that girls could be caned but it hadn’t been necessary in the last five years. I would not be authorised to use it on either gender but could refer a pupil to a senior teacher who would carry it out if I wished them to. At the time I was very indifferent about corporal punishment. I’d experienced it myself growing up and whilst I hated getting it, I knew that it acted as a good deterrent for the majority of pupils in my school and was a big part of the good order that our school knew. As a new teacher at the school I confidently expected that I wouldn’t need to send anyone off with what was known by the kids as a “whacking note”.
However that soon changed, as I realised that I needed to make it known that I wouldn’t stand for any nonsense, and it was only a few weeks into the term when a third year class, wouldn’t respond to my threats, so I sent three boys and a girl to respective senior teachers and told them to explain why they had been sent. About twenty minutes later, the three boys returned within a minute or so of each other, looking less confident and apologised to me. I didn’t ask what had happened, but some of the other lads did and I heard the response of “slipper, six hard ones”. The girl however didn’t return during the remainder of my class. I learnt during break time that she was a frequent visitor for such purposes and the teacher I’d sent her to had decided that a visit to the deputy headmistress was needed. Consequently she received six smacks with the plimsoll on her bottom and was also told to seek me out and apologise. When she did find me, it was at least an hour after I’d sent her out of class, but she was still crying. It would be fair to say that subsequent lessons with that group were fair easier to manage, and so it was that my attitude to the use of corporal punishment changed overnight.
Over the next two years I sent a few boys and a small number of girls off to teachers to receive corporal punishment, and I became rather blasé about the whole thing. It was just the way that the school operated, and all the pupils and staff knew that.
It was in the summer term of my first year, that I got to witness a girl receiving punishment. She was in my tutor group, and had been caught forging a note to say why she’d missed school. It was her housemistress, who had been alerted by the secretaries office that the letter was a forgery, and I was called in to offer my opinion of the girl's overall behaviour. I had to admit it was out of character, as she’d presented no problems to any of her teachers so far.
She was called into the office midway through a lesson and asked to explain why she’d missed school, and given lots of opportunities to say if there was a problem, but she said nothing in mitigation. Mrs Davies told her she had no option but to use corporal punishment and explained what that meant, which brought immediate tears to the girls eyes. Then came the moment. She was told to bend over the desk and stretch as far as she could. She could just reach the other side on tiptoes.
Mrs Davies went to a cupboard and took out a white plimsoll, probably about size 5, and without warning brought it down across the girls skirt very hard. There was a scream and she went to rise but was pushed back down. Mrs Davies kept one hand on the girl's back to keep her down and then gave two more lighter smacks in quick succession. That was it, over and down in less than a minute, but remembered for a lifetime by me and probably by the girl as well. She was soon on her way back to class, crying, and I returned to the staff room soon after.
I retired from teaching in 2003 but during my time there were lots of incidents to tell you about in due course.
