Children's views and experiences of corporal punishment

The following description of research into the experiences of corporal punishment by children in South Africa is taken from the International Save the Children Alliance's global submission to the UN Study on Violence, Ending Physical and Humiliating Punishment of Children - Making it Happen, available at: http://www.rb.se/eng/Programme/Exploitationandabuse/Corporalpunishment/1415+Publications.htm

What was done
In 2004, a qualitative survey with South African girls and boys aged 6 - 18 years explored children's experiences, views and feelings in relation to corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment in the home and at school. The survey was conducted by the consultancy Clacherty and Associates, South Africa. The sample involved 410 children drawn across four socio-economic levels (income bands), distributed across four South African provinces (viz: Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Limpopo)....

Children participating in the survey were located through schools. The principals of a selection of schools in each of the provinces were contacted and asked to indicate which of the four income bands was most typical of households from which their students came. Across the different provinces, focus groups were then drawn from those schools that 'corresponded' to the relevant income bands. Child participants for focus groups across three age groups (6 - 8 years; 9 - 12 years; 13 - 18 years) were drawn from relevant grades in the schools concerned, while maintaining a gender balance throughout. Within these constraints, selection of individual children was random. It was considered important to differentiate the three age groups as children's experience of both the forms and severity of punishment, their views of its legitimacy, their responses to it, and their suggested alternatives could vary considerably between younger and older children. Gender differentiation was regarded as important for the same reasons.

Focus group activities and discussions, appropriate to the three age groups concerned, and in the home language of the participants, were run for approximately 60 minutes in each case. All discussion was tape recorded, translated into English where necessary, and transcribed. These transcriptions, together with children's drawings and researcher session notes and observations, constituted the data for qualitative analysis.

Child punishment was explored as experienced in the context of the home, and then separately, as it was experienced in the context of school. In both contexts, typical forms of corporal punishment and humiliating or degrading punishment that the children had experienced were explored. For both forms of punishment children were asked:

• Why did you get punished?
• Do you think it was acceptable (ok) to punish you for this?
• How did you feel at the time?
• Did it make you do something?
• Do you think they could have punished you in a different way?
• If yes, what different way of punishing would have been better?

Note that children were asked to talk about the 'last time' they were punished at home or school. So most incidents reported on here happened in the recent past. Frequency of punishment was not explored. Children's knowledge of the legality of corporal punishment in school was not explored.

... All activities and discussions were held in the children's home language and were adapted in terms of pace, language level, and the re-phrasing of questions and examples according to the relevant age group. Opening and closing activities were designed to set children at ease, to clarify purposes, and to encourage safe, affirming and non-threatening participation. In particular, and in terms of ethical principles, matters of choice (i.e. the choice to respond or not) and of confidentiality were explicitly clarified at the opening of each focus group. In addition the following strategies were also applied. At no point were children asked to identify who punished them. Through the process of drawing followed by discussion, speaking in the third person about incidents of punishment was actively encouraged to create emotional distance and increase confidentiality. At no point were the responses of children who showed signs of distress forced or probed. Children were informed at the beginning of the research interaction that in cases of sexual abuse the researcher would need to tell someone, with the child's involvement. [The law requires educators and researchers to report sexual abuse that is disclosed.] ... Other than in cases of sexual abuse, children were assured that researchers would keep everything they said confidential....

The research was funded by Save the Children Sweden.

What was found
Boys and girls of all ages and from all different income categories received corporal punishment at home with the exception of children from environments with the highest incomes and children from Indian communities, where almost no cases of corporal punishment were reported. Most children were beaten with a belt. Children from low-income environments were exposed to the most severe forms of corporal punishment in the home and at school. The frequency of corporal punishment decreased as children got older. The study also found a general, but not definite, pattern of corporal punishment being more commonly experienced by children in rural rather than in urban areas.

"Sometimes my mommy or daddy hit me, sometimes with their hand or sometimes with a belt." Boy, Gauteng

"We were all sitting with my sisters, brothers and cousins. He asked how am I talking to him and he hit me. He hit me with a pipe that has wires inside. He hit all over the body." Girl, KwaZulu-Natal

It is important to underline that, although this study looked at children from different income groups in South Africa, there are factors other than income that influence the use of corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment of children, such as relative levels of stress and possibly associated relationship problems.

Corporal punishment is common in all schools situated in areas with low income households, irrespective of children's age or gender. Children described it as most often being administered with a ruler, stick or board duster, on the hands. In more affluent areas, the administration of corporal punishment varied from school to school. Some schools had clear developed policies to implement the legal prohibition of corporal punishment, while other schools had not yet managed to get rid of the practice among teachers. Schools in high-income areas generally did not seem to practise corporal punishment, but were instead using alternative, non-violent forms of discipline. As was the situation in the home, children from Indian communities experienced almost no corporal punishment.

"The teacher hit me with a stick on the bum." Boy, Western Cape

"She gave me five strikes on the buttocks. My heart was so sore and my bums were painful. I couldn't sit down the whole weekend. Every time I looked at the teacher I resented her." Girl, KwaZulu-Natal

... Many children in this study described corporal punishment as humiliating. It was particularly humiliating when administered in front of other people, or when people see the results of the punishment.

"One day, she hit me with ladies heel shoes on my hips and I didn't want to go to school. My dad took me to school and I was very late and I felt embarrassed." Girl, Limpopo

One common form of punishment in school is to make children hold humiliating positions for a long period of time, or do humiliating physical activities in front of the class. In addition to being humiliating, this should also be viewed as a form of corporal punishment.

"They also make us do motorbike (skuta). You bend you knees, stretch arms straight as if you are riding a motorbike and it is painful when you do it for a long time." Girl, Gauteng

In general, boys reported being subjected to corporal punishment to a greater extent than girls. It also seems that, as girls get older, they receive corporal punishment less often. Girls from low-income environments seem to be exposed to humiliating and degrading forms of punishment to a larger extent than boys, not least as a strategy to control the perceived sexual activities of teenage girls.

"When we woke up, she swore at me and told me that now I started to behave like 'Phaga', an animal that goes in the night. She said I am going to fall pregnant and there are lots of diseases outside there. She doesn't talk nicely with me and she speaks loud so that everybody who passes next to my house should hear that she is swearing at me and I didn't sleep at home. She will never sit down and talk to me like her child. She will tell me that I am 'Kgeke', a bitch, and that I started behaving like 'Phaga'." Girl, Limpopo

Most children who experienced corporal punishment would prefer to be disciplined in a non-violent manner. It also became clear from the study that children would like teachers and parents to talk to them and explain what they did wrong instead of using corporal punishment or other forms of humiliating or degrading punishment. Generally, talking seems to be more important to girls than boys.

"I want her (mother) to talk to me, but nicely, not shouting." Boy, Gauteng

"He (teacher) must ask me why I didn't do my homework; then I will explain to him." Girl, Limpopo

Sadness and anger were the two most common feelings reported by children in response to corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment. Anger was a more common reaction in school when the punishment was perceived as unfair and sadness was more common at home. Other reactions reported were crying, fear, being embarrassed, withdrawal and compliance. It is also worrying to note that a number of children reported aggressive behaviour, such as bullying or beating other children as a reaction to their own punishment.

"I was feeling sad. Why? Because she hit me with the belt and it was painful." Boy, KwaZulu-Natal

"So when my mom hits me, it feels like she doesn't love me." Girl, Limpopo

"I felt like killing someone." Boy, Western Cape

"I beat the children because I was angry." Boy, Western Cape

South African Children's Experiences of Corporal Punishment (Pretoria: Save the Children Sweden), by G. Clacherty, D. Donald and A. Clacherty (2005) is available as a Word document.
Save the Children's report Ending corporal punishment of children in South Africa is available as a PDF.

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