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Original poster

Smacking at school 80s

177 replies

Ilostit · 04/03/2022 07:46

Leading on from another thread about the 90s. I was prob about 6-7 so 1985-1987 ish and I was smacked by my headteacher. It only happened once. I don’t remember why (I was a very well behaved child but came from a troubled house and I may have played up if things were bad at home).

I was called into the office called a naughty girl and smacked.

I hate that it’s one of my memories from childhood. My parents never physically abused me. That Headteacher is the only person to have ever hit me.

Was anyone else hit at school in the 80s?

OP posts:
Howshouldibehave · 04/03/2022 07:48

Nope, not me. My dad was hit with a ruler in the 50s and DH was hit at with a slipper at private school in the 70s though.

I’m glad times have changed!

Svara · 04/03/2022 07:49

I was dragged by my wrist at five, late 80s. Scary tiny headmistress who retired when I was in year one but I heard she was very keen on the cane when she was still allowed to use it.

Beamur · 04/03/2022 07:51

Never. Slightly older than you. No corporal punishment at any school I attended. Although you might get chalk thrown at you by the occasional teacher..

Hoppinggreen · 04/03/2022 07:51

I was at Primary in the 70s and I remember being smacked by a teacher. I was pretty shocked as I had never been hit at home but I dont think I told my parents as I knew my Mum would have gone ballistic and we were already outsiders so I didn’t want to make it worse.
I remember that the thing I did was a complete accident so not naughty at all and it was my favourite teacher who smacked me, which made it worse.

WouldIwasShookspeared · 04/03/2022 07:52

Yes.
Slapped on the bare legs by the head in front of the whole school in assembly.
Anyone who was to be hit was called up in assembly the next day and hit then.

ThisIsGroundControl · 04/03/2022 07:54

We had a teacher that used to kick you hard in the hole in the back of the chair, he had children he disliked and they would get it more often. Also had a teacher that used to punch children in the arm, looking back on this one is particularly dreadful as he was a horrible racist. All happened 86 -90.

I also wasn't hit by my parents and they were progressive so would have probably complained but I never told them.

ClariceQuiff · 04/03/2022 07:56

No personally, but it happened to others. A hand smack or, for more serious offences, 'getting the dap' i.e. being smacked with a plimsoll at primary school; and my secondary school had the cane for the couple of years before corporal punishment became illegal.

I also remember other gems from primary school such as someone having their mouth washed out with soap for swearing, and a boy being tied to his chair with a rope because he kept wandering round the classroom.

Debroglie · 04/03/2022 07:56

We had a teacher at my primary who would give you ‘three of the best’ and you would lie across her knee at the front of the class and get 3 hard smacks on the bottom. This was around 1987. She also used to smack the back off your hand if you got a question wrong. I was never hit by her but I found watching it happen to other children awful. I grew up in a violent home and always found watching one of my brothers get a beating much worse than getting a beating myself.

Fuckmyliferightnow · 04/03/2022 07:57

I was smacked at the age of five, it is my very first memory of school.
The same teacher was smacking 10 years later when I did work experience in the school, it would have been 1992. The child was 4 years old, he was crying because he struggled to write the letter e.

MissyB1 · 04/03/2022 07:59

Yes in 70s and 80s Sad smacked, caned, things thrown at us. It was all “normal” at our school. Horrendous.
I was also hit at home.

ChaToilLeam · 04/03/2022 07:59

Our head teacher used to come in raging and smack kids in front of the class. It was horrible and frightening, he was an alcoholic too so I don’t think he was entirely in control of his actions. Disgusting that this was ever allowed and accepted.

Sirzy · 04/03/2022 07:59

You must have been one of the last unfortunate few, I started in 88 and know it was banned in English state schools just before that (87?)

SpikeySmooth · 04/03/2022 07:59

No. But I remember boys being assaulted for bad behaviour. Literally picked up and thrown out of class.

MintyGreenDream · 04/03/2022 08:00

No definitely not!

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 04/03/2022 08:00

A teacher smacked me across the face when I was tiny , about 6 . My mum went mental
My brother " got the cane" on his hand but apparently this was OK because he was especially naughty

Original poster
Ilostit · 04/03/2022 08:00

I don’t remember telling my parents. I think they would have been very upset by it. Because things were going on at home (not my parents fault we lived in an extended family household and a lot of the issues were amongst my aunts and uncles/Grandparents) my parents were very protective of me. Dad had his addiction issues but he never raised his hand to me. In fact I don’t think he ever shouted at me.

It was really a shock to be hit I think that’s why I remember it. I remember what I was wearing. I know her name and what she looked like. I just don’t know why I was hit.

OP posts:
Debroglie · 04/03/2022 08:01

It’s shocking looking back isn’t it? I’m a teacher now and I couldn’t imagine punishing a child who made a mistake with their work. (I do occasionally think about punching some of the older teenage boys I teach when they’re being particularly unpleasant)

fionaapple · 04/03/2022 08:03

I'm a TA in reception and I can't even imagine the thought of hitting a child crossing my mind

LauraChant · 04/03/2022 08:10

In our infant school, which I started in 1980, there was always talk (among the kids) that the headmistress would smack you, that the headmistress had smacked so-and-so, etc, but I don’t know if this was just kid talk. She was a very nice lady and it was a very child centred infant school so I think it’s unlikely she smacked anyone.

In he junior school on the other hand my what-is-now-year-3 teacher did hit kids with a ruler. That would be around 1982 and we would have been seven. It’s shocking really. I wasn’t hit but I remember wetting myself because you had to put your hand up if you needed the toilet, and he was busy and didn’t see me sitting there with my hand up for ages, and I didn’t think I was allowed to interrupt him. Weirdly, despite all this, we all got on quite well with him!

parafirstjoint · 04/03/2022 08:13

I got the belt in primary school not long before it was removed.

I was cheeky to the janitor waiting to get into the dinner hall for lunch.

That was early 80s.

My mother then beat me with a wooden spoon when I got home (she was vicious though). Needless to say, I have never raised a hand to my kids and never will.

CaptainMyCaptain · 04/03/2022 08:17

In the 80s smacking at school was already banned in ILEA schools and also in Derbyshire. There may have been some Local Authorities that still allowed it.

AdamRyan · 04/03/2022 08:24

Yes - was at a private primary and one of the teachers smacked me across the palm of the hand with a wooden ruler. I was 5 or 6.
I don't remember how often but I feel like quite a lot. For finishing my work too fast or too slow I think.
I also remember once she said I couldn't go to the loo as I should have gone at playtime and we were doing a test. I wet myself and got a ruler on the hand for that, as well as being totally ashamed.
I also didn't tell my parents - I was so little that I just thought the teacher was right to do that.

Comedycook · 04/03/2022 08:26

I wasn't hit at school but I do remember the pe teacher pulling my hair because I had forgotten my hairband. I was outraged and told my parents. Don't think they did anything though

cheapskatemum · 04/03/2022 08:30

I qualified as a teacher in 1987, as in did my PGCE 86-87, then my probationary year 87-88. Corporal punishment in school had just been banned, so I think that happened in 1987. Not that I was ever intending to use it! I was a teaching in Africa for VSO in the mid-80s and students were caned for such things as being late for school. My VSO partner and I refused to do it.

KohlaParasaurus · 04/03/2022 08:30

1970s/early 1980s, Scotland. Corporal punishment in primary and secondary schools was widespread. For younger children it was mostly being slapped on the outstretched hand or put across the teacher's knee and spanked. Some teachers used "the belt", a leather strap. It was entirely at each teacher's discretion and some were much more violent than others. In one class I was in, at the age of 6, every morning those who got less than 8 out of 10 for the daily mental arithmetic test would be lined up in front of the class and hit on the hand.

I had no way of knowing as a child whether there was ever any disciplinary action taken against teachers who used corporal punishment "excessively" but parents tended to support the teacher and if a parent did ever complain to the school the head would support the teacher. I also don't know how much corporal punishment took place out of sight, in an empty classroom or in the head teacher's office.

I was good at schoolwork and my behaviour was nothing unusual. I was slapped/spanked several times and belted seven times in total while at primary school, sometimes calculatedly and sometimes in anger. I'm glad it's no longer an option for teachers to hit children.

"Hit them back, then," was the usual response to reporting aggression by other children.