Abstract
This paper reports on a study that compared the practice of corporal punishment in ten basic schools in the Greater Accra District in Ghana. Five of the ten schools were designated as inclusive project schools (IPS) and the other five as non-inclusive project schools (NIS). The primary purpose was to find out if the inclusive project schools were more effective in eradicating corporal punishment from their schools than were the non-project schools. One hundred teachers responded to a six-item questionnaire. A further 22 participants comprising ten teachers from the survey group, ten pupils and two directors of education were interviewed. Observation of the classroom practices, where these teachers work, substantiated the questionnaire and interview findings. The overall results indicated that corporal punishment still persists in both school sites at relatively the same scale. Three themes were found to underpin the administration of corporal punishment to students in these schools. (1) Punishment as an effective learning imperative (2) Punishment as a moral imperative (3) Punishment as religious imperative. The implications of these findings pertaining to inclusive education are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Avoke, M. (2002) Models of disability in the labelling and attitudinal discourse in Ghana,Disability and Society, vol. 17, no. 7, pp.769–777.
Boakye, K. (2001) Reintroducing caning in our schools?,Ghanaian Chronicle, 3 April, p.1.
Booth, T., M. Ainscow, K. Black-Hawkins, M. Vaughan and L. Shaw (2000)Index for Inclusion: Developing learning and participation in schools, Centre for Studies in Inclusive Education, Centre for Educational Needs, University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Canter, L. (1989) Assertive discipline: more than names on the board and marbles in a jar,Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 71, pp.57–61.
Canter, L. (2000) Assertive discipline, in C.H. Edwards, ed.,Classroom Discipline and Management, 3rd ed., John Wiley & Sons, MA, USA.
Cowne, E. (2003)Developing Inclusive Practice: The SENCO’s role in managing change, David Fulton, London.
Deppeler, J.M. and D. Harvey (2004) Validating the British index for inclusion for the Australian context, Stage one,International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 8, no. 2, pp.155–184.
Edumadze, E. (2004) Banning of corporal punishment has contributed to indiscipline,Ghana News Agency, 10 March, p.1.
Ernest, P. (1995) The one and the many, in L. Steffe and J. Gale, eds.,Constructivism in Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey.
Ghana Education Service (2003)Increasing Access to Quality Basic Education for Children with Special Needs: Special Education Project with VSO, GES, Accra.
Gibson, R. (1986)Critical Theory and Education, Hodder & Stoughton, London.
Giroux, H. (1997)Pedagogy and the Politics of Hope: Theory, Culture and Schooling, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Greydanus, D., H. Pratt, C.R. Spates, A. Blake-Dreher, M. Greydanus-Gearhart and D. Patel (2003) Corporal punishment in schools: An update of a position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine,Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 32, no. 5, pp.385–393.
Gyekye, K. (2002)African Cultural Values: An introduction, Sankofa Publications, Accra.
Hogan, K. and M. Pressley (1997)Scaffolding Student Learning: Instructional Approaches and Issues (Advances in Learning & Teaching), Brookline Books, Massachusetts.
Holy Bible: The New King James Version, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.
Hooks, B. (1994)Teaching to Transgress: Education as a practice of freedom, Routledge, New York.
Hyman, R. and C. Rathbone (2004)Corporal Punishment in Schools: Reading the law, Retrieved 11 May 2004. http://www.educationlaw.org/publication/corporal.html.
Kochanska, G. and R.A. Thompson (1997) The emergence and development of conscience in todlerhood and early childhood, in J. E. Grusec and L. Kuczynski, eds.,Parenting and Children’s Internationalisation of Values, pp.53–77, Wiley, New York.
Loreman, T., J. Deppeler and D. Harvey (2005)Inclusive Education: A practical guide to supporting diversity in the classroom, Allen & Unwin, NSW.
Lupton, J. and G. Jones (2002)Practicing Inclusion: A self-review framework for inclusion and special education needs. A practical guide for schools, East Reading of Yorkshire Council Publications, London.
Oliver-Commey, J.O. (2001)The Disabled Child in Ghana: Whose fault and who cares? Ghana University Press, Accra.
Republic of Ghana (1992)Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, Assembly Press, Accra.
Republic of Ghana (2004)The Development of Education National Report of Ghana: The basic education division of Ghana Education Service, Assembly Press, Accra.
Richie, J. and L. Spencer (1994) Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research, in A. Bryan and R. Burgess, eds.,Analysing Qualitative Data, pp.173–194, Routledge, London.
Rogers, B. (1994)Classroom Discipline: A Planned Approach, Jefferson College Publishers, Washington.
Rosen, L. (1997)School Discipline: Best Practices for Administrators, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, California.
Slee, R. (1995)Changing Theories and Practices of Discipline, Falmer Press, London.
UNESCO (1994)World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality, UNESCO, Paris.
UNESCO (1996)Legislation Pertaining to Special Needs Education, Author, Paris.
UNESCO (2001)Overcoming Exclusion through Inclusive Approaches in Education: A Challenge and Vision, Author, Paris.
United Nations (1989)Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations, New York.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1998)Convention on the Rights of the Child, Retrieved October 2002. http://ohchr.org/english/law/crc/htm.
von Glaserfeld, E. (1995a) A constructivist approach to teaching, in L. Steffe and J. Gale, eds.,Constructivism in Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., New Jersey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Agbenyega, J.S. Corporal Punishment in the Schools of Ghana: Does Inclusive Education Suffer?. Aust. Educ. Res. 33, 107–122 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216844
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216844