Students could benefit from stricter school rules: Study

It has been decades since schools outlawed the use of the cane to tame unruly students, but new research has found that kids actually thrive in stricter learning environments.

Findings published in an online toolkit devised by Evidence for Learning show that schools that impose more severe guidelines on their students often boast better exam results.

In years gone by it would have been the norm for children who stepped out of line to be dragged to the front of the classroom and disciplined, whether that was with a ruler across the knuckles, being lashed with the cane or made to clap erasers.

However, there could now be calls to bring back old-fashioned forms of discipline, with experts claiming that school children actually thrive when they have to abide by a more stringent set of rules.

While it doesn’t refer to methods of punishment, the toolkit, designed to help teachers follow evidence-based practices in the classroom, shows a direct link between student behaviour, classroom discipline and academic results.

It also claims that schools which “actively intervene to stamp out classroom misbehaviour’ can advance the academic performance of their student body by several months”.

According to the report, developed by the Social Ventures Australia-backed organisation, there is an extensive body of research to suggest that interventions aimed at reducing negative behaviour – from disrupting class or bullying classmates – can decrease problematic behaviours.

Principal Kelly Panousieris from Braybrook College, Melbourne, told The Australian that her school had revamped its school rules and does not tolerate any form of anti-social behaviour from students.

She said: “Kids actually want rules, they know that misbehaviour is not good for learning. This has really been a game-changer for us.”

The toolkit was based on a similar document produced by the UK’s Education Endowment Foundation.

It has been more than 20 years since corporal punishment was banned in all public schools in Australia and replaced with less harsh methods of punishment such as detention or copying lines. Victoria was the first state to get rid of the practice when they scrapped corporal punishment in all government schools back in 1985, with NSW putting an end to it, in line with the Education Act 1990.

What do you think? Should schools bring back stricter forms of punishment?