VPRS 21699 Register of Corporal Punishment

Full description

This series comprises a Register of Corporal Punishment, maintained by Castlemaine Primary School (School No. 119) (VA 5276). The Register of Corporal Punishment was a standardised register used in Victorian government schools from the early 20th century until at least the 1960s.  

Each school filled in their name and school number on the front cover of the register. Inside the front cover of the bound volume is a list of eight regulations relating to the implementation of corporal punishment in schools, including who may be authorised to deliver such punishment, what type of punishment is permitted, and the circumstances when corporal punishment may be applied. 

The Head Teacher of the school was held responsible for the nature and extent of the punishment inflicted, and only the Head Teacher or those they authorised were permitted to inflict this punishment. Accordingly, the first few pages of the book are titled ‘Names of Teachers Authorized to Inflict Corporal Punishment’. In columns below are spaces for the Head Teacher to fill out the name and date of the teachers authorised.

The rest of the volume is made up of perforated pages that were used to record the circumstances of individual punishments. Each page contains columns for the teacher to fill out the student’s details (full name, age, and grade), the date, the offence committed, the nature and extent of the punishment inflicted, and the initials of the teacher inflicting the punishment.  Entries for each year were to be filled out on a separate leaf. According to the instructions listed inside the front cover of the register, these pages were to be kept in the Register for just two years before being removed and destroyed. As such, much of this register is filled with blank pages. Where entries do remain, the level of detail recorded varies. 

Corporal punishment was banned in Victorian state schools in 1983, though many schools had abolished the practice long before then.