NRS-16490 | Punishment Book [Ardglen Public School]

Regulations under the Public Schools Act of 1866, adopted by the Council [of Education] 27 February 1867, regulated the punishment of children in schools by stipulating: “In the government of the pupils, all degrading and injurious punishments are to be avoided. The Teacher’s discipline must be mild but firm, his manner kindly, his demeanour cheerful and calculated to gain the confidence of his pupils, and his language marked by strict propriety. While he should overlook no offence, his aim should be to prevent the necessity for punishment by the improvement of the offender.”In relation to corporal punishment the regulations continue: “Corporal punishment should be inflicted in extreme cases only, and then as a last resource; and the teacher must keep a record of the time and place at which pupils were corporally chastised, the amount of such punishment and the nature of the offence.” Uniform stationery soon evolved to enable compliance with these regulations. This punishment book is a register of all instances of corporal punishment being given to pupils. The information it details includes: the pupil’s name; age; nature of offence; amount of punishment (i.e. number of strokes); instrument of punishment (invariably the cane); the date of the punishment; and by whom the punishment was inflicted.This single volume covers the entire period of the school’s operation. It is noticeable that no punishments are recorded between 1918 and 1934, again between 1936 and 1952, and in the years 1962 - 1964. This was not due to neglect in the upkeep of the record, as the book is initialled and dated as having been inspected at regular intervals, and during the last-mentioned period it is explicitly stated each year that there had been “no cases” (once with an exclamation mark).

《1866年公立学校法》框架下的规定于1867年2月27日由教育委员会通过，其对学校儿童惩罚的规范如下：“管理学生时，应避免所有有辱人格及有害的惩罚。教师的管教须温和而坚定，态度亲切，举止愉悦且旨在赢得学生信任，言语须恪守得体准则。虽不应忽视任何过错，但教师的目标应是通过促进违规者改正以避免惩罚的必要性。”

关于体罚（corporal punishment），规定进一步指出：“体罚仅应在极端情况下实施，且仅作为最后手段；教师须记录体罚学生的时间、地点、惩罚程度及过错性质。”

为落实上述规定，统一文具体系旋即形成。本惩罚记录簿登记了所有对学生实施体罚的案例，其详细信息包括：学生姓名、年龄、过错性质、惩罚程度（即击打次数）、惩罚工具（均为藤条）、惩罚日期及实施者。

该单卷本涵盖了学校运营的整个时期。值得注意的是，1918年至1934年、1936年至1952年以及1962年至1964年期间无惩罚记录。这并非因记录维护疏忽所致——记录簿定期接受检查并附有首字母签名及日期；且在上述最后一个时期，每年均明确标注“无案例”（其中一次带有感叹号）。