The 109-year-old law was applied in a case involving a Gold Coast high school teacher last year who was acquitted on an assault charge after he admitted slapping a Year 8 student.
But State Attorney-General Cameron Dick warned that Section 208 of the law that relates to the matter was “by no means a carte blanche authority for teachers to use physical force to manage students”.
Colin Krueger, principal of Mueller College at Rothwell on Brisbane’s northern outskirts, said the school used the cane at the request of parents.
Parents are asked to sign a consent form as part of enrolment which gives teachers the power to use “firm but fair” discipline “administered in a spirit of love according to Proverbs 13.24, 22:6 and 22:15”, which promote the “rod of discipline” to “correct the foolishness raging in every child”.