- Why are punishment books from UK schools hard to find?
Because although they are not covered by the official secrets act they seem often to be treated as though they are! Sometimes there is a 50 year embargo on releasing them, and they often become buried in inaccessible archives.
- Why is so much material from Australia available here?
We have some excellent Australian contributors, and the Australians seem to be rather more open about school CP. Unlike the UK some types of schools in some parts of Australia can still use corporal punishment.
- Why are there no references to slippering or strapping in these books?
There sometimes are references to straps, where these were the authorised punishment implement instead of the cane. Punishment books generally recorded official formal punishments by authorised teachers, often the Head and/or Deputy Head. The slipper was almost never used for formal punishments. It was very much the ‘weapon of choice’ of the classroom Teacher for quick on the spot punishments, which weren’t usually recorded in punishment books.</li>