A question concenring school slipperings

Myrkassi, now I’m left to wonder how the term made its way into the school system. Were there a number of teachers/administrators frequenting Miss Berkeley’s?

I appreciate all the replies. The consensus seems that there was no consensus. Slipperings were applied in a more arbitrary manner than other methods?

Detail extra comment re six of the best. It seems in many settings if more than six strokes is awarded it goes up in increments of six - 12, 18 or even 24

Jogreenknickers, you wrote "....but for anyone born in the UK after about 1975, school spankings are a bit of a dream."
I believe it was a little later, in 1982 and following a ruling by the ECHR. This ruling obviously had effect throughout Europe but I believe the case was initiated by one or two Scottish parents .

In Ireland , the government reacted by withdrawing the circular permitting corporal punishment in schools. But I believe in the UK the a similar order only applied to state schools with private schools continuing in the use of corporal punishment. Not sure what happened in other European countries.
I think CP in all schools was only abolished in 1997 in the UK. In Ireland, CP of children was only made illegal after 2000 although, as I say, the circular authorising it was sent out in 1982.

It wasn't unusual for teachers to call parents into the school if/when their child misbehaved and suggest the child needed to be punished for some misdeed knowing that the parent would then spank the child. There was a recent court case here in Ireland where a father beat his daughter after he had been called into the school about a theft. The police also called to his home about the matter and I can imagine it been suggested by both school and police that he needed to get his child into line and spank her.

Here is a link to a bbc page about the ECHR ruling [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_2516000/2516 621.stm][/url]

Smachtai, thanks for your interesting post. However, if CP was banned in the UK in 1982 then, assuming no-one got spanked below the age of about 7, Jo's 1975 birth-date would be about right. Having said that, I remember my teacher in 'Junior Infants' spanking the entire class when we were aged about 5. We had to line up to receive one smack on our bottoms over her knee. I seem to remember it being regarded as a fun experience, although it hurt slightly more than expected. Miss H returned the following year as Mrs H. I have often wondered since what sort of hormones must have be coursing through her veins at the time, but I hope she had a very satisfying marriage because we all adored her.

BashfulBob, you are of course right, I misread JoGreenKnickers post :-to mean no spanking after 1975 rather than to those born after 1975.

Apoligies, JoGreenknickers for misquoting you.

Both my son and daughter have mentioned, in the past couple of years, that they were slapped in school. One born 1981 the other 1986. It seems to have been only very occasional and clearly done by a teacher who probably taught when CP was permitted.

As a total aside, as you can imagine , I am considerably older. A few weeks ago discussion about another teacher had search online for my old school. i now live on the other side of the country. And I came across an obituary, from last November, of my old primary school principal in a local(to the school) newspaper. I expected him to be dead many years ago as he was 98 when he died.. The obituary piece included the parish priest praising how kind and caring he was. Totally unrecognised from the principal I knew.

I attended senior school in South London during the early 60's when corporal punishment was part of the daily routine. Six strokes of the cane was accepted as the maximum punishment that any scholar could receive short of expulsion. I really can't say if this was a school rule or simply understood to be a guideline that teachers were expected to follow. The 'slipper' was actually more likely to be a gym shoe and often applied during PE where it was readily available. With nothing but a pair of thin cotton shorts as protection, it stung like he'll but it was invariably limited to one or two whacks for minor infringements.

I always feel slipperings should be more often applied in the style of pre-ban comics such as Beryl the Peril and Minnie the Minx, as well as various others.

I realise that for the purposes of realistic school settings this mostly isn't practical, but the implement lends itself perfectly to OTK work

Like Hotspur, I attended senior school in South London. And like Hotspur in senior school the only one that used the slipper (gym plimsoll) was the PE master whilst others used the cane. Like Hotspur I experienced whacks with the plimsoll with only a thin pair of cotton shorts as protection which did sting. I also received the cane from the Headmaster with trousers in place around the same time which was a very different experience, certainly more intense.

Later having really pissed off the Music Master I had to report for the cane at the end of the day, getting six across my bare bottom which was dreadful. Only months later the PE master sent me to the changing room for six whacks of the his plimsoll to my bare bottom. I had not expected it to be as bad as the cane, but it was possibly worse. Does anyone else have comparisons between being slippered or being caned? Which is worse?

I imagine it depends how hard they hit.
I can tell you from playing the cane is much worse than the slipper

Agreed, there was probably nothing as bad as six of the best with the cane - but if both were given in the 'harder' range, I remember being shocked about how painful a large gym plimsoll was, especially six given to the bare bottom