All societies from the dawn of human history have had the task of ensuring that the mature members of society assist the immature to become socially acceptable individuals. Various forms of punishment and rewards are therefore employed. Of course, the transmission of cultural norms and family values is accomplished through guidance and punishment.
The concept of punishment has many meanings. To some, it implies guiding the children to self-actualisation and self-control, and to others, it means hard, punitive, authoritarian control of another’s behaviour. According to Wise(1980), punishment therefore means a form of negative reward meted out to the child for any misbehaviour or offence committed in the school or the classroom.
In the past, the punishment was mainly punitive. Negative reinforcement was equated with learning. It was a common belief that a child’s seat is on his back and he hears only when he is beaten.
Teachers cannot help but punish the child. The motive should not be punitive. The popular proverb says that, spare the rod and spoil the child. The biblical injunction also says, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him (Proverbs 13:24).
Experience has shown that some parents frown at punishing their children in schools, even when punishment is inflicted with love and genuine concern for the lives of the children. Parents, therefore, should be happy about reformative punishment. Read further on this page.
Purpose of Punishment
Punishment can be productive or counterproductivedepending on the mode and the motive of the punishment. Essentially, punishment can serve the following three purposes:
1. Punitive: is to avenge personal feelings. For example, Punishment can serve as a punitive measure when the1.objectivewhen the teacher gives the child some strokes of the cane for avenging the offence the child has committed. The goal of this type of punishment can be counterproductive. It could harden the child to commit more serious offences. In effect, punishment may not produce a positive effect on the life of the child.
2. Deterrent: Punishment can serve as a deterrent effect when the erring child is told the nature of his offence and why he should be disciplined, and the attention of other children is drawn to the nature of the offence. The motive of this type of punishment is genuine and could be productive in moulding the lives of the erring child and other members of the class.
3. Reformative: Punishment is reformative when the motive is to move the offender into an acceptable member of society by preventing him from committing such n offence again. Reformative punishment is viewed as guidance and, therefore, can promote socialisation, self-actualisation, and self-direction.
Every social system, the school inclusive, develops its own expectations and adjustment skills that it feels an individual must acquire to function acceptably within its cultural context; deviation from the set standard, therefore, should attract reasonable punishment meted out with the motive of love.
Goals of Punishment
1. To develop in the child an acceptable pattern of behaviour.
2. To promote classroom orderliness and self-control in the learners.
3. To enhance the achievement of learning, set goals and objectives.
4. To enhance the realisation of the child’s unique potential. Children, therefore, will be assisted to actualise their potential to become what they can and should become within the context of their innate abilities.
5. To develop the child’s ability to respect the rights and freedoms of others, since he learns in school with other children.
6. To promote effective teaching and learning in the classroom and the school.
Types of Classroom Offences
Some of the classroom offences that could be committed by the children for which punishment could be meted out include the following:
Lateness: Every student should know that getting late to the classroom is an offence.
Absenteeism: If the student is always absent from school and the classroom, it is an offence.
Noise making: Any student who makes a noise in the classroom is a great offence.
Laziness: Failure to do the assignment or complete the notes or any form of laziness is a great offence.
Disobedience: A disobedient student has committed a great offence.
Untidiness: If the classroom of students is dirty, it is an offence.
Disturbance: The students must not be disturbed by anything in the classroom.
Playing: No student must be playful in the classroom or the school.
Types of punishment
- Corporal punishment
- Fatigue
- Suspension
- Expulsion
- Withdrawal of benefits or positive rewards
- Imposition
- Sweeping
- Standing
Effective discipline results when teachers consciously plan feasible strategies for behaviour management.
Principles of punishment
- Punishment should be commensurate with the offence committed
- Punishment should not be capable of damaging the child’s ego and self-concept.
- There should be consistency in teachers’ expectations before punishment is meted out, i. e. acceptable behaviour today must reflect the same principles and values tomorrow.
- Always inflict punishment with genuine love. Genuine love is not accidental, but it must be learned and pursued.
- Insist that punishment is carried out according to specification,n e.g., stand up for five minutes; there should be a follow-through to ensure that the child obeys the instruction.
- Punishment should keep pace with the maturational level. For example, adolescents require more freedom than primary school children. Sparking may be more appropriate for young children than adolescents.
- Modelling is a major factor in behaviour modification. Children learn a great deal of behaviour by observing and imitating teachers and adult responses. Teachers, therefore, should set good examples.
- Immediate feedback is required for an effective punishment. The quicker the consequences of an action are experienced, the more learning takes place. Delayed consequences are ineffective in behaviour modification. Punishment,nt theref, should not be delayed.
- Teachers should be truthful by establishing offence before inflicting punishment.
- Avoid punishing a group for an offence committed by an individual.
Reward
The reward is positive reinforcement for any good behaviour put up by the child.Skinner(1938)found that behaviour could be shaped by rewarding progressive approximations of the acceptable response, eventually leading to only the target behaviour being reinforced. Acceptable behaviour can be cultivated through behaviour modification and management procedures. Systematic, sensitive use of these principles has proved effective in assisting children to learn how to manage their behaviour in family and classroom situations.
Examples of Rewards
(1.) Commendations (2) Prizes (3) Position of Honour (4) Promotion (5) Love, (6) Acceptance,
Principles of Reward
- Teachers should be consistent in the type of behaviour they want their children to imbibe or the behaviour they intend to change. They should discuss and agree with the children on the expectations and rewards to be given for the successful accomplishment of the specific task or desired behaviour must be compatible with the developmental level of the child.
- Rewards must be carefully chosen; they are effective only when they are what the child wants. Other children will have a strong desire to obtain such desirable rewards.
- Extrinsic rewards should be sparingly used and therefore should not become baits or bribes for behaviour.
- In addition to extrinsic rewards, teachers and parents should employ intrinsic rewards such as love, acceptance, care, appreciation, verbal approval, etc.
- Rewards can be through bargaining and contracting, that is, if you do this, I will do that. This gives the child the feeling that, to some extent, he controls his life.
- Since rewards are a means to an end, they should not be continuously given for the same responses. Intrinsic motivation is developed as soon as the child learns to appreciate the worth of his newly learned behaviour.
- Rewards should be given with the motive of creating an emotional and physical environment that encourages acceptable behaviour and discourages unacceptable behaviour.
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