Teachers and Parental Position on the Interdiction of Corporal Punishment in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

There has been an alarming interest and complain about the use of corporal punishment on the part of teachers and parents respectively in the teaching and learning process. Corporal punishment creates a peculiar perception of how stakeholders of schools perceived its impact on pupils’ academic performance. The study, however, sought to investigate the perceived impact of corporal punishment on pupils learning outcomes in the teaching and learning of mathematics for selected schools in Techiman municipal. The methodology used for the study was a descriptive research design with a mixed paradigm. Both quantitative (in the form of pupils obtained scores in pre-test and post-test) and qualitative data (from teachers and parents’ responses to questionnaires) were used. The findings revealed that there is a significant mean difference between pupils’ performance about whether they were taught with corporal punishment or otherwise. Majority of the parents and teachers presumed that sometimes using corporal punishment helps and foster students to learn. Parents strongly disagreed to the complete ban of corporal punishment in the school. Teachers however consensus agreed that they occasionally use Corporal Punishment to help pupils learn It is recommended that corporal punishment usage in schools should not be banned entirely but rather, measures should be put in place to monitor how it is meted out in schools. Teachers should not abuse the use of corporal punishments in schools.