Gradual Changes to Discipline: A Case Study of Punishment Records and Corporal Punishment in Three Schools in Finland After the 1872 School Order Act

Punishment and violence in the history of education have been covered in numerous scholarly works, but most of them have relied heavily on what might be considered normative sources such as regulations, legislation, other studies in the history of education, various instructions, manuals, and guidebooks. The history of education in Finland, as elsewhere, would have us believe that punishment practices in general changed drastically, and that corporal punishment in particular had been dropped by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as proscribed in secondary schools by the School Order Act of 1872. We argue, however, that this was not always the case, especially when certain empirical sources that have often been overlooked—such as school punishment records—are taken into account. We use these sources to explore whether punishments in general, and corporal in particular, continued to be administered all the same after 1872. Our hypothesis is that the “cultural shift” regarding this issue was more gradual and complex than previously assumed. The administering of punishments, corporal or otherwise, clearly continued after the legislation had changed, regardless of whether contemporary educationalists were recommending other means of managing pupil behaviour. For instance, it remained culturally acceptable, at least for secondary schools, to “chastise” pupils (to send them home for corporal punishment). Our findings add to the existing knowledge on punishment practices and provide valid grounds for re-evaluating research on the matter.