§ Sir Harmar Nichollsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will give an assurance that he will leave the methods of maintaining discipline in schools to the discretion of head teachers.
§ Mr. Gordon WalkerI have no present intention of seeking powers to limit the discretion of head teachers of ordinary schools in the matter of discipline. This is, or should be, a matter for local discussion between the local education authorities, the governing bodies of schools and the teachers; but, as I made clear in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, South (Mr. Winnick) on 19th December, 1967, I hope that they will use their powers and influence to secure that the practice of corporal punishment disappears from the schools.
I am awaiting the comments of the associations representing teachers and local education authorities on my proposals that the use of corporal punishment for handicapped pupils should cease entirely.—[Vol. 756, c. 386.]