The Perceptions Of Educators About Corporal Punishment In Rural School Districts In Tennessee PDF Download

The purpose of the study was to examine the perceptions of teachers, based on their demographics, regarding the use of corporal punishment in two rural Tennessee school districts. The research was designed to determine the differences between the teachers' beliefs of the use of corporal punishment based on years of teaching experience, use of corporal punishment, punishment received as a child, terminal degree, gender, age, teaching level, and two school systems' board policies. These variables were compared to the teachers' religious, cultural, legal, and discipline effectiveness beliefs. Two counties, DeKalb and Roane, were selected due to their similar demographics. The sample group consisted of 353 participants who completed Kiernan's Corporal Punishment Scale Survey. Eight hypotheses were tested using a Multiple Linear Regression and Multiple Analyses of Variance (MANOVAs). Five of the eight hypotheses were found to be statistically significant at the .01 level of significance. There were no significant differences in teachers' religious perceptions of corporal punishment based on the variables tested. A significant difference was found in teachers' cultural perceptions of corporal punishment based on the teaching level. Significant differences were found on the legal construct based on the teachers' use of corporal punishment, punishment received as a child, gender, teaching level, and school system board policies. There were significant differences in teachers' discipline effectiveness perceptions of corporal punishment based on teachers' use of corporal punishment and punishment received as a child. The legal construct was the area that was most affected by the teachers' demographic variables. Recommendations concluded from this study include the education of teachers in alternative measures other than corporal punishment and the re-evaluation of state laws and school board policies. Research recommendations include a correlational study between discipline records and infractions compared to corporal punishment and a comparison of the attitudes of teachers' in the Southern states with other regions of the United States.