ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to investigate Perception of Parents and Teachers on the Use of Corporal Punishment in Secondary Schools in Ikwuano L.G.A of Abia State, Nigeria. The study was a descriptive survey design.  Four research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study.  The population of the study comprised of all teachers from Ikwuano LG.A. The sample for the study consisted of 175 parents and 60 teachers. The sample was drawn using Multi stage sampling technique. In the first stage simple random sampling technique was used to select 5 communities out of the 17 communities. In the second stage, purposive random sampling technique was used to select 2 form teachers from JSS1, JSS2, etc to SS3. Thirdly, simple random sampling technique was used to select an intact class from one arm of JSS1 to SS3. The researcher developed a structured questionnaire titled “Perception of Parents and Teachers on the use of Corporal Punishment in Secondary Schools Questionnaire (PPTCPSSQ)’’ which was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from Educational Psychology and Counseling and one from Science Education, from the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The data obtained through the test retest method were used to determine the internal consistency reliability of the items which yielded reliability index of 0.60, 0.78 and 0.77 for Section B, part 1, 2 and 3 respectively.. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while the t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that to a high extent, teachers and parents perceived physical pain corporal punishment as appropriate and needful in upholding discipline in secondary schools in Ikwuano L.G.A. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Teacher should apply corporate punishment in proportion to the offence committed. In addition, Teachers as well as parents should use their common sense in ensuing that corporal punishment is not used every time, other methods like advise can be alternated with corporal punishment.