The Cane Works In African Schools (No It Doesn't!)

In 2017, The International Task Force of Teachers in its 10th Policy Dialogue Forum declared Teaching as a clinical-based practice profession - learn more here. Teacher training is one of the most comprehensive forms of vocational training you can come across. Beyond basic teaching methodology and developing subject expertise, teachers are trained in a diverse array of subjects including sociology, psychology, community development, administration, measurement and evaluation etc. This makes sense when you consider that teachers are tasked with the responsibility of educating a country's people. When teachers use the cane, for me it shows a lack of professional sophistication and them walking away from standard educational theory and good practice used by their counterparts in all successful parts of the world.

In over nine (9) years actively working in education across all levels, I am firmly coming to believe that the culture of using the cane in schools is too lazy for the kind of work teachers are supposed to be trained to do. After spending 3/4 years or more dedicated to training to become professional educators, we do not expect teachers to simply throw the tools of their trade away to use the cane, because 'that's what works on African children'. African children have lungs, heart beats, hair grows on their heads, they start out as babies and they grow up following the same physio-psychological path as other children any where else in the world. The kind of sophisticated training that teachers receive (or should have received) gives them the skills to be able to effect behaviour without resorting to negative behaviour management techniques.

Let's take an example, say a child curses or has trouble concentrating in class. The sophisticated educator may (as there many approaches) first consider what stage of their cognitive development this child is at currently (read about Piaget's 4 Stages of Cognitive Development here), then they may ask, which social institution may have malfunctioned that this child resorted to this behaviour (here is an interesting read on socialization in the learning process). They may also ask, could this behaviour be a manifestation of a loss in any of maslow's hierarchy of needs? We know for instance that children who are hungry may manifest learning challenges, that they need to feel safe (security) in order to express them selves fully etc. The educator after visiting several of his professional toolkit, may engage other educators and fellow teachers/head teacher/principal depending on the complexity of the situation. A path will then be plotted out to help this child improve their behaviour over time. Now this is hard work, but that's what teachers are supposed to be trained to do!

The problem with the cane in African schools is that it is that it doesn't utilize the significant training teachers should have received and even more problematic is that it doesn't change the underlying causes of the misbehaviour. It's like a doctor saying "It's too tedious to do this diagnosis, here just have these tablets". We would go crazy, yet we let teachers do this. 

Another thing is school leaders and teachers shouldn't take instructions to cane students when parents request it, this happens very frequently. Parents are not trained education professionals. They know their children and can give you insight on issues related to their child. But when it comes to discipline, they will recommend what they think works but it is your job as an educator to educate them about the importance of using positive behaviour management strategies and tackling the underlying causes of the misbehaviour rather than just dishing out punishment.

Long story short, the cane has no place in the African classroom!