When Parent–Teacher Collaboration Turns Violent: Corporal Punishment in American Schools and Subsequent (Secondary) Trauma

Editorial reading guide · Collaboration

Whose voice can get lost when parents and school staff agree on a disciplinary practice?

Retrospective accounts put a boundary around the idea of collaboration: agreement between adults can expose a child to harm. The accounts foreground how children experienced adult decisions.

Who was studied?

Nineteen adults who attended schools in Mississippi were interviewed about school corporal punishment.

Age / stage: Adults recalling their school years

Read with three questions

1. How does recalling a childhood event later in life shape these accounts?
2. How did the researchers move from individual accounts to their interpretation?
3. Where do children, families and educators each have a voice in the evidence?

Keep the limits in view

The accounts document experiences in the circumstances studied. They cannot establish how common an experience is in the wider population or measure an intervention effect.