Corporal punishment in modern pedagogy: a state-of-the-art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35997/8pvmc017Keywords:
corporal punishment, school, history of education, childhood, modern pedagogyAbstract
Corporal punishment has historically been embedded in educational practices, and its persistence has generated debates that endure over time. Although for centuries, punishment was regarded as a legitimate means of correcting and preventing inappropriate behaviour, the rise of modern pedagogy introduced philosophical, anthropological, and moral frameworks that reformulated its justification and gave rise to multiple positions on the matter. This article presents a state-of-the-art review of research on punishment in modern pedagogical theories, focusing specifically on the educational thought of Comenius, Locke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Herbart – classic authors in the field. The aim is to systematize the literature that has addressed these questions, attending to the concept of punishment and other issues associated with discipline and school governance. The review highlights significant advances in the fields of the history of education and pedagogy and maps the main debates, methodologies, and interpretive trajectories that structure current knowledge on the subject. These findings constitute preliminary outcomes of a broader documentary research project. The selection of referenced sources takes into account thematic relevance, historiographical rigor, and the presence of conceptual or contextual analyses from local, national, and international perspectives. Taken together, this study contributes to contemporary debates on punishment and discipline, deepens their historical and theoretical foundations, and reinforces understanding of the role that punitive practices have played in the formation of childhood.
Downloads
References
Allen, A. T. (2017). Pestalozzi, Fröbel, and the Origins of the Kindergarten. En The Transatlantic Kindergarten: Education and Women’s Movements in Germany and the United States (pp. 10-32). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190274412.003.0002
Ariès, P. (1987). El niño y la vida familiar en el Antiguo Régimen (N. García Guadilla, Trad.). Taurus.
Boeker, R. (2023). Locke on Education, Persons, and Moral Agency. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 31(2), 202-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672559.2023.2250179
Bunge, M. J. (2024). Christianity, Child Well-Being, and Corporal Punishment. En R. Domingo, G. S. Hauk, & T. P. Jackson (Eds.), Faith in Law, Law in Faith (pp. 540-567). Brill | Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004546189
Carpy, C. I. (Ed.). (2013). Miradas históricas de la educación y la pedagogía. Ediciones Díaz de Santos.
Cladis, M. S. (Ed.). (1999). Durkheim and Foucault: Perspectives on Education and Punishment. Berghahn Books.
Clauser, J. K. (1961). Comenius Considers Discipline. Peabody Journal of Education, 39(1), 50-53.
Cole, L. (1950). A History of Education: Socrates to Montessori. Rinehart.
Comenius, J. A. (1907). The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (M. W. Keatinge, Ed. y Trad.). Adam and Charles Black. (Obra original publicada en 1657).
Comenius, J. A. (1956). The School of Infancy (E. M. Eller, Ed.). University of North Carolina Press. (Obra original publicada en 1630).
Comenius, J. A. (1992). Pampedia (Educación Universal) (F. Gómez Rodríguez de Castro, Trad.). Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. (Obra original publicada en 1662).
Correa-Cetina, E. A. (2020). Educación, disciplina y castigo: Consideraciones en torno a los mecanismos de contención. Revista Filosofía UIS, 19(2), 241-262. https://doi.org/10.18273/revfil.v19n2-2020013
Curren, R. (Ed.). (2023). Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003172246
Dent, R. A. (2021). John Amos Comenius: Inciting the Millennium through Educational Reform. Religions, 12(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12111012
Donnelly, M., & Straus, M. A. (Eds.). (2005). Corporal Punishment of Children in Theoretical Perspective. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300085471.001.0001
Driver, F. (1985). Power, Space, and the Body: A Critical Assessment of Foucault’s Discipline and Punish. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 3(4), 425-446. https://doi.org/10.1068/d030425
Durkheim, E. (1961). Moral Education (E. K. Wilson, Ed.; E. K. Wilson & H. Schnurer, Trads.). The Free Press. (Obra original publicada en 1925).
Durrant, J. E. (2022). Corporal Punishment: From Ancient History to Global Progress. En R. Geffner, J. W. White, L. K. Hamberger, A. Rosenbaum, V. Vaughan-Eden, & V. I. Vieth (Eds.), Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan: A project of the National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan (NPEIV) (pp. 343-365). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_13
Dussel, I., & Caruso, M. (1999). La invención del aula: Una genealogía de las formas de enseñar. Santillana.
Foucault, M. (2002). Vigilar y castigar: Nacimiento de la prisión (A. Garzón del Camino, Trad.). Siglo XXI Editores.
García- Casanova, M. G. (2013). ¿Para qué la historia de la educación y de la pedagogía? En C. I. Carpy (Ed.), Miradas históricas de la educación y la pedagogía (pp. 21-51). Ediciones Díaz de Santos.
Garland, D. (1991). Sociological Perspectives on Punishment. Crime and Justice, 14, 115-165. https://doi.org/10.1086/449185
Garland, D. (1999). Castigo y sociedad moderna: Un estudio de teoría social (B. Ruiz de la Concha, Trad.). Siglo XXI Editores.
Gershoff, E. T., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016). Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. Journal of Family Psychology, 30(4), 453-469. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000191
Herbart, J. F. (1904). Outlines of Educational Doctrine (A. F. Lange, Trad.). Macmillan. (Obra original publicada en 1835).
Herbart, J. F. (1908). The Science of Education (H. M. & E. Felkin, Trads.). D. C. Heath and Co. http://archive.org/details/scienceofeducati00herbuoft (Obra original publicada en 1806).
Herrera-Beltrán, C. X. (2013). Castigos corporales y escuela en la Colombia de los siglos XIX Y XX. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 62, 69-87. https://doi.org/10.35362/rie620583
Herrera-Beltrán, C. X. (2020). Para la formación, urge disciplinar el cuerpo. En G. Bustamante-Zamudio, C. J. Díaz-Soler, M. Á. Espitia-Raba, C. X. Herrera-Beltrán, A. Trujillo-García, W. Y. Garzón-Tovar, J. Riveros-Castillo, & A. M. Yupanqui-Erazo, Comenio y la Didáctica Magna: El problema de la formación (pp. 109-122). Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.
Hillner, J. (2009). Monks and children: Corporal punishment in Late Antiquity. European Review of History: Revue Europeenne d’histoire, 16(6), 773-791. https://doi.org/10.1080/13507480903368046
Huarte-Cuéllar, R. (2012). Kant y Herbart: Dos visiones de la pedagogía como ciencia entre los siglos XVIII y XIX. Fermentario, (6).
Hudson, R. L. (1946). Herbart: His philosophy and educational implications. Peabody Journal of Education, 24(3), 159-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/01619564609536027
Jacomini, M. A., Wellen, H. K. A. D. M., Perrella, C. D. S. S., & Monção, M. A. G. (2023). State of the art research in education: Characteristics and challenges. Educação e Pesquisa, 49, e262052. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634202349262052eng
Lenta, P. (2017). Corporal Punishment: A Philosophical Assessment. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315114101
Locke, J. (1830). Some Thoughts Concerning Education. En The Library of Education (Vol. 1, pp. 1-257). Gray & Bowen. (Obra original publicada en 1693).
Mejía-Correa, M. P. (2019). El poder de los impotentes: Representaciones de los educadores sobre el castigo físico infligido a los niños. Editorial Universidad de Antioquia.
Middleton, J. (2008). The Experience of Corporal Punishment in Schools, 1890–1940. History of Education, 37(2), 253-275. https://doi.org/10.1080/00467600701607882
Mintz, A. I. (2012). The happy and suffering student? Rousseau’s emile and the path not taken in progressive educational thought. Educational Theory, 62(3), 249-265. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2012.00445.x
Mishra, A. (2022). Ethical Questions Concerning Corporal Punishment of Children: Touring its Implications and Directions. International Journal of Applied Ethics, 8(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.51245/ijaethics.v8i1.2022.10
Narodowski, M. (1994). Infancia y poder: La conformación de la pedagogía moderna. Aíque Grupo Editor.
Nazar, H. (2021). Locke and Rousseau on educating for freedom. En The Lockean Mind. Routledge.
Norlin, B. (2020). Comenius, moral and pious education, and the why, when and how of school discipline. History of Education, 49(3), 287-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2020.1739759
Ossa, A. F. (2010). El castigo como práctica de gobierno en la Reforma Instruccionista en Antioquia. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, 8(2), 1159-1168. https://doi.org/10.11600/rlcsnj.8.2.97
Parsons, B. (2015). The Way of the Rod: The Functions of Beating in Late Medieval Pedagogy. Modern Philology, 113(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1086/680664
Parsons, B. (2018). Punishment and Medieval Education. Boydell & Brewer. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1qv17q
Pestalozzi, J. H. (1894). How Gertrude Teaches Her Children (E. Cooke, Ed.; L. E. Holland & F. C. Turner, Trads.). C. W. Bardeen. (Obra original publicada en 1801).
Pestalozzi, J. H. (1898). Letters on Early Education. C. W. Bardeen. (Obra original publicada en 1827).
Reisert, J. R. (2012). Kant and Rousseau on Moral Education. En Kant and Education (pp. 12-25). Routledge.
Rengifo-Correa, Á. A. (2015). Examen, premio y castigo: El gobierno de los niños en las escuelas de finales del siglo XIX en Colombia. En B. Y. G. Sánchez (Ed.), Escuela y educación superior: Temas para la reflexión (pp. 17-41). Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. https://die.udistrital.edu.co/node/9974
Rousseau, J. J. (1918). Rousseau’s Emile or Treatise on education (W. H. Payne, Trad.). D. Appleton and Co.
Sáenz-Obregón, J., Saldarriaga, Ó., & Ospina, A. (1997). Mirar la infancia: Pedagogía, moral y modernidad en Colombia, 1903-1946 (Vol. 2). Colciencias.
Saller, R. (1991). Corporal Punishment, Authority, and Obedience in the Roman Household. En B. Rawson (Ed.), Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome (pp. 144-165). Oxford University PressOxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198149187.003.0008
Scott, G. R. (2006). The History Of Corporal Punishment. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315828367
Scribner, C. F., & Warnick, B. R. (2021). Spare the Rod: Punishment and the Moral Community of Schools. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226785844.001.0001
Sellars, M., & Imig, D. (2021). Pestalozzi and pedagogies of love: Pathways to educational reform. Early Child Development and Care, 191(7-8), 1152-1163. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1845667
Simon, J. S. (2013). Punishment and the Political Technologies of the Body (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 2343795). Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2343795
Smith, K. M. (2014). Disciplining Childhood. En The Government of Childhood (pp. 75-129). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137312273_4
Thomas, G. (2021). Education: A Very Short Introduction (2.a ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198859086.001.0001
Thompson, W. C., & Tillson, J. (Eds.). (2023). Pedagogies of Punishment: The Ethics of Discipline in Education. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350275737
Torrecilla-Hernández, L. (1998). Niñez y castigo: Historia del castigo escolar. Universidad de Valladolid.
Tuckness, A. (2010). Retribution and Restitution in Locke’s Theory of Punishment. The Journal of Politics, 72(3), 720-732. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381610000125
Villadsen, K. (2024). Foucault’s Concept of Technology. En Foucault’s Technologies: Another Way of Cutting Reality (pp. 29-86). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198819400.003.0002
Waldow, A. (2020). Locke’s Experiential Persons. En A. Waldow, Experience Embodied (1.a ed., pp. 51-94). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190086114.003.0003
Walen, A. (2023). Retributive Justice. En E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2023). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/justice-retributive/
Wilson, R. M. (1971). A study of attitudes towards corporal punishment as an educational procedure from the earliest times to the present [University of Victoria]. https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20162
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Unaciencia, Revista de Estudios e Investigaciones
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
