Collective punishment: a focal point of injustice

Collective punishment, the practice of disciplining a whole group for the misdeeds of one or a few, is widely recognised as unjust and counterproductive.

Children know it’s wrong

Even children intuitively grasp its unfairness. In one famous case, an 11-year-old student in the UK bluntly told her teacher that “collective punishment… is not fair on the many people who did nothing and under the 1949 Geneva Conventions it is a war crime”qpol.qub.ac.uk qpol.qub.ac.uk. While her invocation of war law was tongue-in-cheek, the core point stands: punishing someone for another’s actions violates basic principles of individual responsibility and justice.

Not compatible equity

Educational experts echo this, noting that such group blame is “fundamentally at odds with theories of individual responsibility in Western, liberal societies” iol.co.za. No adult would readily accept being punished for others’ misconduct – we would consider it a “miscarriage of justice” – yet children are expected to submit to it in schoolsqpol.qub.ac.uk. As Professor Laura Lundy observes, this is one of many “micro-injustices” kids endure in classrooms, indignities we would never impose on grown adults qpol.qub.ac.uk.

Ineffective

Beyond the moral offence, collective punishment often fails on practical grounds. It may yield immediate compliance (the class quiets down, the mess gets cleaned up) due to peer pressure, but research shows it sows the seeds of further misbehaviour. Punitive discipline does not teach better behaviour – in fact, it tends to worsen future behavior problems iol.co.za. Students punished indiscriminately or for things they didn’t do become more disengaged from school, not less. Feeling unfairly blamed or ostracized can breed resentment and erode any sense of belonging.

Increases negative outcomes

Studies indicate that punitive responses actually increase subsequent problematic behavior, as the student’s disengagement deepens iol.co.za. In the case of collective punishment, the dynamic is even more perverse: peers turn against the “culprit” who caused them all to lose privileges, amplifying that child’s social exclusion iol.co.za.

A viscous cycle

It’s easy to see how a vicious cycle can form. As one education writer noted, “no one likes the kid who takes away their lunchtime” – the child targeted by collective punishment may be further isolated, angered, or discouraged, making misbehavior more likely down the line iol.co.za. Ironically, the initial misconduct that spurred a group punishment might itself have been fuelled by the student’s alienation or prior injustices. In other words, punitive tactics often perpetuate the very problems they purport to solve. As that same writer wryly concluded, “it is possible the reason behind the misbehaviour was a previous collective punishment” iol.co.za.

Exclusionary discipline

Collective punishment is just one entry point into a broader critique of exclusionary discipline practices. Schools have long relied on methods like suspensions, expulsions, forced isolation (“time-out” or seclusion rooms), and other measures that remove or segregate misbehaving students.

These punitive, exclusion-based disciplines are increasingly shown to inflict serious harm and fail at their own goals. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently issued a stark policy statement calling out suspensions and expulsions as “one of the most severe punishments” with “lifelong, harmful consequences” k12dive.com.

After reviewing decades of data, paediatric experts concluded that kicking students out of school does not deter misbehaviour in the long run k12dive.com. In fact, a significant number of students return from suspension only to be suspended again – in one recent school year, 28% of U.S. students who were suspended ended up being suspended multiple times k12dive.com. This suggests the underlying issues are not being addressed by simply removing the child for a few days.

Aggravates stigmatisation & recidivism

On the contrary, being excluded from school often aggravates those issues. When a child is not in class, they miss instruction and fall behind academically; they may also feel stigmatised and disconnected from the school community. The AAP notes that out-of-school youth are more likely to engage in risky and delinquent behaviour – for example, unsupervised students are more prone to substance use, fighting, or carrying weapons k12dive.com.

School to prison pipeline

Each suspension increases a child’s odds of entering the “school-to-prison pipeline,” the well-documented pattern by which harsh school discipline predicts later contact with the juvenile justice system k12dive.com. In short, exclusionary discipline can set vulnerable youth on a trajectory of compounding failure and punishment, rather than resolving the original behavioural concern. Little wonder the AAP now urges all schools to dramatically reduce their use of exclusionary discipline and adopt trauma-informed practices instead k12dive.com.

Compounds exclusion

Alarmingly, the burdens of these punitive approaches are not felt evenly by all students – they fall heaviest on those who are already marginalised. Data consistently show that certain groups – notably students with disabilities, students of colour, and LGBTQ+ youth – are disproportionately targeted for suspensions, expulsions, and other harsh discipline k12dive.com.

Bias (conscious or not) plays a role in who gets labeled “disruptive” or “problematic,” as do systemic factors like under-resourced schools in high-poverty areas. A recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study went so far as to link “unfair” school discipline to numerous negative health outcomes for students: higher rates of being bullied, substance abuse, even attempted suicide were reported among those who felt unjustly disciplined k12dive.com.

The CDC’s researchers concluded that school discipline is an “urgent public health problem,” one that demands attention not just as an education issue but as a matter of youth health and equity k12dive.com. In other words, how we discipline children in school has ripple effects on their mental health, physical safety, and long-term life chances – it is literally a life-or-death concern for some students.

Ableism and exclusion

Nowhere are the gaps in our discipline approaches more evident than in the treatment of students with disabilities and diverse learning needs. Disabled students are dramatically over-represented in punitive discipline statistics, a pattern that holds true across many jurisdictions k12dive.com inclusionbc.org.

In British Columbia, for example, advocacy groups have long sounded the alarm that children with disabilities face routine exclusion from classrooms – being sent home early or asked to stay back altogether – at rates far above their peers. In 2023, a B.C. parents’ network released its fifth annual report tracking such incidents, calling the trend “alarming” and a wake-up call for the province vancouver.citynews.ca vancouver.citynews.ca. The report documented numerous cases where students with special needs were removed from field trips, denied access to extracurriculars, placed on abbreviated school days for months, or even barred from starting kindergarten alongside other children vancouver.citynews.ca.

Physical restrain and solitary seclusion

The most egregious reports involve kids subjected to physical restraint or solitary seclusion when they exhibit challenging behaviour. According to the advocacy group BCEdAccess, there were at least 84 reported incidents of B.C. students being restrained or secluded in a single school year – a number that “may not sound big to people, but any greater than zero is too many”, as the group’s director emphasises vancouver.citynews.ca.

Each of those incidents represents a child in crisis being met with forceful confinement, an experience known to cause severe psychological trauma for the child and their familyvancouver.citynews.ca. Indeed, provincial guidelines in B.C. recognize that physical restraint and seclusion should never be part of a student’s educational experience due to the harm they inflict, yet many districts have been slow to fully implement policies banning these methods inclusionbc.org inclusionbc.org.

Humiliation, degradation, torture

What does it feel like for a young person to endure such treatment at school? One 10-year-old student from Vancouver Island, who has a physical disability, gave a heartbreaking answer. After being repeatedly taken to a small “dark room” and locked inside as a response to outbursts, 

“I was scared and if I cried they said, ‘Do you need to go to your room?’… I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t want to go to the room… It made me feel like I was a bad person and didn’t deserve to have anything good and I should be thrown away.”  – vancouver.citynews.ca.

This child’s testimony lays bare the deep shame and fear instilled by coercive discipline. Rather than learning better behaviour, the student learned a toxic lesson about themself – believing they were worthless and fundamentally “bad.” No educational goal can justify this kind of emotional devastation.

Vicarious trauma

As the advocate who shared this story noted, each time a classmate witnesses such treatment, another insidious lesson is taught: “What happens if they make a mistake? What will happen to them? It also teaches them this is how we treat people when they are different.” vancouver.citynews.ca.

Normalisation of distress and dehumanisation

In effect, allowing the abuse or exclusion of disabled children normalises ableism to everyone involved. It tells the whole student body that if you are “different” or vulnerable, you can expect less dignity and empathy. This runs completely counter to the inclusive values that modern education espouses.

A ‘quick fix’

Critics argue that many of these disciplinary actions stem from ableist assumptions and systemic failings rather than wilful malice. Often, schools lack the training, resources, or staffing to support children with complex needs. Under strain, they fall back on removing the child as a “quick fix.”

Staffing shortages and training

In B.C., shortages of special education teachers and aides have led to situations where kids are kept isolated in separate rooms for lack of support in regular classrooms vancouver.citynews.ca. Yet however understandable the resource challenges, the outcome is still discrimination. 

Bias and exclusionary thinking

One advocate bluntly stated:

“Some of it is just ableism, people not believing that kids belong in the same spaces if they are disabled,” –vancouver.citynews.ca.

Policy

This bias can even be baked into policy. For instance, until recently B.C.’s school law contained phrasing that students with disabilities should be included in regular classes “unless the principal decides otherwise,” effectively giving cover for frequent exceptions vancouver.citynews.ca. Disability rights groups point out that such caveats send a message that inclusion is optional – an ableist stance at odds with true educational equity vancouver.citynews.ca. The gap between inclusive rhetoric and punitive reality is painfully clear to families who struggle to keep their neurodivergent or disabled children safe and engaged in school.

Toward trauma-informed practice

If collective punishment and exclusionary discipline illustrate what’s wrong in our schools, what would it look like to do things right?

Experts and advocates increasingly call for a paradigm shift toward trauma-informed, inclusive, and restorative practices in education. Trauma-informed means recognising that many behavioural challenges are expressions of underlying trauma, disability, or distress, and responding with support rather than more harm.

The AAP’s guidance urges schools to adopt trauma-informed approaches as a means to reduce the use of suspensions and expulsions k12dive.com. This can involve training staff to de-escalate conflicts, implementing positive behaviour interventions, and providing mental health resources. Crucially, the AAP also recommends that schools collect and analyse discipline data for disparities, so that problems like racial or ability-based inequities can be identified and addressed k12dive.com.

In short, we must treat excessive or biased punishment as the red flag that it is – a signal that the system is failing certain kids, not that those kids are irredeemable.

In practice, a trauma-informed, just approach to discipline emphasises engagement, understanding, and accountability without alienation. This might include restorative justice programs where students who cause harm make amends and rebuild trust, rather than being cast out. It certainly includes what educators call positive school climate and inclusive design for learning – making sure every student feels they belong and can access the material in ways that work for them.

Research suggests that when students are genuinely engaged and supported, they are far less likely to act out in the first place iol.co.za iol.co.za. For example, lessons designed with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles give students multiple ways to participate and succeed, reducing frustration and misbehaviour riol.co.za.

When missteps do occur, a compassionate response would seek to understand the cause (Is the student hungry? Afraid? Overwhelmed by academic difficulty? Reacting to a past trauma?) and address that need, rather than reflexively impose pain. As one classroom expert put it, teachers should use strategies that don’t further disengage students, but instead target the underlying causes – which may be something outside the student’s control iol.co.za. This could be as simple as a quiet, empathetic conversation or a clear reteaching of expectations, rather than a public scolding or a detention slip.

Barriers

Moving toward these approaches isn’t always easy – it requires resources, training, and a shift in mindset. But the cost of maintaining the status quo is far greater. We’ve seen that an unjust discipline system undermines student well-being and perpetuates inequality; it even contradicts the very values of fairness and dignity that education should impart qpol.qub.ac.uk.

The good news is there is growing momentum for change. In many places, parents, teachers, and students themselves are raising their voices to demand an end to degrading and exclusionary punishments. No child should be traumatised at school for the sake of “making an example”. No child should be ostracised or cast away when what they need is help. And no child, ever, should be punished for something they didn’t do iol.co.za qpol.qub.ac.uk.

These principles sound utterly basic – and they are. Yet embracing them would revolutionise the experience of school for countless young people. It’s time to close the gap between what we know is right and what our systems currently practice. In the words of one advocate, “Let’s try not to punish anyone, children included, for something they didn’t do” qpol.qub.ac.uk qpol.qub.ac.uk – and let’s extend that ethic of genuine justice and care to every facet of how we handle behaviour in our schools. Only by replacing fear and punishment with support and understanding can we truly create safe, caring, and inclusive learning communities for all.