EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM & PRACTICE IN JAPAN

67	“II Japanese Educational Administration and Finance”	Previous	Next	JAPANESE

	Among disciplinary actions, expulsion, suspension and admonition are handled by the school principal. These three are usually called disciplinary actions as punishment. Other disciplinary actions include rebuking, standing, and doing a duty such as a penalty, which can be given by teachers. “Corporal punishment” includes not only physical actions to the body such as hitting or kicking, but also actions that give students physical pain like making them maintain a specific posture for a long time. Since such actions give different levels of pain, such as standing in the classroom and standing under the burning sun, teachers must consider students’ age, health, residential, environmental and other constraints, and must judge if there is any physical pain to a student. School detention is recognized as disciplinary action. However, not allowing students to go to the bathroom or keeping them long after meal time is considered as corporal punishment.