ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two things. First, it is about how children are disciplined in Ghanaian primary schools. Second, it is about the experiences of Ghanaian educators on the cusp of becoming professional teachers, how their identity, intentions and imagined capabilities for teaching are navigated and negotiated through interactions with pupils and teachers in the 'real world' of the school. It draws on data from a wider study of student-teacher learning in Ghana, but presents a vignette of one student-teacher called Dominic in his third year of teacher training. The confusing policy and media narrative over the legality of corporal punishment, combined with widely held acceptance, maintains the practice. The chapter presents three sections, which correlate with the generation of data through observations and interviews at three points during the 2014–2015 academic year. Through these sections, Dominic's articulations around corporal punishment are considered alongside international, national and local perspectives.
