ABSTRACT
Following the end of communist government in 1989, the Romanian educational system began a process of transition from paradigms focused on directive teaching and the passing on of knowledge, to paradigms focused on creating and increasing students’ skills and capabilities. This chapter considers the implications of this transition for teacher-pupil relationships and touch, and particularly touching behaviours employed in pursuit of discipline and the imposition of the teacher’s will. During the communist period, the educational system was focused on the teacher and the teaching process, whereas pedagogy since 1989 has increasingly focused primarily on the student and the learning process (Miroiu et al. 1998; Stan, 1999; Marga et al. 2005). This has had implications for the role and prestige of teachers in Romanian society, and such changes take time to assimilate. The teacher-student relationship has evolved, from the teacher’s authoritarian role previously imposed by communist pedagogy towards the contemporary conception of the democratic teacher. Professional contacts suggest that many teachers now avoid touching pupils, in part to avoid misinterpretation, but also because many children are very aware of their new rights under the law, and assert them. Paradoxically, if a pupil is under eighteen there is no legal restriction on them touching a teacher. This real and perceived imbalance, and the new reality of pupils recording and passing on teachers’ embarrassing moments through their cell phones, has added to teachers’ sense of powerlessness. Their authority, once almost absolute, is now contingent and problematic. This chapter considers how these changes have impacted particularly on teaching and learning in physical education and sport, where touching cannot be ‘managed out’ in the context of moulding psychomotor habits and aptitudes, and where disciplinary touch was previously routine and endemic.
