What is the point of punishment?

The point of punishment is to learn that certain behaviour is certain contexts is

unacceptable. If we want students to take responsibility for their choices then it’s
helpful for teachers to understand something about the psychology of
behaviourism.

Operant conditioning.

Basically, if behaviour is rewarded it is more likely to be repeated and if it is

sanctioned it’s less likely to be so; the classic carrot and stick.
Both reinforcements and punishments are either positive or negative in character.
A positive reinforcement is simply giving a reward, whereas a negative
reinforcement is the removal of a constraint  –  maybe a student is allowed to leave
a lesson early or doesn’t have to do their homework. A positive punishment is the
active application of a sanction , while a negative one is the removal of a privilege.
Perhaps a phone is confiscated, or a student is detained after a lesson.

Even where punishments are consistently applied, they only temporarily suppress
undesirable behaviour.

It might sound counterintuitive, but perhaps we should be focusing on ‘negative’

punishments. Research into the concept of ‘loss aversion’ shows that most people
would far rather avoid a loss than make a gain. The threat of having a privilege
withdrawn is more likely to be effective than either a straight punishment or the
offer of positive rewards.

There’s also research that shows the effectiveness of a punishment depends on the
context in which it is given. If there are high levels of trust between teachers and
students, punishment appears to effectively promote cooperation and produces
strong social norms where the pressure to do the right thing comes both from
above and below. In this context any kind of public punishment can have a
powerful impact not only on the transgressor but the whole community.
Unsurprisingly, the reverse is also true: if students don’t see schools as benevolent
and don’t believe teachers have their best interests at heart, punishment probably
won’t work – instead, it’s likely to make them feel more marginalised and confirm
their ‘outsider’ status.

The point of punishment should be to help students learn a sense of responsibility

for their actions. For this to work, teachers should focus on applying the types of
sanctions where rewards or privileges are withdrawn. Tempting as it may be to
bellow at kids for mucking about, this is likely to backfire unless they want to fit
in to your classroom.

If we put effort in developing a classroom culture with strong social norms where
children want to fit in, any kind of punishment is more likely to be effective.