Over the past few months, an informal research project has been under way examining recollections of school corporal punishment involving female pupils in Britain.
So far, information relating to almost 700 schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been collected, principally from Facebook groups devoted to former pupils and local history. Scotland has yet to be examined in detail.
It is important at the outset to place a substantial qualification upon the figures.
This is Facebook material. It is not an official archive, nor can every individual recollection be independently verified.
The guiding principle used when collecting the material has therefore been a simple one: if an account appeared plausible and reasonably consistent with other information, it was recorded. If it appeared exaggerated, fantastical or otherwise doubtful, it was excluded.
That is clearly not a scientific method in the strict sense, but it may be the most practical method available when dealing with personal recollections posted online.
Facebook itself is hardly an ideal historical archive. Nevertheless, former-pupil groups presently provide one of the largest accessible collections of informal memories of British school life.
