Tawse Tawse The tawse, sometimes formerly spelled taws (the plural of Scots taw, a thong of a whip) is an implement used for corporal punishment. It was used for educational discipline, primarily in Scotland, but also in schools in the English cities of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Manchester and Walsall. A tawse consists of a strip of leather, with one end split into a number of tails. The thickness of the leather and the number of tails is variable. Many Scottish saddlers made tawses for local schoolmasters. The official name "tawse" was hardly ever used in conversation by either teachers or
School corporal punishment school corporal punishment. In public schools, the usual implement was a rubber/canvas strap applied to the hands, while private schools often used a paddle or cane administered to the student's posterior. In many parts of Canada, 'the strap' had not been used in public schools since the 1970s or even earlier: thus, it has been claimed that it had not been used in Quebec since the 1960s, and in Toronto it was banned in 1971. However, some schools in Alberta had been using the strap up until the ban in 2004. In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada outlawed corporal