My advice to members is - carry on caning David Hart, teachers' union

Mrs Cosans' son was suspended for refusing to report for the belt after breaking a rule and Fife regional education authority also refused to guarantee he would not be beaten.

David Hart, general secretary for the National Association of Head Teachers said the judgement - which does not ban caning - will cause confusion in schools which will have to distinguish between children who are allowed to be beaten and those who are not.

"You cannot have one section of pupils who may be subject to punishment and another section who cannot be punished," he said.

"My advice to members is - carry on caning."

A tremendous day for children, parents, teachers and society as a whole Tom Scott, Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment

Tom Scott of Stopp, the Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment, welcomed the ruling.

"It is a tremendous day for children, parents, teachers and society as a whole because corporal punishment is not only nasty and humiliating, it is counter-productive," he said.

Mrs Campbell said she was pleased by the judgement.

"The result of the case will benefit all British children," she said.

Britain is the only country in western Europe that still allows corporal punishment in schools.

It was outlawed in the Republic of Ireland last year and has been banned in France since World War I.

A third of Britain's 35,000 schools already ban beatings.

The government says it will have to study the 40-page ruling before it can make any decision on changing the law.

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