The article offers a critical view on punishment, an always hot topic at school. School punishment is observed from a historical point of view, especially since the period when punishment became more humane. The question of the reasonableness of punishment and its appropriateness or necessity is the main issue of theoretical discourse. Restitution is seen as a good approach to punishment, without which it is difficult to imagine suitable socialization in a school environment, which should be an important challenge of postmodern schools.The research also establishes how punishment appears in Slovene elementary school, if it even does, and what types of punishment prevail; what reasons for punishment are ascribed by pupils, teachers and by social workers. In dealing with punishment measures, we focused on the division of punishment types by Strmčnik (the category of administrative, morally condemning, settling, restraining, verbal and physical punishments), as well as on the efficacy of mentioned punishments.We have performed interviews with social workers, trying to include also their role and point of view within the punishment dynamic and punishment in elementary school.