MANAGING DISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS

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Parent/family-related factors

This section describes the impact of parent/family-related factors on school discipline.
Parents play a crucial role in shaping the attitudes that promote positive discipline and good behaviour in schools (Koenig, 2008:2). If parents are very quick to oppose the school management team and the School Governing Body, when they perceive them to be incompetent and unaccountable, this can cause indiscipline; yet they shy away from making a conscious effort and practical contribution to the school management and school governance. ‘Boarding school’ has become a euphemism for abdication of parental responsibility. These schools become places to abandon teenage children as parents pursue their other interests. Parents regard teenage children as desired and necessary but generally disposal “irritants” (Wolhuter & Steyn, 2003:530).
Parents are expected to be involved in school activities; when they are involved, learners will feel secure and perform better. Dowling and Osbourne (1985:164) state that if the learners with behavioural problems realise that their parents and educators are working together to manage difficulties, they experience more consistency and feel more contained. In the opinion of Blandford (1998:32), an active relationship between parents and educators has great benefits. Oppelt (2000:16) states that in many South African schools where indiscipline is rife, parental involvement is lacking. In this regard parents are reluctant to co-operate with educators in disciplining their children (Van Wyk, 2001:198 & Ramsey, 1994:16).
Family emotional and material problems also contribute towards learners’ behavioural problems at school. Children from families of lower socio-economic status are more exposed to these conditions. Therefore, the incidence of misbehaviour among learners from these families tends to be higher than the occurrence of misbehaviour among learners from middle-class or upper-class families. In addition, materialism influences inefficient administration and the application of disciplinary processes at school (Wolhuter & Steyn, 2003:530).
One can interpret indiscipline in schools as symptoms of dissatisfaction in the education system and as cries from learners to taste success. Their greatest need is to find adequate support from their parents for success. Parents who fail to participate in school activities and their children’s school work are abandoning them and this causes indiscipline in schools.

 Society-related factors

This section explains society-related factors which impinge on discipline in schools.
Wolhuter and Steyn (2003:538) are of the opinion that violence, racism and other antisocial behaviour which people perceive via the media could be a cause of misbehaviour and disciplinary problems in school. Learners now watch more hours of television and video games and such programmes could influence their behaviour negatively. The erosion of discipline in society manifests itself in violent crimes, robberies, assaults with deadly weapons, rapes and murders.
Other social factors, such as poor basic skills, limited aspirations and opportunities, poor relationships with other learners, parents and educators, pressure from others to behave in a way which may conflict with authority, parents who are unable to exercise control over their children and exposure to drugs, physical or sexual abuse have been found to cause indiscipline (Kinder, 2003:14). There are many other social factors such as unemployment, poverty, crime, violence, abuse of drugs and alcohol, mental health and family break-up that feature largely in the statistics of learners who experience serious difficulties in learning and cause indiscipline in schools.
According to the Bible, a child is not naturally inclined to be good and innocent in the presence of God and his or her fellow human beings (Rossouw, 2003:419).Rossouw (2003:419) mentions that man fell into sin at the beginning of humankind. This confirms the presence of misconduct, deviant behaviour, and disciplinary problems in the lives of human beings. Rossouw (2003:424) also indicates the over-emphasis placed on children’s rights as a factor confusing principals, educators and learners in matters relating to the discipline of learners at school. Rossouw (2003:424) further indicates that some principals are under pressure to recognise learners’ rights and do not know to which point they should make allowance for their learners’ voices. Rossouw (2003:424) mentions that educators have reported that they are uncertain, confused and afraid of infringing upon learners’ rights because they may be accused of misconduct. Rossouw (2003:424) furthermore points out that the over-emphasis placed on learners’ rights may cause a “don’t-care attitude” and a lack of regard for the educators’ role in the classroom. This may cause some learners not to strive to excel. Instead, they try to influence their classmates negatively to exhibit the same lack of discipline.
Children who experience social alienation from significant others are often misbehaved. Lewis (1991:74) posits that this situation arises within most families where learners feel rejected. This finding (the significant relationship between isolation and poor behaviour) is supported by Butchart (1998:242) who indicates that emotional disconnection from family, friends, and peers results in feelings of isolation and alienation for the child. These feelings experienced by the learner may ultimately develop into what is referred to as ‘psychological pains’ which may cause problems such as physical assault, gang violence and substance abuse.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION OF THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW
1.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1.5 RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.6 MAIN QUESTION
1.7 SUB QUESTIONS
1.8 RESEARCH AIM
1.9 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.10 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.10.1 Research approach
1.10.2 Population of the study
1.10.3 Sampling and sample size
1.10.4 Data collection strategies
1.11 ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTS
1.12 DATA ANALYSIS STRATEGIES
1.13 SIGNIFICANCE AND JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
1.14 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1.15 TRUSTWORTHINESS
1.16 ETHICAL ISSUES
1.17 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.17.1 Management
1.17.2 School discipline
1.17.3 Post Corporal Punishment Environment
1.17.4 Case study
1.17.5 Primary school
1.17.6 Informal settlement
1.17.7 North West Province
1.18 THESIS OUTLINE
1.19 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 2 MANAGING DISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 THE CONCEPT DISCIPLINE
2.3 IS DISCIPLINE IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS STILL A CHALLENGE?
2.4 FACTORS CAUSING INDISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS
2.5 THE PURPOSE OF DISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS
2.6 DISCIPLINE APPROACHES
2.7 THE ROLE OF EDUCATORS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE
2.8 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
2.9. MANAGING DISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS
2.10 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS THE POOR IMPLEMENTATION
2.11 MEASURES AND PROCEDURE OF HANDLING MISCONDUCT
2.12 INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON SCHOOL DISCIPLINE
2.13 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.3. RESEARCH METHODS
3.5 THE PROCESS OF THE FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW
3.8 CONDUCTING THE FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW
3.15 RESEARCH ETHICS
3.16 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF EMPIRICAL DATA
4.3 DEALING WITH ILL DISCIPLINE BEHAVIOUR IN THE CLASSROOM
4.4 DISCIPLINARY MEASURES APPLIED BY SCHOOL
AGAINST SUCH OFFENCES.
4.5 DOCUMENT SCRUTINY
4.6 DATA FROM THE INTERVIEWS
4.7 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
5.3 FINDINGS
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
5.5 A PROPOSED MODEL FOR MANAGING LEARNER INDISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS
5.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES

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MANAGEMENT OF DISCIPLINE IN A POST CORPORAL PUNISHMENT ENVIRONMENT: CASE STUDY OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE