Managing discipline in schools is one of the fundamentals of effective teaching and learning. It is evident that ineffective discipline management in schools would eventually jeopardize the efficacy of teaching and learning. So, it is crucial that legitimate, democratic disciplinary measures and procedures should be employed. The aim of this study was to investigate ways of managing discipline in selected secondary schools within Sekhukhune District, Limpopo. A qualitative research approach was chosen, employing research methods which included individual interviews, focus group interviews and non-participant observation. The investigation focused on four secondary schools which were purposefully sampled to participate in the study. The research concentrated only on the views of the educators and the principals. This investigation revealed that principals and educators still find themselves in a predicament in applying contemporary disciplinary measures due to a lack of training or minimal training regarding alternatives to corporal punishment. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Thesis (D. Ed.)--University of South Africa, 2001.

Specialized teacher preparation programs are graduating teachers with commitments to advocacy. This expanded definition of teaching stands in opposition to traditional expectations for the role of teachers that have developed during the history of U.S. education into organizational and social frames that reinforce tradition and work against reform. These influences constitute forces of professional weathering that may wear down teachers’ visions and actions for their work. This multicase study focused on four graduates from an intensive two-year teacher preparation program that included initial certification along with induction support in the second year of the program as they completed master’s degree requirements. The inquiry sought to understand how they envisioned their roles as teacher advocates and how they enacted and sustained their visions, resisting traditional teacher roles. Participants were graduates of the same cohort of the preparation program who were completing their second year of teaching in urban high-need schools and who had been nominated and confirmed as effective teachers of diverse students by faculty members of the university program and of local schools. Program materials were analyzed as background material to establish context. Primary data that were inductively and iteratively analyzed included extant course assignments, three individual interviews with each participant, three school-related observations, and three focus group interviews. Findings provide insight into the ways in which the teachers enacted a vision of anticipatory advocacy. Anticpatory advocacy includes intervening actions that are the result of a dual awareness of students’ immediate and future needs and have implications beyond boundaries of time and space in an effort to positively influence students’ lives in the immediate as well as distant future. The teachers, each of whom held beliefs that aligned with the culturally relevant foundations of the program prior to their selection, employed tools related to responsive classroom management, ambitious teaching strategies, and professional collaboration that they acquired and honed during their program. By working backward from the classrooms of effective teachers, the study links classroom practices with teacher preparation, providing direction for stakeholders concerned with the development and retention of high quality teachers for all children, especially in challenging school contexts.

Denna uppsats är utbildningsfilosofisk studie i Foucaults anda om lärare och elevers uppfattning om vilka egenskaper, kompetenser och befogenheter som lärare behöver i sitt arbete för att skapa ordning och reda i klassrummet.Syfte är att undersöka vilka faktorer som, enligt lärare och elever, bidrar till upprätthållandet av ordning i skolan. Jag har undersökt två skolor, både lärare och elever och ställt frågor om hur läraren uppnår ordning i klassrummet. Frågeställningen som undersökts har varit: 1. Vilka personliga egenskaper anser a) lärare; b) elever att en lärare behöver för att skapa ordning och reda i klassrummet? 2. Vilka verktyg och kompetenser anser a) lärare; b) elever att en lärare behöver för att skapa ordning och reda i klassrummet? 3. Vilka formella och juridiska befogenheter anser a) lärare; b) elever att en lärare behöver för att skapa ordning och reda i klassrummet? 4. Vilka är, enligt lärare och elever, de vanligaste störande momenten i klassrummet? 5. Hur bör, enligt lärarna, skolledningen agera/stödja för att tillgodose lärarna i dess olika egenskaper, kompetenser och befogenheter?Metoden har varit att bearbeta enkätfrågorna i ett statistikprogram (SPSS) och där ta fram univariat-/ bivaria- & multivariat analyser, först och främst i form av independent - samples t-test, Korrelationer (Spearman r), samt Cronbach´s Alpha i form av reliabilitetstester.Resultatet visar på lärare anser att egenskaper som: rättvis, tydlig, ärlig, kunnig, inspirerande och erfaren är centrala i arbetet med ordningsfrågan, medans elever föredrar egenskaper som: tydlig, kreativ, entusiastisk, kunnig, inspirerande och karismatiska egenskaper som är allra viktigast hos läraren. Enligt både lärare och elever är skolans största störningsmoment i klassrummet: sena ankomster, ogiltig mobiltelefonanvändning, ej inlämnade prov/läxor, samt elever som gör annat under lektionen. Enligt lärarna vill man att skolledningen stödjer genom att integrera och förtydliga ordningsreglerna i samverkan med lärarna. Även vill lärarna att man än mer får stöd i form av elevhälsoteam och ges möjlighet till kompetensutveckling. / This paper is an educational philosophical study of Foucault's spirit of teachers and students' perception of the qualities, skills and competences that teachers need in their work to create order in the classroom.The study examines the factors that, according to teachers and students, contribute to the maintenance of order in the school. By using survey questionnaires I examined two schools, both teachers and students, and raised questions about how the teacher attains order in the classroom. The research questions are: 1.What personal qualities do teacher needs to create order in the classroom? 2. Which tools and skills do teacher needs to create order in the classroom? 3. What are the formal and legal powers teachers needs to create order in the classroom? 4. What are, according to teachers and students, the most common disturbing moments in the classroom? 5. How should, according to the teachers, the school management action / support the teachers in its various characteristics, skills and competences?The method has been to process the survey questions in a statistical software (SPSS) and which produce univariat- / bivaria- & multivariate analysis, primarily in the form of independent - samples t-test, correlations (Spearman r), and Alpha in Cronbach's form of reliability tests.The results show that teachers feel that features such as: fair, clear, honest, knowledgeable, inspiring and experienced are central in the work of order, while students prefer properties: clear, creative, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, inspiring and charismatic qualities that are most important in the teacher.According to both teachers and students is the school's biggest distraction in the classroom: late arrivals, invalid mobile phone use, not submitting the test / homework, and students who do other things during the lesson. Teachers want the school management support them by integrating and clarify the standards of conduct in cooperation with teachers. Even the teachers want to get more support in the form of student health team and the opportunity for professional development.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Despite the fact that a large proportion of learners in schools today is seen as displaying behavioural problems / difficulties, the area of teachers understanding the learners' needs to behave in a certain way is underresearched. A review of traditional psychological literature also suggests that the area of teachers' understanding of their learners' behaviour in the classroom is a marginalised subject. It is generally postulated that teachers have a profound influence on learners and how they behave. A teacher's understanding of a learner's behaviour, or the lack thereof, could be accompanied by a host of psychological and social consequences. The focus of this study will be to determine whether teachers understand the need/function of their learners' behaviour in the classroom. A qualitative study will be conducted. The instrument to be employed in the study is a self-constructed questionnaire and focus group interviews to clarify certain responses to the questionnaire. These will be administered to teachers at two mainstream primary schools in Bonteheuwel. Content and thematic analysis will be used to analyse the data. The primary aim of the study is to determine teachers' understanding of their learners' difficult/inappropriate/unacceptable behaviour in the classroom. The understanding of learners' behaviour in the classroom will inform teachers of the intervention strategies and behaviour management programmes to be used. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ondanks die feit dat 'n aansienlike aantal leerders in skole gedragsprobleme ervaar, bly die begrip van onderwysers aangaande leerders se onderliggende motivering vir hul gedrag 'n braak navorsingsarea. 'n Oorsig van sielkundige literatuur insinieër dat onderwysers se verstaan van hul leerders se gedrag in die klaskamer erg gemarginaliseerd is. Dit word algemeen gepostuleer dat onderwysers 'n fenomenale invloed op leerders en hulle gedrag het. 'n Onderwyser se begrip (verstaan) aangaande 'n leerder se gedrag of gebrek daaraan, gaan heel waarskynlik gepaard met verskeie sielkundige asook sosiale gevolge. Hierdie studie sal voorts probeer om vas te stelof onderwysers die behoefte/funksie van hul leerders se gedrag in die klaskamer verstaan. 'n Kwalitatiewe studie salonderneem word. 'n Self gekonstrueerde vraelys, asook fokus groep onderhoude, met die doelom sekere response op die vraelys uit te klaar, sal as instrument gebruik word. Die vraelys sowel as die fokus groep onderhoude sal aan onderwysers van twee hoofstroom primêre skole in Bonteheuwel geadminstreer word. Inhouds- en tematiese analise sal gebruik word om die data te analiseer. Die pnrnere doel van die studie sal wees om onderwysers se begrip rondom hulle leerders se moeilike/ontoepaslike/onaanvaarbare gedrag in die klaskamer vas te stel. Die verstaan (begrip) van leerders se gedrag in die klaskamer sal meer lig werp op intervensiestrategieë, asook gedragsbestuurprogramme wat deur onderwysers gebruik kan word.

The study was conducted to investigate the result of three differential seating arrangements in college classrooms on anxiety level, acquaintance volume, and perceived social distance among students.

This diploma thesis deals with novice primary teachers' interaction with pupils. The aim of the thesis is to find out which strategies prevent lack of discipline and to compare methods of novice teachers with experienced teachers. It also deals with classroom management and teachers' ethics.

Teachers appear to feel challenged by children’s off-task behavior in the classroom. Children’s off-task behavior can result in reduced academic engagement, increased teaching stress, and strained teacher-child relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of kinder training on young children’s on-task behavior in the classroom. This study utilized an experimental single-case methodology and a multiple baseline across subjects design. Three elementary school teachers conducted weekly individual play sessions with students they identified as frequently exhibiting off-task behavior. The three children ranged in age from five to six years: two males and one female, two Caucasian non-Hispanic and one biracial. Two trained observers repeatedly assessed the child participants’ on-task behavior using the Direct Observation Form throughout the baseline and intervention phases. The findings provide support for kinder training as an effective play-based professional development-training model that can improve children’s on-task behavior. Results demonstrated that all child participants showed improvement in on-task classroom behavior. Visual analysis revealed that all child participants demonstrated a positive change in on-task behavior during the intervention phase. All teacher participants reported observing improvement in the child participants’ on-task behavior and teacher-child relationships. Teachers’ post-intervention reports supported the notion of reciprocal interactions among teacher-child relationships, understanding of children’s lifestyle and goals of misbehavior, and children’s on-task behavior.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This mixed methods study investigates the relationship between fifth-grade teachers' social studies knowledge and beliefs and their relationship to classroom practices. Quantitative data were collected through a beliefs and classroom practices survey and 60-item knowledge test covering the areas of American History, America and the World, Political Philosophy and American Government, and The Market Economy, in order to provide a comprehensive picture of fifth-grade teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and self-reported classroom practices relating to social studies. Additionally, qualitative data were collected through individual and focus group interviews. These data were used to provide an in-depth look that expanded on fifth-grade teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and self-reported classroom practices relating to social studies. The findings of this study indicate that there is a relationship between teachers' beliefs and their self-reported classroom practices in the areas of resources, best practice, time, the Sunshine State Standards, and personal interest. While there were no significant relationships between teachers' knowledge of social studies as a whole and their self-reported classroom practices, there were several significant correlations found in the areas of American History and Political Philosophy and American Government. Further findings indicate that teaching experience and demographic variables, such as age, gender, and education level moderate some of these relationships. Implications and suggestions for further research are offered for elementary education, teacher education, and the field of social studies. / by Michele Harcarik. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.