Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, 2017. / The overall aim of this study was to examine the circumstances under which violence occured among learners at Phatheka Primary School, situated in the township of Umlazi, and in doing so explore the causes of violence among learners at this school. The study further aimed to explore the complicit role of the school as an agent in shaping the manner in which learners relate to violence and vis à vis shaping learner behaviour. The research was driven by three objectives: Firstly, to investigate the gendered, class and ethnic nature of perpetrators and victims of school violence. Secondly, to examine the intra-group interactions among peers and their positioning of each other in terms of violent behaviour. Lastly, to explore how the discipline regime of the school shaped the constructions of violent and peaceful behaviour among learners. The qualitative research approach was utilised to obtain detailed and rich data. Ten educators and ten learners were purposively chosen from one urban primary school in the Umlazi Township. The ten learners that were interviewed, were identified from teachers’ observations of conflict situations at the school, in the classroom and on the playground. The ten most senior educators formed the sample of educators for this study. Seniority was determined according to the number of years the educator had been teaching at this school. Four of the most senior male educators and six of the most senior female educators were selected. The data was collected through face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews. The composition of the group consisted of learners with different interests and cultures in order to stimulate debate. The questions asked in the focus group interviews were similar to the questions used in individual interviews to broaden the data by comparing the responses of respondents when they were on their own, to their responses in a group situation.. The data analysis process was organised according to the research questions and based on themes that emerged from the contents of the interviews. A list of themes was formed of each transcript. These themes were then grouped and organised according to similarities. The list of themes was compared to the data and codes were allocated. The data was then divided and organised into categories, relevant themes and sub-themes. The findings of this study revealed that violence at this school was mainly interpersonal. Physical violence at this school took the form of hitting, kicking, punching, slapping and other acts that caused physical pain or injury. This study found that many learners believed that certain types of muthi provided advantage to the user in conflicts and fights. Many boys at this school used vernacular expressions of stick fighting to reinforce their dominance over other boys, as metaphors of manhood that bolstered their position among peers. Physical confrontation often involved the use of sticks. Labelling also served as a trigger to ignite violence among learners. Learners labelled each other in terms of their physical appearance, their citizenship as well as their academic performance. There was strong evidence from learners’ interviews that they competed and labelled each other around issues of classroom practices and academic performance. This created tension among the learners which also led to physical confrontation and violence. Many boys subscribed to certain hegemonic notions of masculinity which created a mentality where the boys demanded respect and exercised power over girls. Boys often used violence or the threat of violence to claim and exercise this power. Romantic relationships with girls often caused boys at Phatheka to get into conflict situations in their attempts to avoid humiliation, to prove heterosexuality and to enjoy a particular status at the school. This study found that a large proportion of learners who reacted with violence when provoked, had learnt this behaviour through role models provided by parents, siblings, relatives and community members, either directly or indirectly, and that this was often reinforced at school by peers, bullies and figures of authority. Role models actively encouraged learners to defend themselves, or to solve problems, by means of force and aggression, which contributed significantly to shaping violent behaviour among learners. This notion among the learners at Phatheka Primary School that violence is the best way to resolve conflict, with or without weapons, meant that fighting became the norm at this school. Although school fights are common and every fight is different, this study found that some common causes do exist. It was also found that the school complicitly contributed to the violence among learners through school policies and the disciplinary practices of educators. / M

For a number of years I have wondered why many of the prefects of some of the Grahamstown Schools have not become leaders in the particular sphere into which they chose to go after school. More than one head prefect that I have known has appeared to fade into anonymity after apparently leading his peers at school. I wondered if this was perhaps because at school he was not really a leader but simply an efficient policeman. Conversely, people who were not prefects at school often appeared as leaders in their chosen post-school careers. It seemed as if for some reason the prefect system at the schools concerned did not appreciably aid many pupils to develop their leadership potential or the selection procedures were inefficient. On investigating further I became more and. more interested in this topic until eventually, on discovering that the Rhodes University Education Department had a set of leadership scores, (calculated from a personality test) I undertook this investigation.

South African School Governing Bodies play a crucial role in the governing of schools. One of the key challenges facing the School Governing Bodies is to contribute towards the creation of an atmosphere which is conducive for effective learning and teaching. This, among other ways, could be done by formulating a code of conduct for learners. The purpose of this study was to find out the role of the School Governing Body in formulating the code of conduct for learners. The subjects of the study were the parent and teacher components of the School Governing Bodies. Data collection for this study included questionnaires which were completed by parents and teachers who are members of the School Governing Bodies. Such data has been used to analyze and interpret the role played by the School Governing Bodies in formulating the code of conduct for learners. Among others, the study found that some members of the School Governing Bodies were not aware about their respective roles in the formulation of codes of conduct for learners and the policy relating to the code of conduct for learners. However, some School Governing Bodies have adopted the Provincial guidelines on the code of conduct as the code of conduct for their schools. The study recommends that the members of the School Governing Bodies should be empowered through, among others, continuous training courses relating to their respective roles in school governance.

This study is aimed at determining the challenges relevant to discipline in schools, the causes for these challenges, the role of values in connection with discipline and the intervention methods and strategies that could solve these challenges. Communities, societies, governmental and non-governmental organizations all over the world are value-driven. The challenges in relation to discipline that currently exist in schools, could be seen as coming from societies. There are general attacks on “common sense” and “common values”. It seems that low academic achievements can be linked to moral degeneration and the only solution is moral education. In the light thereof, discipline has to do with order and behavior that is acceptable. We have therefore tried to establish what the challenges in relation to high schools are, and whether the values that have been taught and modeled contribute towards the quality of being disciplined and how the challenges to discipline are being addressed. Character education is highly rated because it helps with prevention of discipline problems and contributes towards a positive environment that promotes a positive attitude. Many teachers in South-Africa experience challenges to discipline in the classroom environment brought about by many factors. Despite the challenges there is little support from the relevant governmental departments. After the abolishment of corporal punishment which used to work as the most effective method, no alternatives were provided. Educators have to lean on their own reactive methods to manage attitude problems in class. It also seems that educators are not trained by the Department of Education to implement the newer discipline strategies. Teachers apply discipline based on their own personal teaching philosophies that seems right and acceptable to them. The study tries to establish which intervention strategies could best address the challenges in schools. The study follows a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) approach which uses an embedded design. The embedded design consists of a primary method that leads the research project. In this instance the primary method is qualitative while the secondary data are quantitative which plays a supporting role. The secondary methods which are quantitative are not prioritized but it is embedded. The datacollecting instruments which have been used for this study are questionnaires, focus group and personal interviews, The primary goal of this study is to determine what the main challenges are in South Africa that result in discipline are being challenged, being threatened and pressurised. To achieve the main goal it is necessary that the researcher determines through literature study how the term “discipline” has been historically understood, interpreted and managed, as there was a shift in emphasis on how the term “discipline” was understood 30 years ago compared to today. The researcher has done a complete literature study to determine what current, relevant literature sees as current challenges in relation to discipline and what has been done to solve it. The researcher gathers information through data-collecting to determine which challenges currently exist at schools. Research has been done on current solutions and intervention methods to determine if there are intervention methods that can deal with these challenges more effectively. The study also tried to research new intervention methods. The empirical study and also the literature study acknowledge that challenges according to discipline exists, that there are a link between discipline and values, that the teaching of values positively influences school communities and that intervention methods and techniques that exists are not effective

This study assessed the implementation of learner discipline policies in the Graaff Reinet District in four township Secondary schools. The study arose as a result of the decline of learner discipline in secondary schools. This study is located in the interpretive paradigm and adopted a qualitative research approach in the collection of data. It employed triangulation to collect data and obtained valuable information on the implementation of learner discipline policies. Four township secondary schools in the Graaff Reinet District were purposively selected for the sample in this study. Semi-structured interviews, focus groups of learners and parents Data has revealed that schools were using different strategies to implement learner discipline such as Code of Conduct, Disciplinary hearing, Safety and Security Committee, Educators, Corporal Punishment, Alternative methods to Corporal Punishment and the role parents. Data revealed that there has been no success in implementing learner discipline strategies. There were a number of limitations in implementing policies to maintain learner disciplines which were identified in the study. There were inconsistencies like educators not supervising learners in detention classes, some of the educators were sabotaging the system by not putting into practice the measures and strategies which were put in place to maintain discipline and so forth. The School Management Teams did not capacitate the Representative Council of Learners so as to assist in the monitoring of discipline. The Department of Education is not supportive in the maintenance of discipline in the schools under study in Graaff Reinet District. To address disciplinary problems, the study has the following key recommendations Policies should be crafted by all stakeholders for ownership and there should be collaboration in implementation of those policies.. The Code of Conduct should be issued to all learners at the school at the beginning of the year in the language of preference, with school rules. Learners should know the consequences of transgressing the Code of Conduct. SMTs should adopt different management styles so as to take action against educators who are failing the system of maintaining discipline. Educators should realise that it is their duty to maintain discipline in schools; therefore they should stop complaining about disciplinary problems. Educators should engage the Department of Education to conduct workshops in building capacity of educators to maintain learner discipline. Schools should establish partnerships with other sister Departments such as SAPS, Social Development, Correctional Services, Health to, maintain learner discipline.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of ill-discipline on the performance of Grade nine learners at Nghonyama High School. The acts of indiscipline among students, especially at the secondary level of education are universal challenge thatmany schools face all over the world. A quantitative descriptive research wasconducted to determine if there was a relationship between conduct and performance of such learners. Data collection was done through completion of questionnaires. Two groups participated in the study: the first group consisted of fifty Grade nine learners and the second group was composed of ten educators - four members of the School Management Team and six teachers. The study revealed that learners misbehave at school due to variety of reasons such as, peer pressure, overcrowding, lack of parental support, inability to do the work, poverty, lack of motivation to succeed, disrespect, moral decay, not being engaged in the formulation of rules, rules being not enforced, lack of parental care, unmonitored TV viewing, child-headed families, lack of effective disciplinary measures, poor perception of the aims and principles of schooling and poor home upbringing. The study further revealed that the most common types of illdiscipline in the area of study were vandalism, fighting, absenteeism, indecent dressing, substance abuse, bullying, stealing, smoking, and drinking alcohol. With ill-discipline academic performance is affected.The study equally revealed that the Department of Education is not doing enough to address the issue of infrastructure. For example, overcrowding is still a challenge. In other words, the school environment plays a role in promoting ill-discipline; if classes are overcrowded learners are forced to misbehave. The study recommends that teachers should be encouraged to refer cases of indiscipline to the School Management Team. Principals should also be encouraged to involve all stakeholders in the formulation of school rules. Parents must make sure thatschool rules are adhered to by all the learners, no matter whose child breaks the rule,and most importantly learners should be encouraged to cooperate well with their educators.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute for Governance and Policy Studies.

Department of Curriculum Studies and Education Management / MEd

MEd / Department of Education Management

The aim of this study was to identify the kinds of disciplinary problems educators experience in schools, their causes, as well as their impact on the morale of educators. The researcher made use of a quantitative approach whereby questionnaires were completed by educators from five secondary schools in the Zebediela area. In total, 89 respondents completed the questionnaires. They were from both genders, with various years’ of teaching experience, and generally well qualified. The results indicated that there indeed existed disciplinary problems in the schools. These problems were caused by factors relating to the learners, to their parents, the educators, as well as to the school principal. The impact of a lack of discipline on educator morale included anger, irritability, tiredness, loss of control, and expressing the wish to leave the teaching profession. The study made recommendations for managers on how to improve the situation, and also for further study. Some limitations of the study were also identified. / Further Teacher Education / M.Ed. (Education Management)