Poor discipline in public schools has become a major concern following the abolishment of corporal punishment by the National Department of Education. The educators in schools were left with no constructive alternatives to maintain discipline by the educational authorities and had to find and implement alternative disciplinary measures. Ill-disciplined learners capitalised on the situation, resulting in the deterioration of discipline in public schools. The aim of this research is to identify how effective SGBs are regarding the maintenance of discipline in schools situated in poor socio-economic areas. For this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted in four secondary schools in the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Different data-collection techniques, in the form of questionnaires, focus group interviews, observations and documentary analysis, were used to obtain the necessary data. Learners, educators and parent members of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) were used as participants for the study. The findings of the study indicated that parent SGB members lacks relevant and ongoing training and development for the task of executing their roles as disciplinarian bodies at their respective schools. The fact that these are lacking have contributed to the general deterioration of school discipline in the selected schools. The study concludes with suggestions on strategies that SGBs can implement to improve their capacity in improving and maintaining discipline. Such improved capacity will create an environment that is conducive for teaching and learning, especially in schools situated in impoverished areas.

In 1928, Dr. E. K. Wickman published the results of a study of the attitudes of 511 Cleveland teachers to students’ behaviour problems. Wickman's results indicated that the attitudes of the teachers were almost in complete opposition to the attitudes of the thirty clinicians to whom the questionnaire was also administered. The chief objective of the B. C. study was to obtain a quantitative measurement of the average B. C. teacher's attitude toward the fifty behaviour problems on Wickman's questionnaire in order to compare the rank-order ratings of certain B. C. groups (male, female, city, rural; high, elementary) with one another and with the rank-order ratings obtained by Wickman’s teachers and Wickman's clinicians. The procedures utilized in the study in attaining the above objectives were: the construction of a fifty-four item B. C. questionnaire including the fifty original problems studied by Wickman in his investigation of teachers' attitudes to children's behaviour problems, the administering of the B. C. questionnaire to 838 B. C. school teachers and the use of 400 of the returns as a B. C. sampling. A comparison of the rank-order of the various groups of B. C. teachers indicates that there is a very close agreement in ratings. This fact is verified by the coefficients of correlation of the rank order arrangements between the various groups. These range from +.95 to +.97. The only significant differences in the rating of the fifty-four problems by the B. C. high school and elementary school teachers is found in the item dealing with: "Silliness, smartness, attracting attention", to which the average high school teacher assigns greater importance than does the average elementary school teacher. In general, the average B. C. high school teacher considers the list of problems to be slightly more serious, in an absolute sense, than does the average B. C. elementary school teacher. In the case of the B. C. male and B. C. female teachers the only significant differences in the rating of the fifty-four problems are found in items dealing with: "Untruthfulness" and "Heterosexual activity". In both cases the average female teacher assigns greater importance to the items than does the average male teacher. In an absolute sense, however, the average B. C. female teacher generally rates the list of problems as being considerably more serious than does the average male teacher. In the city and rural returns the only significant difference in the rating of the fifty-four problems is found in the item dealing with: "Carelessness", to which the average rural teacher assigns greater importance than does the average city teacher. In these two categories the rural teachers generally rate the list of problems as being slightly more serious, in an absolute sense, than do their city colleagues. A rank-order comparison of the final B. C. scores with those of the Wickman teachers indicates a positive correlation of .82. Although only fifteen of the fifty problems do not show a significant difference in rating, the B. C. teachers tend to fall into the typical teacher-attitude-pattern of the Wickman teachers in the seriousness- grouping of the problems. The comparison of the average B. C. teacher's rank-order scores with the rank-order of the Wickman clinicians indicates a positive correlation of .29. In all there are thirty-two items in which there are statistical differences between the two groups. In spite of this great variation in attitudes, the ratings of the B. C. teachers are much more closely in harmony with those of the clinicians that were the ratings of the Wickman teachers which showed a negative correlation. The four most important conclusions reached from the investigation were: (1) That there is a measurable movement towards the clinician’s ratings in the average B. C. teacher's attitude toward children's behaviour problems when the ratings of the 400 B. C. teachers are compared with the ratings of the 511 Wickman teachers. (2) That the average B. C. teacher generally rates as most serious those problems of an overt nature which transgress the teacher's moral sensibilities or frustrate her control over the learning situation and that the average B. C. teacher generally rates as less serious those problems of a recessive nature which affect only the welfare of the individual child. (3) That the average B. C. teacher has a better understanding of the relative importance of behaviour problems and a greater recognition of potential problem-behaviour than had the Wickman teachers. (4) That there is evidence that a much greater application of the principles of Child Psychology must be employed by the B. C. teachers in order to approach the standards advocated by mental hygienists. / Arts, Faculty of / Philosophy, Department of / Graduate

This thesis presents findings of a study conducted to determine the levels of cooperation that are manifested when disciplinary issues arise in the classroom.

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This dissertation in practice was a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Model School Policy 506, Student Discipline (MSBA, 2019), as it relates to the school-to-prison pipeline across the nation as well as in Minnesota. Model Policy 506, co-authored by the Minnesota School Board Association and the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, is offered to school districts that subscribe to MSBA’s policy services. The homogeneity in school discipline policy across Minnesota provided an opportunity for this study. The purpose of this CDA was two-fold: to assess the discourses instantiated in Model School Policy 506, and to determine, through the figured world tool of inquiry, what the seven building tasks are accomplishing in Model Policy 506 for the reader to assume as social truth regarding student behavior and schooling. Data was collected through an iterative process and examined for themes. The CDA included multiple reviews of Model Policy 506 through the figured world tool of inquiry (Gee 2014), discerning and charting of the activities of the seven building tasks (Gee, 2014), assessing text complexity of policy discourse through a Lexile review, and capturing word repetition via computerized software as well as noting infrequent use of terms or absence of ideas. Major findings include that Model Policy 506, Student Discipline, acted to reinscribe teacher implicit bias, and that policy language was invested and embedded in racial structures. A Call to Action was written to be shared with the executive directors of the Minnesota School Board Association and the Minnesota Association of School administrators as an actionable response to the complex issue of social justice in discipline policy.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2016 / Violence in schools is one of the most challenging issues facing educators, policy makers, learners, parents and the community in South Africa at large. Sometimes it occurs without educators and parents being aware of it and in most cases, learners specifically girls are reluctant to report their experiences of violence. Because the entire community is continually searching for ways to address this problem in schools, it is hoped that this study may offer some valuable insights. This study focuses on school violence in the Umbumbulu circuit affecting the safety and learning of learners. Educators are also affected to a great extent. Many factors were considered when investigating the problem of school violence. The problem was traced from the theorist’s perspectives and the factors related to the family, school and the community. An extensive literature review shows that the above-mentioned factors contributed to school violence. In order to support or reject the findings of the literature study, qualitative research was conducted. Empirical data from four high schools in the Umbumbulu circuit in Durban in the South region of KwaZulu Natal were collected by means of individual interviews. Thirty two educators were interviewed including principals and senior educators in order to determine whether violence is increasing or decreasing. The study was aimed at investigating the common types of violence and the nature thereof. The causes of violence including the triggers, all form an integral part of this investigation. The teacher experiences and responses to the interviews as part of the qualitative research revealed that a culture of violence existed in these schools, and that corporal punishment was still practised. Educators’ perceptions on school violence at their schools revealed that bullying persisted, especially when there was no teacher supervision. Deep anger from learners, tribal disputes and drugs were some of the factors that triggered violence in the Umbumbulu circuit. Based on these findings recommendations for the implementation of prevention programmes were made.

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Bullying is a pervasive concern across the nation. Positive school climate is related to a reduction in bullying behaviors; thus, researchers aim to determine ways to enhance school climate in an effort to address bullying in schools. Many factors contribute to a positive school climate, including an authoritative leadership approach that provides consistent and fair discipline and positive support of students. In contrast, inconsistent and unfair discipline negatively impacts school climate and may exacerbate bullying among students. In some schools, discipline strategies are not applied equally to all students, and findings have consistently demonstrated that students from underrepresented groups, especially Black students, have been disproportionately affected. Moreover, the utilization of zero tolerance policies often disparately impacts minority students, with more frequent consequences such as suspension and expulsion for minor infractions. This study assessed the impact of unfair discipline on perceptions of school climate, safety, and bullying in predominantly rural schools, with specific examination of the experiences of Black students. The results of the study indicated that significant discrepancies continue to exist with Black students receiving a significantly greater proportion of suspensions than their proportion of enrollment in the schools. Surprisingly, disciplinary discrepancy did not significantly predict student perceptions of school climate, school safety, or bullying behaviors. Alternately, interesting findings emerged with respect to other student-level variables. Students who selected Black as their race had significantly less positive perceptions of school climate and the addition of student perceptions of unfair rules to the model significantly predicted perceptions of school climate. School-related variance did not significantly contribute to these findings. Next, students who perceived their school climate as more positive were significantly more likelihood to perceive their school to be safe. Furthermore, consistent with previous research, student likelihood of being bullied in the last 4 weeks increased significantly as grade decreased, meaning bulling experiences are more frequent in middle school and early high school as opposed to late high school years. Finally, negative perceptions of school climate significantly predicted the likelihood of student experiences of bullying. Overall, the findings suggest a need for disciplinary reform where the focus is on reducing bias and increasing positive supports for students.

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