Discipline and disciplinary measures in South African public schools are regarded as one of the principal concerns expressed by all stakeholders in the educational process. A study conducted by Thompson (2002:7) suggested a complete breakdown in discipline at primary and secondary schools in South Africa. Disciplinary problems in South African schools range from physical violence, vandalism, verbal abuse, disobedience, assaults, theft, threats, disrespect for authority, violation of the schools' code of conduct, gambling, truancy, gangsterism, rape, alcohol abuse and even murder in and around school premises (Nthite, 2006:3; Fourie, 2006:8). These misdemeanours greatly increased after government abolished corporal punishment in schools. The question therefore arises: Are these misbehaviours merely coincidental? Most educators and principals seem to agree that the authority of educators has, to a large extent, declined due to the abolition of corporal punishment and the reluctance of government officials to deal firmly with the offenders. This is confirmed by Morrel (2003:292) who maintains that discipline has become a serious concern since effective alternatives were not readily available with the banning of corporal punishment in 1996. The abolition of corporal punishment and the resultant poor discipline in schools, as well as learners not considering teaching as a possible profession (Park, 2006:154) sensitised the researcher to the seriousness of the problem. Being a high school teacher himself for many years, the researcher was concerned about the poor levels of respect shown to teachers by the learners, as well as the ill discipline which contributed to unpleasant working conditions, prompted the researcher to undertake this study. This study therefore, investigated the influence that corporal punishment and other disciplinary measures had on the teaching and learning fraternity. In conducting this study, the survey method was used. Literature review consisted of both primary and secondary sources, while questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information from learners, educators, principals/deputy principals as well as parents/SGB members. The population and sample size for the study was drawn from schools in the Mafikeng, Vryburg and ltsoseng areas of the North West Province of South Africa. The investigation involved 400 learners, 100 educators, 20 principals/deputy principals and 60 parents/SGB members. The response rate ultimately was 90% as two schools did not return the questionnaires, while the response rate from the parents/SGB members was 100%.The researcher was guided by the post positivist approach to data analysis and the data collected was subjected mainly to quantitative analysis, but the qualitative approach was also used. Four empirical hypotheses were tested and the first three results showed no significant relationship between the dependent variable (academic achievement, teaching/learning environment, misdemeanours) and the independent variables (teacher authority, abolition of corporal punishment}, while the fourth indicated a significant relationship between motivation and abolition of corporal punishment using the Chi- Square and Pearson Coefficient Correlation tests respectively. The findings of the study revealed that 61% of learners and educators were sceptical about using corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure and strongly believed that the reintroduction of corporal punishment will retard progress. The findings further indicated that 60% of the parents/8GB members were in favour of the reintroduction of corporal punishment as a means of disciplining students at school. The results of this study also pointed out that the abolition of corporal punishment did not diminish the morale and motivation of educators. In view of the find ings, this study highly recommended: The use of alternative interaction techniques which could contribute to better understanding of learners such as giving them advice and curtailing their allowance and perks, rather than applying the traditional punitive measures. • Teachers could use the detention method and place students in isolation for few hours,failing which, the use of physical (corporal) punishment in a very controlled way where permission of the parents concerned is obtained before resorting to any physical beating. Research conducted by Lessing & Dreyer (2007:128) showed that using these alternative interaction techniques had a more pleasant impact on the teaching-learning environment than the use of any other technique. Teachers were quick to realise that a positive approach to ill discipline encourages good classroom behaviour. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Educational Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

Thesis (Ed.D.) Liberty University, 2009. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

Specialist degree in education, Eastern Illinois University, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-44).

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-161).

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Indiscipline in schools has been so pervasive that in many instances, learning and teaching have become difficult, if not impossible. There are so many reports of indiscipline in schools that school authorities are continuously trying to find solutions to this catastrophic phenomenon. It is believed that the lack of discipline in schools is a major contributing factor to the failure rate and poor performance of learners. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether indiscipline in township schools has a negative impact on the performance of learners in those schools. There are reports that there is an unacceptable and ruinous level of indiscipline therein. The targeted participants in the research are principals and educators from five senior secondary schools of KwaNobuhle Township, Uitenhage. The participants were purposely selected because of their many years of teaching experience and working with learners. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect data from participants. Data collection instruments consisted of interviews done with participants and questionnaires filled in by the aforementioned stakeholders. This evidence showed that there are many learning and teaching hours lost due to direct indiscipline and dealing with discipline. This subsequently renders learning and teaching ineffective. It is obvious that, once teaching and learning is ineffective, this will, definitely result in the poor performance of learners and high rate of failure. The study recommends that serious and urgent steps must be taken to minimize or eradicate the menace of indiscipline in these schools as soon as possible. Indiscipline cannot be ignored or taken lightly because there are already so many other structural misfortunes in the education system that are stumbling blocks to the academic achievements of township learners, namely, socio-economic conditions, crime, drugs, alcohol and unemployment. As long as discipline is a problem in the township schools, learners will perpetuate to perform poorly and the failure rate in these schools will rise.

Submitted in fulfillment for the requirements of the Master of Education in the Department of Didactics in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1986. / The researcher felt disturbed by the problem of discipline in Black secondary schools. This is explained in Chapter 1. The researcher,being aware of the fact that the issue of discipline is actually a multidisciplinary study, decided to look at it from a pedagogic-didactic perspective. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of a study like this,the researcher could not look into all the factors and essentials of discipline in a school situation. The factors and essentials of discipline which have been enumerated for purposes of this dissertation are described in Chapter 2. In order to put the problem in a proper perspective, education and discipline had to be discussed with a purpose of showing different opinions on discipline, punishment and corporal punishment. This is done in Chapter 3. METHOD OF INVESTIGATION An empirics! investigation was conducted. A questionnaire designed to reveal some areas of concern on the question of discipline in Black schools in general, and in a didactic situation in particular, was designed and administered to 250 pupils and 133 teachers (principals included). This is explained in Chapter k. In Chapter 5 the results of the investigation are presented, discussed and interpreted. In the same chapter a statistical analysis of data using the chi-square test is presented in order to test the significance of the difference of the responses of urban and rural pupils. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS There is too much use of corporal our.ishment in 3.2 There is a lack cf pupils involvement in school affairs - 3.3. There is a lack of professional and moral conduct by the majority of teachers. 3.4 Whilst discipline is a problem in both rural and urban schools, disciplinary measures in rural schools seems to be too crude as compared to urban schools. 3.5 Teachers, at large, do make classwork interesting. / University of Zululand

No description available.

No description available.