The Perception of Teachers on the Causes of Indiscipline in Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Uselu Secondary School in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of the study is to
1) find out the societal influence on indiscipline
2) find out whether home background causes students’ indiscipline
3) investigate how poor school administration causes indiscipline
4) find out if the influence of peer group has in any way contributed to the level of students’ indiscipline in school
5) find out the effect of the mass media on indiscipline
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter presents a review of the literature related to this study. The first part presents the theoretical framework while the second is empirical literature which is followed by conceptual framework. The last part is chapter summary.
Theoretical Framework
Two theories were adapted to frame this study and these are Social Control Theory and McGregor’s Theory X and Y.
Social Control Theory
Social Control theory was developed by Travis Hirschi (1969). According to Travis Hirschi (1969), people follow rules and regulations because of ‘social bond’. Social bond, according to him, is a sense of belonging or social ties that makes one comply to the rules and regulations, Moreover, a deficit in social bonds results in the liberation from rules and regulations, while tightly bound individuals hold their aberrant behavior at bay (Hirsch, 1969).
Rules and regulations may connote different meanings for different people. Some people may perceive rules and regulation as infringement on their freedom while others may see them as liberating. However, they may perceive school rules and regulations aim to maintain order. School rules and regulations represent important control mechanisms to which students conform. According to the theory, human beings normally respond to four social bonds to conventional society: attachment to others, commitment to conformity, involvement in conventional activities, and belief in the value or legitimacy of convention. These four elements of social bond may determine how students behave in school. Social Control Theory has been used by scholars to study how school rules and regulations are followed or not followed.
Jenkins, (1997) and Stewart, (2003) for example, have concentrated on the school as an important mechanism of social control. Of notable significance is the schools ability to control an individual’s behavior regardless of other significant background factor’s influences.
In other words, while the school represents one of several social institutions to which youths become connected, its effect in decreasing crime is independent of the others. For instance, the school can have rules and regulations that can have inhibitory effect on delinquency regardless of the youth’s family structure (Wade &Brannigan, 1998).
As such, school rules and regulations are important arenas for reducing delinquency by means of delinquency prevention programs. Despite the positive findings of the school rules and regulations as sites for positive intervention, an individual only gains from such rules if they are actually present in the school. Indeed, those who are more likely to need rules (i.e., those individual with apparent discipline issues) are often excluded from school via out-of-school suspension and expulsion.
Mc Gregor’s Theory X and Y
McGregor’s theory X and Y on the other hand is an alternative to the classical organizations theory of Max Weber (Okumbe, 1998). In this theory, schools are viewed as organizations composed of different categories of people namely teachers, students and non-teaching staff. All these groups of people need discipline as to achieve the perceived organizational goals. This will be achieved by setting rules and regulations to be followed, and once broken, it is termed as indiscipline and one should be punished. Theory Y on the other hand viewed a school as an organization with a head teacher able to apply leadership skills so as to gain willing cooperation from teachers, students and non-teaching staff through the use of rules and regulations set by management (Okumbe, 1998).
The fundamental concepts in Mc Gregor’s Theory X and Y are rules and regulations, disciplinary actions mainly punishments and time management especially when administering punishments in the school. In application of McGregor’s theory to this study, the main variables were school rules and regulations for efficient management and administration of punishments to students who do not abide by school rules and regulations and time management that refers to the effective utilization of time allocated to individual activities in an education institution. These activities include both classroom and outdoor work such as sports, gardening and cleaning work or house work (Mafabi, et al 1993).
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This research, which was conducted between February and October 2018, is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research entails collection of research data that describes acts, events, or issues as they exist or occur without any manipulation (Clarke, 2005). Descriptive survey is important in educational researches and it can be done either through the use of questionnaire, interview, or observation. The use of questionnaire particularly is to allow the collection of information from respondents without prejudice or bias (Jack & Clarke, 1998). Descriptive survey is considered appropriate for this research because the questionnaire was used as a research instrument to investigate the causes of indiscipline among students as viewed by primary school teachers in Nigeria.
Population, Sample and Sampling Procedures
The population for this research comprised of all primary school teachers in Ovia North Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. According to the estimation of Edo State School Census Report, the population of school teachers in Ovia North Local Government Area of Edo State was 1,203. Based on the given population, simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used. This means that 10 teachers from a school were chosen to participate in the study. At Stage 1, a simple random sampling (dip-hat) method was used to select 10 primary schools . At Stage 2, the simple random sampling technique was, again, used to select 20 primary school teachers from each of the selected schools. This made a total of 200 primary school teachers participated in the research.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
Demographic Data
This section presents the results of data obtained on the respondents in percentage.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the causes of indiscipline among students as viewed by primary school teachers in Nigeria were societal factor, Government factor, parental factor, school factor and students’ factor respectively. Similarly, there were no significant differences in the causes of indiscipline among students as viewed by primary school teachers in Nigeria based on gender, school locale, years of teaching experience and educational attainment.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the above mentioned findings, the proposed recommendations are:
- The society has a strong hold on its members; members portray the image of the society and the society breeds its members. Therefore, to curb indiscipline among students since they are the future leaders of the country, members of the society must be informed of the causes of indiscipline among these students and redress. This can be done to continuous orientation by teachers and counsellors.
- As introduced by Skinner, punishment is a way by which unwanted behaviour can be reduced and extinguished hence, the government should reverse the abolition of corporal punishment in schools so that students could be well disciplined. Efforts should also be made to curb indiscipline in society through other means if corporal punishment cannot be re-included.
- Students tend to observe, internalize and act out what they see among peers and authority figures Therefore, the school must at all time portray discipline to students. Similarly, Administrators, teachers and other staff members must be enjoined to be of good behaviour for the students who are the hope of the country.
- Parents should monitor their wards well as charity begins at home. Children should be well guided and monitored so that they can be of good behaviour. More so, parents must lead by examples; their utterances must not negate their actions as this could send wrong signals to children for emulation. Parents should try as much as possible to create time for their children to create a feeling of bonding and acceptance in them, this would allow parents to observe, foresee, notice and caution unacceptable behaviours on time.
- As a matter of necessity, counsellors must educate the entire populace on the causes of indiscipline among students. Efforts should also be made to curb indiscipline in schools and society at large. This can be done by organizing talks and discussions on indiscipline for students in schools. Counsellors can also collaborate with teachers to organize talk shows and seminars for the entire public to get acquainted with indiscipline and its causes.
REFEERENCES
- Amado, J. & Freire, I. (2009). Indisciplina(s) naescola. Compreender para prevenir. Coimbra: Almedina.
- Bandura, A. (1985). Model of causality in social learning theory: Cognition and psychotherapy (pp. 81-99). Stanford University, California, USA: Springer.
- Bwire, S. (2010). Drugs in schools at a alarming rates. Retrieved October 8th, 2018 from http://www.sunrise ug>Education>Book Reviews.
- Carter, B. A. & McGoldrick, M. (2005). Family lifecycle: The individual family and social perspectives. New Jersey: Longman.
- Clarke, R.J. (2005). Research models and methodologies. HDR Seminar Series, Faculty of Commerce, Universuty of Wollongong (AU).
- Ekpoh, U. I. (2007). Causes of indiscipline among students as expressed by teachers and principals of public and primary secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. Journal of Educational Research, 6(1/2), 35-36.
- Ellis, A. (2001). Overcoming destructive beliefs, feelings, and behaviors: New directions for rational emotive behavior therapy. New York: Prometheus Books.
- Fareo D. O. & Ballah, G. A. Y. (2018). Perception of teachers on indiscipline among secondary school students in Osun State, Nigeria.
- Gutuza, R. F., & Mapoliza, T. (2015). An Analysis of the Causes of Indiscipline amongst Secondary School Pupils in Nyanga District. Global Journal of Advanced Research, 2(7), 1164-1171.
