Analysis of the State of Discipline in Kwanyarko Senior High School in the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

The general purpose of this paper was to find out the perceptions of students and teachers on the state of discipline in Senior High Schools (SHS) in Ghana using Kwanyarko SHS in the Central Region as a case study. Questionnaire was formulated to direct the research. The question focused on the perceptions, causes and remedies to discipline in the school to help enlighten the students and teachers on the appropriate roles they should play in order to address the problem of discipline in the school.

Simple random sampling was used to select 104 students. Purposive sampling was used to select twenty members of staff, including the Headmaster, Heads of departments and Housemasters/mistresses as they play very important roles when it comes to disciplinary issues. Data were analyzed according to the research question using simple percentages.

The major finding revealed a high level of congruence of opinions among the teachers and students on most of the disciplinary issues in this paper. For instance both the teachers and students expressed similar sentiments as far as meaning of discipline is concerned. Their agreement on discipline referring to strategies to encourage students to put up good behavior is a bit to urge them to act responsibly. However, most of the respondents seemed to frown on the more punitive forms of discipline. A closer look at the student- related causes of disciplinary problem revealed that both the teachers and the students share the view that most of these problems are orchestrated by students. This gives a clear indication that any attempt made to solve disciplinary problem should be directed to the one caused by students. In relation to measures put in place to maintain discipline, it was found out that rewards were more recommended than punishment in getting the students to put up good behavior in the school.

It was therefore recommended that school administrators seeking to maintain discipline in their school should be encouraged to work on getting to know students as individuals and take an interest position in their plans and activities. Also administrators need to work to improve communication within the school and involve parents and community members in instruction (or as resource persons), extracurricular activities and governance.

Keywords: Discipline, Student/teacher-related causes, good behaviour, punitive measures and reward.