Abstract
South Africa is struggling with the problem of indiscipline in schools. The issue of indiscipline in South African schools has been subjected to research for almost two decades. This research has revealed that learner (in)discipline in a school is related to six sets of factors, namely learner-related factors, teacher-related factors, school-related factors, education system-related factors, parent-related factors, and society-related factors. All of these factors have now been researched in respect to the situation in South Africa, with the exception of the parent / community factor. The aim of this article is to report on research that was done regarding this outstanding factor with regard to learner (in)discipline in South African schools. The constructivist-interpretivist approach was employed, in order to recast information gleaned from available international literature into a theoretical framework. The South African context was then analysed by using the theoretical framework. It was found that within the parental-community factor in determining the state of learner-discipline in schools four sub-factors can be distinguished, namely parental style, parental model for example, family stress and parent-school relations. These have definite life-philosophical underpinnings, which are also outlined in analysing and interpreting the South African situation.
Highlights
Introduction and problem statementSouth Africa, nearly a quarter of a century after the advent of full democracy in 1994, is still struggling with the problem of indiscipline in schools
A recent Google search (2018) revealed a fairly large number of incidences that attest to ill-discipline in South African schools: a learner stabbing a teacher over a “feeding” argument (2018), a pupil stabbing another (2018), two pupils killed during a knife fight in KwaZulu-Natal (2018), a fatal stabbing of a pupil in a Durban school (2018), and a pupil injured in a knife fight outside the school (2014)
The aim of this article is to report on research that was done regarding this outstanding factor with regard to learnerdiscipline in South African schools
Summary
South Africa, nearly a quarter of a century after the advent of full democracy in 1994, is still struggling with the problem of indiscipline in schools. To be distinguished from teacher indiscipline, still constitutes a major problem in schools, as evidenced by the following incidents recently reported in the daily press and in research. The research so far revealed that learner (in)discipline in a school is related to six sets of factors, namely learner-related factors, teacher-related factors, school-related factors, education system-related factors, parent-related factors, and society-related factors. All of these factors have been researched and surveyed in respect to the situation in South Africa, with the exception of the parent / community factor. The discussion will be augmented by the results of research beyond the borders of South Africa in order to gain a deeper understanding of the situation
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