Student Behaviour and Discipline

The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environment (2023) defines discipline as: “the rules and strategies applied in school to manage student behaviour and practices used to encourage self-discipline”. It is arguable that this definition is concerned with overseeing and guiding student behaviour, as well as preventive measures if necessary, and appropriate intervention. Yet, school discipline seeks to cultivate self-discipline among all students in the school community.

Moving on from the previous details, (Li et al., 2021) stated that there have been wide variations in the approaches school authorities adopt to manage their students’ behaviour, ranging from strict and demanding behavioural conformity to autonomy-granting and independent decision-making.

In addition, several studies showed that structure and support are two major school discipline components that facilitate students’ school and social-emotional functioning. Moreover, structure and support, in the teacher-student relationship have also been considered a crucial way to enhance students’ school and social-emotional functioning.

According to the study conducted by (Ngwokabuenui, 2015), the author found that students exhibit or demonstrate certain behaviours, for instance: “boycotting lessons, lies telling, violence, dishonesty, disobedient to teachers, prefects, and school administration, alcohol consumption, confronting and stabbing teachers in schools, vandalism, lateness to school, drug abuse, insulting/assaulting, stealing, rioting”.

Consequently, to manage student behaviour and promote positive discipline teachers should make preventative plans for most students’ problems and action for common problems with students.

Walters& Frei (2007) suggests a range of preventive measures, including 1. Negotiate: teachers need to negotiate with students to reach common understandings, such as when and how assignments need to be done. When students could express their voices in classroom processes, they share in decision-making and the construction of knowledge. 2. Deal with Problems Quickly: It’s imperative to deal with problems promptly, for example, teachers could train their students to recognise one word as a code. Saying “focus” is a quick way to tell students to stop. Some teachers will create a classroom mantra, and the students will know that if the teacher points silently to it, they are to read it silently, reflect on the class commitment to that word, and resume their work. 3. Use Direct Language: Teachers should inform their students exactly what they want, using a specific mention of the behaviour they want to see or the behaviour they do not want to see. For instance, teachers don’t rely on “knock that off” or “cut that out.” It’s better to say, “Put your sharpener away and read the chapter.” 4. The Bottom Line: All teachers need to know where they draw the line between working with a student and deciding that the student has misbehaved enough. Teachers should be aware of school policy and have a plan for when to call the parents, when to send a student to the principal, or even when to call the police. 5. Follow-Up: Finally, It’s the responsibility of teachers to follow up on the issue. Once a crisis has passed, teachers make a point of talking to the offending student during the day. Correspondingly, with every problem, it is important to keep a log. This will help a teacher if problems involve more parties in the future.

To summarise, the schools recognise the importance of maintaining discipline and promoting a safe learning environment. Through developing students’ behaviour and their ability to manage their own behaviour. As for teachers, it’s important to plan and manage the classroom effectively to prevent students who are performing well in terms of their behaviour from being affected by others’ negative behaviour.