The role of the teacher in managing student’s indiscipline, a case study in Prempeh College basic school-Kwadaso sub-metro of Kumasi Metropolis

Abstract

This study is about students’ indiscipline in basic schools with a case study of Prempeh Basic School in the Kwadaso Sub-Metro in Kumasi. The purpose of the study was to find out and describe the role of the teacher in managing students’ indiscipline. To achieve this purpose, factors relating to teachers that lead to students’ indiscipline were determined by addressing the following research questions; (1) what are the teacher factors that can help in managing students’ indiscipline? (2) How does the teacher’s authority or power in the classroom help to manage students’ indiscipline? (3)What challenges do teachers face in the classroom in managing students’ indiscipline? Descriptive case study survey research design was used for the study. Closed-ended questionnaires were used. A sample of sixty (60) teachers was given questionnairesto answer and data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics like percentages, frequencies. The results of the findings showed that; (1) the key teacher factor that positively affect students’ discipline include teacher being regular at school, (2) on teacher’s authority, teachers giving non-corporal punishment positively affect student discipline and (3) the major challenge teacher face in the classroom in the management of students’ discipline is defiance of authority by some students. In conclusion, teachers therefore have a significant role to play to positively affect students’ discipline as shown in the results. It was recommended that a basic school in the Kwadaso Sub-metro should be selected to pilot the application of these findings over a period of one year and the discipline of students monitored to observe the improvement within the period.