Approaches to the Problems of Discipline in Nigerian Secondary Schools
Keywords:
Nigeria, Schools, Punishment, Discipline, StrategiesAbstract
Discipline is a way of ensuring conformity to rules and regulations in relation to
obedience to set standards by someone in authority. This paper deals with the
problems of discipline in Nigerian schools which has been associated with
punishment of varying degrees of severity. The purpose of it is not to see discipline
as punishment but as a control measure, a way of learning. Today, to some extent,
indiscipline has eaten deep into our children in schools as a result which may be
due to lack of parental control, value orientation, school management and the
wholesale acceptance of the European frame of reference among others. The
descriptive method is therefore employed so that discipline should be seen as a
necessity for social life and a standard for morality while punishment as a means
for instilling such discipline. The management and the personal approaches to
behaviour control were also looked at. Therefore, suggestions were made as to
how the classroom teacher can in the light of the preceding analysis; promote
the spirit of discipline in Nigerian schools.
References
Durkheim, E. (1961). Moral Education. Wilson, E.K. (ed.). New York: The Free Press (originally
published in French iii 1925).
Ewing, A. C. (1929). The Morality of Punishment. London: J Cegan PauJ, Trench and Trubrier.
Hobson, P. (1986). The Compatibility of Punishment and Moral Education. Journal of Moral Education,
(3), 221-228.
Kohlberg, L. (1963). Moral Development and Identification. In hi1d Psychology NSSE Year-book,
LXII Part I
Kohlberg, L. (1973). The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Moral Education. Phi Delta: Kaoan
Marshall, J. D. (1984). Punishment and Moral Education. Journal of Moral Education, 1 (2), 3-89.
Nakpodia, E. D. (2010). Teachers' Disciplinary Approaches to Students' Disciplinary Problems in
Nigerian Secondary School. International NGO Journal (INGOJ), 5 (6), 144-151.
Okpilike, F. M. E. (2010). Steps in the Sociotherapeutic Approach to School Discipline: A Human
Touch Deviant Control. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 7 (2), 143-145
Peters, R. S. (1966). Ethics -and Education. London, George Allen & Unwjn.
Piaget, T. (1932). The Moral Judgment of the Child. London: Routledge and Keari Paul.
Report of Principals Conference on Discipline and Motivation in Schools (1977). Lagos, Federal
Ministry of Information.
Sears R. R., Maccoby S. and Levin I. (1957). Patterns of Child Reariflg. Evanston: Row, Evanterson
& Co.
