ABSTRACT
This descriptive-qualitative study used phenomenology to determine concerns and issues on school discipline of private schools in Iloilo, to be utilized as the basis for program intervention during the school year 2024 -2025. Based on the results of the in-depth interview with the participants, it was found that several concerns affecting school discipline were identified, including bullying, vaping, vandalism, stealing, lateness and absenteeism, and behavioral defiance. Several issues affecting school discipline were also identified, like ineffective sanctions and interventions, lack of teacher involvement and support, lack of discipline authority, ambiguity in roles and processes, inconsistent rule enforcement, and poor parental communication and community engagement. Also, several management strategies for addressing concerns and issues in school discipline were identified, including strengthening classroom management, encouraging student responsibility and leadership, enhancing teacher engagement, regular school personnel meetings, strengthening parental and community engagement, spiritual and behavioral support, and school system enhancement.
Keywords: Concerns and Issues, School Discipline, Private School, Program Intervention
INTRODUCTION
Concerns and issues in school discipline are the main obstacles to creating a school environment conducive to learning and achieving harmonious relationships among community members. School problems are issues that learner experiences that affect their performance in school. The severity of the concern and issue needs a course of action.
Discipline problems may be due to emotional stress from anger, worry, fear, shame, or embarrassment. These emotions could result from student frustration with non-completion of program activities, failing a test, disagreement with another student, worry over paying school fees, or anxiety resulting from family problems. Students reprimanded in front of others for any reason may feel embarrassed as an emotional reaction.
Njoroge and Nyabuto (2021) found that numerous factors influence students’ discipline, including insufficient support services and guidance and counseling, substandard food quality, inadequate learning materials, strained teacher-student relationships, neglect of students’ grievances, and an unresponsive administration.
For teachers—particularly those who are new to the profession—maintaining discipline presents a considerable challenge. School heads often devote a substantial portion of their time to addressing disciplinary issues.
The primary goal of school discipline is to establish a safe, structured, and positive learning environment. This objective is typically achieved by implementing rules and strategies designed to address misbehavior while also fostering students' self-regulation skills (Li et al., 2021). School regulations are created in collaboration with the community to uphold acceptable standards of conduct and attire. Students are expected to adhere to these rules at all times, whether on school premises or while representing the institution. Such regulations not only promote discipline and focus on academics but also safeguard the school’s reputation and prepare students to follow societal rules in the future. Moreover, the Department of Education underscores that the administration of school discipline must uphold the child’s inherent dignity and align with the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Additionally, the Department enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy against all forms of child abuse, exploitation, violence, discrimination, bullying, and related offenses (DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012).
In this respect, discipline rules are also seen as an element in ensuring compliance with the normal order. Considering the problems caused by student misbehaviors and the resulting discipline problems, it can be said that they reduce the effectiveness of education and negatively affect the school atmosphere, students' success, and socialization. They also endanger school and student security (Akpınar & Özdaş, 2021). For this reason, to better understand the disciplinary issues at school becomes more important. However, despite clear school policies on discipline, it is undeniable that issues affecting student behaviors are still the most important concerns of the school.
Maintaining discipline in school is critical for teachers and school heads to understand why problems occur, how discipline problems are prevented, and what to do when a problem occurs, as school discipline and practices are critical parts of creating a school's overall climate. Due to these observations, this study was conducted.
see PDF attachment for more information