Discipline at secondary school level still a major issue

Discipline continues to be a major hurdle especially at the secondary school level where almost a half of the teachers are not trained.

 

This is according to Dr. Verna Knight, Coordinator of the Building Teacher’s Capacity to Utilize Positive Discipline in Schools: Teachers Colleges Tutors Training Workshop who delivered the welcome yesterday at the Courtyard by Marriott.

 

Unfortunately, this issue intensified after the implementation of both Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education, which saw an increase in the area of discipline, she said.

 

“Over the last two decades, as the number of children in schools at both the primary and secondary levels have increased due to the achievement of both Universal Primary Education by the 1990’s and Universal Secondary Education more recently, school leaders and teachers have faced increasing challenges in the area of discipline management, both inside and outside of the classroom. Disciplinary problems are most evident at the secondary level where 44 per cent of the teachers remain untrained.”

 

Dr. Knight said that schools in the OECS were originally formulated to serve four main areas including educating of the population.

 

“Schools in the OECS Caribbean sub-region have generally been enunciated as serving four major pragmatic purposes – An intellectual purpose such as the development of mathematical and reading skills; an economic purpose such as job preparation; a political purpose such as the assimilation of mixed racial and ethnic groups and a social purpose such as the development of social and moral responsibility.”

 

However with this being stated, it is also a fundamental requirement of all stakeholders to instil discipline, she said.

 

“An underlying exception of all educational stakeholders – inclusive of parents and employers – however, has always been that schools should inculcate discipline. Discipline is generally defined as being ‘a process of systematic  instruction to teach a child or person acceptable social behaviours.’”

 

Hence, the need for today’s workshop, she said. “Today’s workshop was conceptualized as a need – not by the School of Education or UNICEF – but by Teacher Educators at one of the Board of Studies Meetings of the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education in January this year. UNICEF’s presence at this curriculum review meeting was timely as the need for increased emphasis on positive Behaviour management was deliberated and later approved by the Chief Education Officers, Heads of Teachers’ Colleges and Subject Specialists comprising the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education in January of this year. Teacher Educators however highlighted that there was a dire need for professional development for Teacher Educators towards a more practical based teaching of Positive Behaviour Management if we were to see any changes among teachers.”