Psychosocial factors and students’ discipline in secondary schools, Yumbe District, Uganda
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Date
2020-07
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Publisher
Kampala International University, College of Education, Open and Distance Learning
Abstract
As a vital component for students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders, this study
investigates the relationship between psychosocial factors (psf) and students’ discipline in
Secondary Schools, Yumbe district, Uganda. The study was targeted to find relationship
between self-esteem, motivation, peer influence together with school environment and students’
discipline in secondary schools. Unrealized self-esteem, lack of motivation, negative peer
influence and unfriendly school environment bring about mockery to the efforts of all stake
holders in secondary schools in Yumbe district. The study is based on Albert Bandura’s social
learning theory which considers learning as an interaction between psychological processes of
learners and the school environment to yield societal discipline. It used correlational research
design between psychosocial factors as independent variable and discipline as dependent
variable. Simple random sampling technique with questionnaires and interview guide questions
was used to collect data on psychosocial factors and students’ discipline from six secondary
schools. The schools were both Day and Boarding, single sex girls, Government Aided,
community based and private secondary schools some O’ level only, while others both O’ and
A’ level in status. The data collected was analyzed in SPSS to present the frequencies, mean of
variables, correlations and regressions tables respectively. Qualitative method was used to
clarify information of the quantitative data from questionnaires. The findings in the order of
ranking revealed that self-esteem, motivation, school environment and peer influence were the
most prevalent factors in secondary school discipline. This is to benefit head teachers, teachers,
parents, students and stake holders to measure and validate their roles in expressing knowledge,
skills and technical capabilities to developing psychosocial relationships that strengthen
students’ discipline for a progressive learning in the district. Persistent decline in students’
discipline had been as a result of irregular guidance and counseling and meetings that would
have strengthened their discipline. It needed parents and teachers to involve in close monitoring
to reduce social delinquency in Yumbe district. The fall in discipline had been largely attributed
to the collective misconduct of students with unacceptable social habits. Indiscipline is here by
classified as student based, school based and society based. Possible remedies to curb students’
decline of discipline would include moral leadership training for students and display of
accountable staff behavior in secondary schools. The target here is to awaken students’ selfesteem, raise their level of motivation, inspire them to select peer groups and later improve on
school environment for an everlasting discipline of secondary schools in Yumbe district.
Description
A thesis submitted to the college of education open, distance and e-learning for the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master’s Degree of Educational management and administration of Kampala International University
Keywords
Psychosocial factors, Students’ discipline, Secondary schools, Uganda