THESIS TITLE: Determinants of Students Discipline in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

STUDENT’S NAME: Zeddy Chepkoech Maritim

SUPERVISORS:

Dr. Likoko Sarah

Dr. Barasa Jane

ABSTRACT

Discipline is an important component of behaviour as it defines the character of a human being. In Kenya, a lot of effort has been put by stakeholders to instill discipline among students in secondary schools but cases of indiscipline are still on the rise. The purpose of this study was to find out the determinants of students’ discipline in secondary schools in Bungoma County. The objectives of the study were to:  determine the influence of parental involvement on students’ discipline, establish the influence of principals’ supervisory practices on students’ discipline, find out the influence of strategies applied by the guidance and counseling department on students’ discipline, and determine the influence of school culture on students’ discipline in secondary schools in Bungoma County. The study was guided by Erikson’s Theory on psychosocial stages of development. The research design used for this study was Ex-post facto research design. The population under the study was divided into clusters and strata where samples were drawn from it. The target population was 8427 which comprised of 501 deputy principals, 834 teachers of guidance and counselling and 7092 prefects. A sample of 837 was drawn using simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. The sample comprised of 180 deputy principals, 278 teachers of guidance and counselling and 379 prefects. The research instruments comprised of questionnaires for deputy principals interview schedule for teachers and focused group discussion guide for prefects. Validity of the research instruments was determined by the input of my supervisors for expert judgement. Reliability of the instruments was determined by a test and retest method and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to measure the internal consistency of the instruments. 0.7 was computed which was sufficient for the instruments in the actual study. Data was analyzed by use of statistical tools namely one way ANOVA, Spearman’s Correlation, Chi- square and simple linear regression. The study established that parental involvement, Principals’ supervisory practices and guidance/counseling strategies influenced students’ discipline while school culture was observed to have less influence. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education should formulate policies that ensure adequate parental involvement in management of students’ discipline. The government through Ministry of Education should come with a monitoring unit that will specifically look at the strategies applied by guidance and counselling department to manage students’ discipline. TSC should come up with programmes that will capacity build and sensitize principals on the importance of good supervisory practices that can help in enhancing students’ discipline. School management should cultivate norms and beliefs that enhance students’ discipline through mentorship programmes. The findings will be of significance to the ministry of Education in developing reliable policies for schools that may enhance students’ discipline.