Teachers and maintenance discipline in a classroom situation

In order to have a better as a classroom manager (teacher) one must have the following:

Handle every kind of classroom discipline problem

Learn to bring any classroom under control

Get the students’ attention

Let there be respect for each other especially opinions or answers and

There must be quietness

If one can imagine himself or herself in the classroom day after day spending all the time teaching to an attentive class. As a teacher you will show the deep rooted love in answering the call as a teacher. A teacher whose students are punctual because punctuality is the soul of business, respectful on task and attentive all the will definitely enjoy his or her task.

Form my observation Manchester Academy is one of the schools that keep classroom under control, and this shows a clean and clear understanding of planning. Knowing how to keep a classroom not only controlled but on task and attentive is the most crucial skill a teacher can have, without which no effective teaching can take place. At Manchester Academy I observed the school has a lot to offer and they have given themselves time to offer it, because it is not a nice feeling going to class everyday feeling you do not have the necessary tools to get the learning atmosphere you rightly deserve.

It is a nice feeling going to your class knowing that you will be teaching in a favourable atmosphere that is conducive to learning and that you have the tools to handle any situation, instead of trying to bring order or shushing a chronically disruptive student or shouting that there should be quietness every time. Manchester Academy displayed that spirit during the reading lessons.

As teachers we do not want our classrooms to be orderly just for its own sake or because we are on some kind of power trip, but so that we can give students what we have to offer. Sometimes you find you want to learn this from someone who does not have to be that correct, but who has had to establish classroom control even inside the worst behaved classrooms found anywhere in the world.

Management and discipline are the main ingredients in the teachers’ planning. Sound discipline and management underpins every aspect of the school life. For successful teaching and learning to take place it is important that good discipline exist in every classroom in particular and in the school as a whole. According to Hill & Hill (1997: 16)”learners learn to the best of their abilities in an orderly and safe environment.” Researchers like Potgieter, Visser, Van der Bank, Mothata and Squelch (1997:59) stated that “if discipline is not taken into consideration, the school environment will be dangerous in the educational process may be disrupted.” This may also affects the educational attainment of learners. In this regard Levin & Nalon (1991:30) state that, “in addition to the obvious impact on the teaching and learning environment disruptive behaviour, can also affect the learners’ safety, readiness to learn as well as future behaviour.” In addition, Hill & Hill (1994:6) “if discipline can destroy the possibility of a safe and orderly environment and thereby a hamper the core purpose of the school.” It is therefore necessary that discipline is maintained in a school for the welfare and safety of learners and educators, and for the success of the educational process.

Learners in the further education are working hard to form the own identities asserting power through the brilliant by posing teachers. Coetzer & Le Roux (1996:84) endorse this view when they stated that, “modern children and youth want to establish their own life, and by doing so will fade rebel against discipline and authority.” They sum up by saying that “the youth have been emancipated to live their own lifestyles as they see it fit and accept values different from the society.”Sowetan (South Africannewspaper) of Thursday March, 17 2011: 5 (Early edition) states that “we call on all pupils to fight fire with fire-when teachers hit you, you must hit back.”As a result, teachers experience difficulties, feeling that they are challenged and might lose control.

A lack of discipline in public schools is experienced all over the world. Wayson & Pinnell (1994:1534) “The lack of learner discipline in many public schools throughout the world has been a matter of great concern for school management and teachers, to a lesser extent for learners themselves parents and the general public.” According to Charles (1996:3) numerous studies that were conducted in the USA in 1992, have listed discipline is a major problem with which teachers must contend and a significant factor in teachers leaving the profession. In addition to the problem, Charles (1996:3) states, “teachers try to transfer away from the schools that have high levels of misbehaviour, live in such schools in the hands of teachers not yet skilled in exerting maintaining discipline.”

From a personal observation and informal interviews with teachers I as a schoolteacher at a second at the school have concluded that it is discipline is not rife in Manchester Academy. The majority of teachers seem to believe that learners should not be left alone to their own devices without being controlled or supervised. The perspective of supervision featured Manchester Academy High School. Learners are not left to behave in whatever way they wish. The teachers in the Manchester Academy are not complaining that they are doing more policing work than teaching in the classroom. Manchester Academy has a computerized way of tracking and disciplining learners who misbehave according to the type of offences. Teachers do not spend time disproportionately dealing with this disruptive behaviour of learners and the result of the actions.

Apparently Manchester Academy channel their perceptions in such a way that learners took positively towards benefits of education. Proper, authoritative and sympathetic guidance of course will always assist learners to see the need to establish good rapport with teachers and finally with parents. It is the responsibility of the teachers to maintain a culture of teaching and learning in schools, but it is not possible to do so if the discipline and the safety are not considered in the school environment. Disintegrated discipline causes difficulty in the attainment of school objectives. Schools become there is functional when both learners and teachers cannot work effectively and efficiently under conditions which are not conducive and are appalling. Learners cannot land and teachers cannot teach in an unsafe environment. A safe an orderly school environment is a prerequisite for learning and teaching to take place. Thus teachers can only discharge their professional duties if there is order and discipline in both the classroom and the school as a whole.

How can teachers maintain discipline?

Researchers are of an opinion that teachers play a vital role in maintaining discipline and control within the school. According to Joubert &Prinsloo (1999:55), “educators are responsible to maintain discipline at all times.” Varma (1993:31) states that, “beyond their responsibility for teaching, educators are also responsible for the moral development of learners and to ensure that they become law-abiding citizens.” This implicitly means that within the school community, teachers are expected to respond in a controlling y to violations of the institutional rules and of the school and forms such as theft, and bullying that has a direct bearing on the moral domain. The Department of Education also demands that discipline be maintained in school so that culture of teaching and learning is realized. According to Section 8 (1) Of the South African Schools Act (SASA) (RSA, 1996 a: 8), discipline must be maintained in the school and classroom situations so that the education of learners flourishes.Teachers are in fact expected to handle disruptive learners in the classes so that learners can concentrate on the schoolwork. Butchart & McEwan support this view by stating that, “inequality school, educators must learn how to handle a disruptive learner in a way that is not punitive, yet gets the situation under control and at the same time opens the learners in mind to work in class”

How to couple discipline and fairness?

One of the questions on the questionnaire is “what is your (teacher) role in a show in discipline in your school?” According to Hosten et al (in Oosthuizen 1985:59) explains fairness as “the moral value that serves as a norm to ensure impartiality when dealing with competing interests of various subjects.” This denotes that the interests of both teachers and learners must be protected. The learners are the legal subjects and have legal rights that should be protected. The learners other legal subjects and have legal rights that should be protected. Section 12 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (RSA, 1996 c: 8).

In this independent study support (ISS) hungry and took shy to answer questions that have been asked in the questionnaire.

Manchester Academy claim to be performing very well in terms of discipline, management and leadership since its transition. Now strategies for good classroom discipline could be based on both standard and student behavioural aspect to make discipline more effective. The following may possibly assist teachers to improve the problems that may be there in situations, that is, they might be underlying issues in the school and has to be solved in anticipation.

Help to learners and their voice.

Teachers should guide learners towards their own behaviour. Passing judgement on violators’ action teachers should instead ask questions that encourage learners to judge their own behaviour. They should stay focused and if need be, help learners to accept ownership of their actions. Teachers should guide learners for improving future behaviour. They should ask learners to formulate alternate ways of behaving the next time they are confronted with similar situations. Teachers should build learners’ commitment to their plans by giving them feedback and reinforcement. Learners will feel more committed if teachers acknowledge the validity of their plans. Doing this could be as simple as eye contact. Teachers should not allow flimsy excuses are the only serve to avoid responsibility.

According to Rich (1982:169) “school rules may be breached when learners feel that they are unjustified”. This will undoubtedly happen if learners were not allowed to take part in the formulation of rules. It is therefore necessary that learners must understand why rules have been formulated and why they should comply with them.

Again, according to Blandford (1998:39) “a school without an effective discipline policy that encompasses strategies and mechanisms that are available to all the members of the school community, cannot function as a center for teaching and learning.” The process of developing and implementing discipline policy involves collaborative decision-making. Therefore, all the members of the school should have an opportunity to take part in the decision-making.

Sunday Times (South African newspaper) of 12.01. 1992, noted that “grade 12 learners in black townships in South Africa, were continuously failing because of the conspicuous lack of discipline among them.” It is important that discipline should be maintained at all times in schools and that each and every school must have a code of conduct. Teachers should avoid making irrelevant rules because this will create serious disciplinary problems in the school and the classroom. McQueen (1992:56) supports this view and space that “irrelevant rules are useless and disastrous because poorly chosen rules will create serious management and disciplinary problems in the classroom situation.

Motivating and encouraging learners.

They word “motivation” is derived from a Latin word “movere” meaning to move (McLean, 2003:7). Therefore, motivation is the sum of all that moves a person to action. To motivate indicate that one person provides another person with a motive to do something. Motivation can be regarded as the key aspect of emotional intelligence. According to the South African Oxford Dictionary (1998:285). The term “motivate” means to give a person a motive or incentive to do something. According to Word reference online, con sized Oxford dictionary (2008) the word “motivation” means “stimulate the interest of.” First, it has a directional tasks choosing among options and maintaining the action desired. Secondly, it has intensity, for example level of enthusiasm (McLean 2003:37). According to Burden (1995:16). Most educators use the concept motivation to describe “those processes which can arouse any initiate behaviour, proceed to allow the behaviour to persist, and lead to choosing or preferring a specific behaviour.” Teachers are therefore interested in a particular sort of learner motivation which is to motivate learners to learn. Teachers should ensure that learners are motivated to learn and behave appropriately because demotivated learners get discouraged easily.

Teachers should reward learners when they are behaving well for completing their work. They should do this through praise and class recognition. Any plan for dealing with misbehaviour must include encouragement of good behaviour, otherwise learners learn what they are not do, but they have not learnt what they should do.

To further discuss the impact of classroom discipline is partly involves on the learners conduct, are the ability and skills that teachers should have. Patience comes first, especially when a learner has a behavioural problem, and this should be given attention in an appropriate way, hence as part of the teachers duties and responsibilities. Making it a point that effective teaching makes learners learned. The teacher plays a significant role in which it imparts the knowledge and skills to the learners and the teacher should love and show the deep-rooted love in the career that is believed he or she chose it willingly.

The teacher must have the initiative on how to deal with each learner in class, making it his or her duty to involve to keep learners busy and at the same time consider their class as enjoyable and having a great impact on the field of learning. Taking into cognizance that learners differ in their abilities and teachers should know up to what extent would a particular be able assimilate the lesson. Skills coupled with effective classroom discipline can be acquired through practice, having feedback and also willing to accept only mistakes is no one is infallible. Teachers must walk the talk.

Teachers who have many years of experience have contributed to a specific view of what particular technique work and what are the relevant methods that may not be applicable in disciplining a class with such inevitable learners’ behavioural aspect. The teacher must make it a point that the teaching method and style or managing discipline must maintain a kind of atmosphere that enhances learning for the learners. The way the class is arranged forms part of class discipline. A good class arrangement makes it easy to maintain discipline. It is the teachers’ responsibility to be vigilant at all times to monitor and observe learners’ performance in activities. Apparatus, books teaching aids and other material should always be readily available.

According to Ofsted report of the 30th to 31st of March 2009. It is stated that Manchester Academy is”outstanding”This shows that Manchester Academy as a school is working very hard to produce good future citizens.

The 2009 report further stated that the school aims to fully equip the students in such a reasonable manner.

Learners are expected to go into the outside world, skilled and ready to meet the demands of life. Parents and teachers have a duty to prepare them to perform well in the community as well is in the world of work. They must have an impact upon the learners’ behaviour by teaching them about the decisions and choices the learners have to make every day and how such decisions and traces affected their lives, both at school and thereafter. For example, “a disciplinary measure against a learner who comes to school late will assist to encourage him or her to be on time and be more responsible and accountable in the future (Lemmer, 1998:47). Discipline challenges the learners to do introspection about their goal and purpose in life. Discipline should emphasize success and not failure. It should assist the learners to develop their individual abilities in order to meet challenges of life with confidence. If this has occurred the learners would have gained a sense of security and meaning in life through discipline lent at school.

Conclusion.

Learners of Manchester Academy are well disciplined. They are well motivated and they also had an opportunity to explore themselves outside the classroom, hence they say that they are “prepared exceptionally well for further study and work beyond the school.”

The school’s positive climate and success are obtained from the good behaviour of learners. The teachers in a discipline school our free and happy to teach without being preoccupied with tension and fear caused by misbehaving learners. The disciplinary problems that are common in contributing to, indiscipline in Manchester Academy seems to be identified and discussed with learners so that proactive actions are taken to promote good discipline. Rights and duties of teachers and their contribution in maintaining discipline simply there because it is said that the “follow policy.” See appendix. Educators seem to support the school principal/headmaster by ensuring that the learners observe school rules and regulations in they are held responsible for any misbehaviour hence the school has a committee responsible for behaviour according to their types.

Teachers cannot work in isolation in getting read of ill-disciplined behaviour in class in the school as a whole. It takes an effort from all the stakeholders, including the school, parents and learners to minimize lack of discipline. See appendix.