ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of school discipline policies on the academic success of secondary school students in the Buea Municipality, Cameroon. Grounded in both behavioral and educational transformation theories, the research focused on four key objectives: examining the impact of academic rules and regulations, restorative management practices, suspension, and expulsion on students’ academic achievement.

A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from a sample of 86 school administrators using a structured questionnaire. The sample was selected using simple random sampling to ensure fair representation across various secondary schools. The findings revealed that clearly defined and consistently enforced academic rules significantly enhance student performance, while restorative practices promote positive behavior and engagement.

Conversely, suspension and expulsion practices were found to have detrimental effects on student learning outcomes, often leading to reduced academic performance and increased dropout rates. The study concludes that a balanced disciplinary approach rooted in fairness, support, and student inclusion is critical for fostering academic excellence. It recommends the adoption of restorative methods, teacher training, and stakeholder.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The historical roots of school discipline policies date back to 19th-century educational frameworks, where strict rules and punitive measures like corporal punishment were used to instill moral values and social order. This approach was based on the belief that disciplined environments enhanced learning outcomes (Hoover & Patton, 2005). By the 20th century, the progressive education movement shifted focus to student-centered practices, introducing counseling and restorative methods to address behavior without punishment. Research supported this shift, showing that supportive policies improved academic performance by fostering engagement rather than fear. (Golkar, et al., 2012).

Today, schools grapple with challenges like violence and disruptive behavior, highlighting the need for effective discipline strategies. Positive teacher-student relationships and classroom environments are crucial for student success and self-discipline. Modern discipline aims to create opportunities for learning and personal growth, emphasizing self-control and positive behavior. This chapter outlines the study’s background, objectives, and significance, exploring how discipline policies impact academic achievement in contemporary education. (Woolfolk & Weinstein, 2006).

Background of the study

Historically, Education plays a vital role in the development of human capital and is linked with an individual’s well-being and opportunities for better living (Battle & Lewis, 2002). Education ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to increase their productivity and improve their quality of life. This increase in productivity also leads towards new sources of earning which enhances the economic growth of a country (Saxton, 2000). The quality of students’ performances in particular and their achievements in general remains a top priority for educators and the world at large. Education is geared towards making a difference locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

Academic success therefore represents the indispensable starting point for a person’s effective integration into a society, the construction of a society capable of significant achievements in the economic, cultural, defence, and industrial spheres. For these reasons, education specialists, economists and politicians have focused on academic success in tandem with an incessant search for efficient methods to improve achievements. This has reached the heart of international debate. Due to the importance of the issue, Cameroon and a number of countries, educators, trainers and researchers have invested considerable research efforts for the purpose of identifying the factors that influence academic achievements.

According to Crosnoe, Johnson and Elder (2004), there are variables inside the school and outside the school that affect the quality of students’ academic achievements. They grouped these variables under factors relative to the students, factors relative to the family, factors relative to the school as well as factors relative to peers. Formal investigations on the role of demographic factors like age, gender, geographical belongingness, ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status, parents’ level of education, parental profession, language, income and religious affiliation dates as far back as the 19th century (Mann, 1985).

Conceptually, academic achievement refers to a student’s success in meeting short or long term goals in education. In a broader sense, academic achievement means completing high school or earning a college degree in a given semester. High academic achievement implies a student is on an honour roll. Academic achievement may also refer to a person’s strong performance in a given academic arena (Birgit, 2012). A student who earns in his/her studies is said to have achieved in his/her academic field. Educational associations and schools monitor the overall level of students’ academic achievement to decide what, if any, changes needs to be made in the educational system.

Discipline within the school environment in general and of students in particular is important in the attainment of the desired outcomes of education. Learners are more likely to benefit from the teaching and learning process if they are disciplined.  Different authors have defined discipline in various terms. Adesina (1980) is of the opinion that discipline is to teach the students manners on how to show respect to school authorities, to observe the school laws and regulations and to maintain an established standard of behaviour. From this definition the school has a primordial role to play in instilling discipline into their students. Therefore school administrators and teachers should enforce acceptable behaviour in their students.

Discipline according to Abubakar (2000) is the ability and willingness to do what one ought to do without external control. Hence one can say discipline is internally motivated within the individual and depends on the state of mind of an individual. It is voluntary and an individual deliberately makes efforts to conform to an established code of conduct. Olusegun (2005) defined discipline as the proper training of the mind and body which can produce desired control necessary for an individual to perform the positive roles required for the achievement of organisational or community goals and aspirations. The paramount aim of school discipline should be to endow each learner with habits such as self-respect, and proper pride in his own integrity that he will observe the norms of good conduct when not under compulsion or supervision and will carry them eventually into adult life.

The encouragement and mutual respect among students and adults (including teachers, parents, and coaches) are the most important social skills that are learned in this approach (Mcvitte, 2007). The teacher encourages the students for expressing their beliefs and they are also permitted to select their interests in the classrooms with positive discipline approaches. In such conditions, it will be possible to solve the group problems, and conditions of the classroom will become the partnership, collaboration, and mutual respect climate. Some of the other benefits of this discipline include skill and perceptual watchfulness, reinforcing of communicational skills, solving the problems outside of the classroom, concentrating on the solution rather than punishment, helping teachers by other teachers, problem-solution steps and encouragement sessions (Majdfar & Haji Hoseynnejhad, 2011). Providing a good discipline style in the classroom and schools can help learners to increase their sense of belonging and self-acceptance through reinforcing their self-confidence.

To ensure academic success and providing a safe learning environment, it is, therefore, essential for schools to establish effective discipline methods (Luiselli, et al., 2005). In a bid to maintain positive discipline, schools have adopted various strategies, such as communication, modelling positive behaviour, training of staff and parents, positive reinforcement, and many others. Despite of unsurpassed efforts by schools to produce shared methods that enhance positive behaviour, they continue to encounter situations of challenging behaviour such as bullying, insubordination, drug and alcohol abuse, destruction of property, violence, assault and many others (Irish National Teachers’ Organization, 2004; Demuth, 2011).

Furthermore, Maphosa & Shumba (2010), found that the absence of corporal punishment in schools led to disempowerment of teachers, as they found it difficult to maintain discipline in schools. However, Bear (2010), argues that, excluding methods that enhance self-discipline might not teach learners the skills that will stimulate suitable and autonomously guided conduct. This is evident when adult supervision, systematic rewards, clear rules and expectations, and consequences for misbehaviour are the main methods used in managing learner behaviour. When those external rewards are later removed the learner might fail to function individualistically.

Scholars like Feuerborn & Tyre (2012), observe that schools provide limited prospects for their members of staff to develop professionally and quite often they find it difficult to cope with the diverse social, emotional, and behavioural needs of their learners. Bechuke & Debeila (2012), elaborated that the school community members who deal with behaviour modification procedures should be allowed to do so only after they have received sufficient training.

Lack of parental guidance among learners has been observed as a major factor that contributes to unproductive use of positive discipline practices in schools. Research has shown that in United States of America, in the last three decades, children have missed almost twelve hours of parental time a week as most parents take longer hours at work. Parents usually fail to spend quality time with their children, nurturing and training them in manners, morals, and respect for people and property because they come home stressed out from their jobs (Demuth, 2011). Irish National Teachers’ Organization (2004) agrees that lack of social skills and poor language development, together with lack of parenting skills may lead to a child displaying unbecoming behaviour. Such behaviour might be used as a survival technique in the child’s environs.

Theoretically, before a student is considered discipline and ready for learning in secondary schools, some indicators work together to make the discipline. These indicators include; teamwork among teachers, the scope of guidance and counselling programmes, effectiveness of guidance and counselling. There are various theories which support these variables with regards to the effectiveness of discipline in managing students discipline in selected public secondary schools in Cameroon.

Theorists such as William Glassers, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, F.H Jones and Gordon’s contributed greatly to the environmentalist perspective of development and learning. Environmentalists believe the child’s environment shapes learning and behaviours, in fact, human behaviour, development, and learning are thought of as reactions to the environment. This perspective leads many families, schools and educators to assume that young children develop and acquire new knowledge by reacting to their surroundings. According to the environmentalists, this is the age or stage when young children can respond appropriately to the environment of the school and the classroom (for example, rules and regulations, curriculum activities, positive behaviour in a group setting, and directions and instructions from teachers and other adults in the school). The ability to respond appropriately to this environment is necessary for young children to participate in teacher-initiated learning activities. Success is dependent on the child following instructions from the teacher or other adults in the classroom. Many environmentalist-influenced educators and parents believe that students learn best by observation, by teaching, by advice, by counselling and by positive discipline. This viewpoint is evident in the students’ environment, where the student is expected to sit in classes arranged in rows and listens actively to their teachers.

At home, parents may provide their children with information concerning the importance of positive discipline in a learning environment. When students are unable to respond appropriately to the classroom and school environment, they often are labelled as having some form of learning disabilities and/or are tracked in classrooms with guidance counsellors (most of whom are class teachers too) to control their behaviours and responses. All these aspects and concerns by the parents is lacking when it comes to university students.

 Contextually, education is a very important aspect of every nation. In Cameroon, the government and the society seem to pay a lot of attention to its existence and a lot of resources are officially allocated to ensure its smooth functioning. Thus, education should be checked totally to make sure that students are disciplined in schools, so that their success can be guaranteed. This is the reason for the interest in exploring the effects of positive discipline on the teaching and learning process among secondary schools in Cameroon in this study.

In the past, students were disciplined physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively before attending school. Today, however, many students arrive unprepared—arriving late, skipping classes, or displaying other signs of indiscipline—which significantly impacts their behavior. True discipline, both in and out of school, requires students to be mentally and emotionally prepared for learning, striving for excellence in their academic pursuits. When students embrace discipline, their productivity naturally increases, leading to greater success. These factors underscore why student discipline warrants further research, as it is closely tied to high academic achievement. Discipline begins at home and in the community, where parents and societal norms instill behaviors that prepare students for school. Historically, teachers were revered as semi-gods by the government, communities, families, and students alike. This respect reinforced their authority in shaping disciplined, motivated learners.

Nowadays, most students enter school unprepared as exhibited in so many ways such as; hesitation to go to school, refusal to participate in a class or to do assignments, unwilling to learn and many others. Most of these students generally lack courtesy, respect, self-control, decency, and social etiquette. The values they portray are disrespect toward authority, promiscuity, drug abuse, addiction behaviour and carefree lifestyles. As if that is not enough, students now kill teachers. For example, a mathematics teacher named Mr Boris Kelvin was killed by a student in Government High School Nkolbissong in Yaoundé (the Guardian newspaper,14th January 2020). A learner in a new school or in a higher level of a learning institution is to cope with the new environment through guidance. Learners are helped to develop a better understanding of who they are and appreciate their background. Learners are guided on the self-awareness, peer pressure, relationships, personality differences, manners and social etiquette, social roles, and responsibility, intra and interpersonal conflict resolutions. Through positive discipline, a student is helped to overcome indiscipline as a quest for freedom. Indiscipline among students is because of feelings of unfulfillment, frustration and lack of constructive freedom.

Discipline refers to self-restraint in individuals for the welfare of all. That is; the control of someone’s or one’s own emotions and actions for the development of desirable attitudes according to acceptable standards. Discipline is a powerful predictor of many important outcomes in our society today. Educational achievement, lifetime earnings, physical and mental health, and even delinquency and law-breaking behaviours have been linked to discipline.  The letter written by the Minister of Secondary Education on the 21st of January 2020 entitled ‘New measures to Strengthen Discipline and Security in Schools (no later than 4th February 2020) to the Heads of Government and Private Institutions, was evidently that schools were not disciplined as expected (that is discipline was not satisfactory). The letter’s general objective was the practical proposals to strengthen discipline and security in schools, as an educational policy to solve the major problems plaguing the Cameroon School System, where students are fighting each other; worse of all students are killing teachers. As educators, researchers and policymakers attempt to understand how to promote discipline in schools; more and more attention is being placed on the preschool (family) discipline because, it is the base for future discipline.

Recently, though our education system is sick with an upsurge of violence between students against students and students against teachers. For example, In January 2020, a mathematics teacher, Mr. Boris Kelvin, was stabbed to death by a student at Government High School Nkolbissong in Yaoundé after he confiscated the student’s phone during class. Similarly, in 2022, students of a secondary school in Douala orchestrated a coordinated attack on teachers, locking them in classrooms and setting fire to school buildings to protest against strict disciplinary policies. Looking at what is going on in our educational system today irrespective of the efforts made by the Minister of Education to handle indiscipline in public secondary schools in Cameroon; indiscipline of varied nature has persisted in these schools, with a new dimension. Not only were they violent and destructive, but they were premeditated, organized and caused the greatest damage to human life. If that scenario is anything to go by, then indiscipline was a threat to our school. It is common to hear parents, teachers and church leaders blaming each other for failing to teach young people to behave well. Many parents have abandoned the teaching of their children, which they have entrusted to the teachers (Oyieyo, 2012). The whole country has been experiencing political civil unrest and Mamfe Town is not an exception. Indiscipline cases in public secondary schools in Cameroon has become a matter of concern in recent years to stakeholders.

 

Statement of the problem

Schools nowadays face many challenges of different natures. One of the challenges is that of maintaining discipline in schools to enable students learn and improve on their learning outcomes.

Creating a good discipline environment is an important element to help students to be acceptable and successful in the school environment and society. Research-based procedures using positive discipline practices focus on increasing desirable behaviours and the emphasis is now on positive changes in learner’s environment than simply decreasing undesirable behaviours through punishment. Such changes involve using role models, reinforcing the behaviour positively, the compassionate relationship between the teacher and the learner, supportive family and specialist personnel’s assistance (National Association of School Psychologists, 2002).

Corporal punishment in schools was officially banned in Cameroon through Ministerial Decision No. 0000072/MINESEC/IGE/ESG issued on April 30, 2001, by the Ministry of Secondary Education. This directive prohibited all forms of physical punishment in schools, emphasizing alternative disciplinary methods like counseling and restorative practices. With the banning of corporal punishment in schools, very little measures have been put in place to foster self-discipline in students. Some students have taken pride in exhibiting acts of indiscipline, having in mind that no punishment meted on them will be painful, forgetting that this has a direct negative effect on their academic achievements.

The measures put in place to deal with indiscipline are barely adequate given that there exist no administrative or legal guideline which could be referred to as far as disciplining students is concerned. Actions are often ad-hoc and uncoordinated both within and across schools of the same type. Teachers at times feel disempowered to deal with cases of indiscipline because of lack of support from the relevant authorities, political interference and incapacitated school administration. Little or lack of knowledge on the discipline management strategies and the suitable strategies to implement at a given point in time is a contributing factor as to why academic achievement of students is continuously on a decrease, given that much has been put in place to ensure an increase in the rates of students’ academic achievement. This study therefore seeks to investigate the extent to which the policies put in place to manage discipline in schools influence the academic achievement of secondary school students.

Objectives of the study

General objectives

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of schools discipline policies on student’ academic success in secondary education in the Buea Municipality

Specific objectives

1. To examine how the administration of academic rules and regulations contribute to secondary school students’ academic success in the Buea Municipality.
2. To investigate how students’ restorative management practices affect the academic performance of secondary school students in the Buea Municipality.
3. To examine how suspension practices can influence the academic success of secondary schools students in the Buea Municipality
4. To examine how the expulsion practices can influence the academic success of secondary schools students in the Buea Municipality

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