Abstract:
The discipline of students has become paramount in the management of secondary schools in Kenya. The main objective of the research was to determine the perceptions of stakeholders toward the factors that influence students’ discipline in secondary schools in Baringo District. Survey_r_e_s§arch design was used in the study. All the 33 headteachers, 450 teachers, 429 BOG members and 264 PTA members in the 33 secondary schools in Baringo District formed the target population. Simple random sampling was used to select l0 schools from which 90 teachers were also picked through simple random sampling. The l0 headteachers in the sample schools were involved in the study. Interviewed, were 2 BOG members and 2 representatives of parents who were obtained through Simple random sampling method from each of the 10 sampled \ schools. The instruments were piloted to assess their reliability and also were tested using Cronbach alpha, which gave an overall reliability coeflicient of 0.85, with a reliability coefficient of 0.75 and 0.77 for HTQ and TQ respectively. The instruments were given to educational experts in the Faculty of Education and Human Resources in Egerton University to assess and improve the content and face validity of the items contained in the instruments. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics: frequencies, percentages and results were presented using tables. Major findings/conclusions based on the perceptions of the stakeholders towards the school environment factors that had more influence on students’ discipline included: school culture, admission of students from other secondary schools and lack of clearly defined measures against indisciplined students while on home based factors they included: lack of role model at home, lack of parents’ follow-up of students’ performance and anti-social behaviour at home. The findings and recommendations should be useful to headteachers, teachers. parents and other stakeholders in the management of students" discipline in secondary schools in Baringo District.
