Perceptions of Teachers on the Factors that Contribute to Indiscipline in Primary Schools and the Role of Guidance and Counselling Programme in its Management, A case of Nyeri Municipality,Kenya

Abstract

The management of pupils in primary schools is becoming a more complicated and involving process. The children are young and do not have the capacity to account lior their behaviour. As a result, they Fall prey to misconduct. The most common behavioural problems among pupils include: poor or lack of concentration in class, truancy. infighting, abusive language, shouting and wandering about, snatching ol‘ other pupils‘ property, bullying, poor of lack of school attendance, among other problems. This study focused on what teachers perceive to be the Factors that contribute to ever increasing cases of indiscipline among primary school pupils and the role of Guidance and Counselling Programme in management of indiscipline. The t'csearch design used in this study was ex post faeto which allowed the responses from the respondents without prior treatment or manipulation of these respondents. The study was carried out in Nyeri Municipality. It focused on the 63 primary schools within Nyeri municipality. Out of these schools, 42 were public while 2t were private. The total enrollment in all the schools was around 25,000 pupils and a team ol‘ around 700 teachers. The sample comprised 20 schools from both public and private primary schools. A list ol‘ these schools was obtained from the municipal education office and this taeilitated systematic random sampling. The major respondents for this study were the head-teachers and guidance teachers. Questionnaires were developed to collect information from head teachers and guidance teachers in the sampled schools. Analysis oli data was done by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme. Descriptive statistics, namely tabulation, frequency distribution and percentages were used in the interpretation of data. Among the key findings were external Factors that hring about indiscipline in primary schools. Examples here are poor parenting and peer pressure. internal factors were also seen to contribute to the indiscipline of pupils with ban of corporal punishment, location of some schools and insecurity taking the lead. Various acts of indiscipline among pupils like cheating and use of abusive language are also discussed. Gender involvement as Far as indiscipline is concerned is also highlighted with boys taking the lion's share ofblame and finally the role olifiuidauce and Counscllitig in the management of indiscipline in pritnary schools.