The Causes of a Lack of Discipline among Secondary School Learners in Mauritius

Abstract

A lack of learners’ discipline is a major school problem in secondary schools in Mauritius. The study aims at determining and examining the main causes of this problem in the context of Mauritius. Qualitative data were collected from learners, educators, principals and parents of four secondary schools by using focus group interviews and individual face-to-face interviews. By using content analysis, the study revealed that the causes of learners’ lack of discipline originate from the family (the parenting style, working parents, ineffective parental discipline and the dysfunctional family), the learners’ attitudes to education and schooling, the educators’ attitudes to their role of maintaining learner discipline, the principals’ lack of authority and leadership in managing learner discipline and the influence of peer group in the school setting. The study shows that all the stakeholders of the school community are responsible for the deterioration of learner discipline in secondary schools. It recommends that there should be a decentralisation of learner discipline strategies from the Ministry of Education to the secondary school principals who should be empowered to set up their institutional school discipline plan.