Influence of Home-based Factors on Discipline of Students in Public Boys’ Secondary Schools in Makueni Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Discipline is important in that it plays a crucial role in school systems, which insists on upholding the moral values of students. The home environment plays a key role in an individual‟s initial stages of life. It is the primary agent of socialization and the first „educator‟. This is because a child will see the world and life from the perspectives of those that are around him or her. This means that the way the child is socially, politically and economically socialized will carry a huge impact throughout his or her life. The study sought to investigate the influence of home-based factors (authoritarian parenting styles, parental economic status, family set-up, and parental education level) on discipline of students in public boys‟ secondary schools in Makueni Sub County, Makueni County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study involved 76 students per school, meaning 19 students per each form. The study also interviewed four parents from each schools totaling to 16 parents. The parents were chosen from the Parents and teachers association (PTA) members. The study also involved 4 head-teachers. Simple random sampling was applied in order to randomly select the parents from Makueni Sub County. Inclusion criteria were parents of students in public secondary boys‟ schools in Makueni Sub County. The study relied on data collected through questionnaires and interview guide to meet the objectives of the study. Responses were tabulated, coded and processed by use of a computer Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 programme to analyze the data. The findings revealed that authoritarian parenting styles, parental economic status, family set-up, and parental education level influence the discipline of students in public boys‟ secondary schools to a great extent. There is need for the church can assist in coming in to instill morals in parents because the biggest challenge is parenting; the government can come in to help train the parents on how to support their children; public participation can help improve discipline among boys; frequent guidance and counseling sessions with the students. NGOS and CBOs should shift focus to the boy-child as opposed to focusing only on the girl-child. There is also need to conduct a study on the causes of poor performance in boys‟ secondary schools in Makueni County

Discipline is important in that it plays a crucial role in school systems, which insists on upholding the moral values of students. The home environment plays a key role in an individual‟s initial stages of life. It is the primary agent of socialization and the first „educator‟. This is because a child will see the world and life from the perspectives of those that are around him or her. This means that the way the child is socially, politically and economically socialized will carry a huge impact throughout his or her life. The study sought to investigate the influence of home-based factors (authoritarian parenting styles, parental economic status, family set-up, and parental education level) on discipline of students in public boys‟ secondary schools in Makueni Sub County, Makueni County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study involved 76 students per school, meaning 19 students per each form. The study also interviewed four parents from each schools totaling to 16 parents. The parents were chosen from the Parents and teachers association (PTA) members. The study also involved 4 head-teachers. Simple random sampling was applied in order to randomly select the parents from Makueni Sub County. Inclusion criteria were parents of students in public secondary boys‟ schools in Makueni Sub County. The study relied on data collected through questionnaires and interview guide to meet the objectives of the study. Responses were tabulated, coded and processed by use of a computer Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 programme to analyze the data. The findings revealed that authoritarian parenting styles, parental economic status, family set-up, and parental education level influence the discipline of students in public boys‟ secondary schools to a great extent. There is need for the church can assist in coming in to instill morals in parents because the biggest challenge is parenting; the government can come in to help train the parents on how to support their children; public participation can help improve discipline among boys; frequent guidance and counseling sessions with the students. NGOS and CBOs should shift focus to the boy-child as opposed to focusing only on the girl-child. There is also need to conduct a study on the causes of poor performance in boys‟ secondary schools in Makueni County