Influence of teachers’ communication strategies on students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Mukurwe-ini district, Kenya
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of teachers’ communication
strategies on students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Mukurweini district.
Four objectives were formulated that sought to; establish the use of teachers’ oral
communication on student discipline in public secondary secondary schools in
Mukurweini district; to establish the use of written communication by teachers on
students’ discipline in Mukurweini district; establish the use of non verbal
communication by teachers on student discipline in the same discipline, to determine
the prevailing conditions that hinder effective communication towards student
discipline.The study employed descriptive research design which is suitable in
collecting both qualitative and quantative data. The sample included 45 teachers and
360 students. Data were collected by the use of questionnaires administered
personally through hand delivery. A pilot study was conducted in five schools which
were not included in the final study. Reliability of the instruments was also done
through the most common internal consistency measure known as Cronbach’s alpha
(α), which indicates the extent to which a set of test items can be treated as
measuring a single latent variable. The recommended value of 0.7 was used as a cutoff
of reliabilities in the study. Findings indicated that holding of classroom
meetings, use of school prefects, communication during assembly, use of guidance
and couselling , use of rewards and incentives, encouraging members to pass
information among themselves, holding of open forums, encouraging members to
pass information among themselves are some of the communication strategies
commonly used by teachers’ in Mukurweini District on student’s discipline.
Majority of the teachers also indicated that they often used notice boards on student
discipline. However, facial expression was rarely used on student discipline.
Majority of the teachers 89% indicated that school category affects the way they
communicate on the student discipline. The study results revealed that the category
of the school, boys only, girls only and mixed for both boys and girls affect the way
teachers’ communicates on student discipline. The study also found that
communication strategies with the least preferences for teachers on student
discipline included the use of reward system,the use of eye contact and facial
expression. According to the study, conditions which reduce effective
communication ranged from distortion of information, language barrier to lack of
proper mechanisms that ensures conducive environment for students to express
themselves to their teachers.From the findings, it was concluded that requisite
communication strategies are usually used by teachers in public secondary schools in
Mukurweini district on student discipline and are able to influence the discipline of
the students positively.Finally the study has suggested a similar study to be carried
out in other districts in Kenya with other stakeholders like parents and B.O.G
members being centre of focus as they also play an important role towards student
discipline.
Citation
Masters of Education in Educational AdministrationPublisher
University of Nairobi School of Education
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [6020]