ABOLITION OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS AND STUDENTS DISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS. A CASE STUDY OF WINSTONE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BY TUSIIME DOREEN BGC/319551102/DTj A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE AWARD OF A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING OF KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY AUGUST, 2013 DECLARATION The material in this dissertation has never been submitted to any university or institution of higher learning for any academic qualifications. This dissertation is a result of my own independent research effort and careful investigations. Where it is indebted to the work of others, the acknowledgement has been made. Signature TUSIIME DOREEN (Student) Date APPROVAL This work has been supervised and is now ready to be submitted to Kampala international university with my approval as a university supervisor. 1., Signatur~ I. ~ A MR. LAAKI SAMSON (Supervisor) Date:.3) J ~j.42~ DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my parents Mr. and Mrs. Byamugisha and to my husband Nelson Maali my brothers, sister and friends. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To the Lord Jesus I give all the glory. My supervisor Mr. Laaki Samson deserves special thanks for his guidance, insights, ideas, and the encouragement throughout this research. I also acknowledge and appreciate my friends with whom we toiled up to this final level, for their never ceasing encouragement through this course and the research process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION APPROVAL DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES ABSTRACT ix CHAPTER ONE 1 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Problem statement 3 1.3 Objectives of the study 3 1.3.1 General objective 3 1.3.2 Specific objectives 3 1.4 Research questions 4 1.5 Scope 4 1.5. Scope of the study 4 1.5.1. Geographical scope 4 1.5.2. Content scope 4 1.5.3. Time scope 4 1.6 Significance of the study 4 CHAPTER TWO 6 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.0 Introduction 6 2.2 Theoretical Framework 6 2.3 Forms of Corporal Punishment 7 2.3.lCaning 7 2.3.2 Bend over 8 2.3.3 The ‘slipper 8 V 2.3.4 Slapping 9 2.3.5 Pants-down 10 2.5 The Impact of Corporal Punishment on Students 10 CHAPTER THREE 16 METHODOLOGY 16 3.0 Introduction 16 3.1 Research Design 16 3.2 Target population 16 3.3 Sample Population 16 3.4 Sample Selection Technique 18 3.5 Data collection Methods and Instruments 18 3.5.1 Questionnaires 18 3.5.2 Interview Guide 18 3.6 Procedure for Data Collection 19 3.7 Reliability and validity 19 3.7.1 Validity of the instruments 19 3.7.2 Reliability 19 3.8 Data analysis and Presentation 20 3.8.1 Editing and Spot Checking 20 3.8.2 Coding 20 3.9 Limitations 20 3.10 Ethical considerations 21 CHAPTER FOUR 22 FINDINGS, PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 22 4.0 Introduction 22 4.1 Background characteristics of respondents 22 4.2 FORMS OF CORPOP~L PUNISHMENTS 23 4.3 Impacts of corporal punishments on students 24 4.3 Solutions to managing discipline 25 vi CHAPTER FIVE 26 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 26 1.0 Introduction 26 5.2 Summary of Findings 26 5.2 Conclusions 26 5.3 Recommendations 27 5.9 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 28 REFERENCES 29 APPENDICES 31 APPENDIX 1: RESEARCH FNSTRUMENTS 31 APPENDIX II:BUDGET 39 APPENDIX III :TIME FRAME 40 vii LIST OF TABLES 4.1.2 Table 1 Classifications of respondents according to sex 22 4.1.3 Table 2 Classifications of respondents according to marital status 22 4.1.4 Table 3 Classification respondents according to education level 23 Table 4: Showing what forms of corporal punishments used in winstone senior secondary school 24 Table 5: Impacts of corporal punishments on students 24 Table 6: Sowing some of the measures to the effects of team work in winstone senior secondary school 25 viii ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of corporal punishment on students’ discipline. The study was guide by three specific objectives and these included; to identify the various forms of corporal punishments in schools, to identify various impacts of corporal punishment on students’ discipline and to find solutions to managing discipline in schools. The study employed qualitative and quantitative approach method in collecting data and a sample of 92 respondents participated in the study. From the study findings, it was revealed that both men and women participated in the study, further still, it was revealed that canning was most commonly used form of corporal punishment use at Winston senior secondary school as it was evidenced by the majority of respondents 28 (3 0%), however, corporal punishments resulted into high school drpeouts and reduce on the problem, respondents suggested teaching good morals. The study recommended that Encourage learners to choose and follow the specific behaviour from their code of conduct. Educators must teach learners to evaluate their behaviour on a daily basis by recognizing and crediting good behaviour. For example, the educator may credit all learners with 10 points from the first day of the school week. Each time the learner misbehaves he/she loses a point. On the last day of the school week the number of point each remains with is counted. The one with the most number of points is honored the King/Queen of the following week. The Ministry of Education should develop programmes for girls who drop out of school particularly due to pregnancy or child bearing. They need functional skills. This training should also aim at instilling in them moral values. Introducing moral up bringing in the curriculum would probably discourage girls from becoming pregnant. Government needs to develop policies and programmes to corporal punishments in schools. There is need for a clear policy the recommended forms of corporal punishments to be used in school .This will help to ensure that students are not just punished. ix CHAPTER ONE: 1.0 Introduction This chapter consists of the background of the study, problem statement and purpose of the study, research objectives and research questions, scope of the study, and significance of the study. 1.1 Background Corporal punishment can be defined as “The use of physical force intended to cause pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correcting or controlling a child’s behavior” (Straus and Donnelly, 2005: 3-7). The concept is further elaborated by Gershoff (2002) that corporal punishment are; behaviors, which do not result in significant physical injury (e.g., spank, slap) are considered corporal punishment, whereas behaviors that risk injury (e.g., punching, kicking, burning) are considered physical abuse (Gershoff, 2002: 539-579). Frequency and severity of corporal punishment are inconsistently defined and measured and these vary from culture to culture, nation to nation and situation to situation. Punishing means subjecting a penalty for an offense and usually includes inflicting some kind of hurt. All these harsh disciplinary measures adopted by authoritarian/totalitarian parents and teachers to discipline children lead to anti-social behavior, contribute to academic failure and social rejection. A global tendency to abolish corporal punishment has been introduced to challenge old dependence on corporal punishment as a tool for reforming children’s misbehavior (Global Report, 2008). This tendency was highly supported by the contemporary call for protecting human rights including the right in security and human treatment (articles 3 and 5, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and child rights in physical protection (Article 19, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990). Although Egypt has achieved noticeable progress in enacting many articles of the convention since signing it, research data denotes a lot of work still needs to be achieved in the sphere of child protection against violence (UNICEF, 2009). According to Rosen (1997), corporal punishment and other forms of cruel and degrading punishment have been widely favored methods of managing discipline both at home and school. Kubeka (2004) study on disciplinary measures in a primary school in South Africa found that 1 without corporal punishment, teachers opined that discipline cannot be maintained and that children would be disrespectful to the teacher and fail to develop the discipline to work hard. The study also found that the teachers favoured the use of corporal punishment in managing discipline in school since it was quick and easy to administer compared to other discipline management methods which in their view require time, patience and skill which educators often lack. Gladwell (1999) survey of teachers’ attitudes towards corporal punishment after its ban in schools in South Africa reported a sense of despair among teachers attributed mainly to the disruptive behaviour of pupils and the perception among the teachers that their authority had been taken away. Such sentiments from the teachers show that they were not adequately prepared to maintain discipline in schools without corporal punishment. Chamberlain (1996) reports that, in her school in the United Kingdom, the classroom atmosphere is shockingly disrespectful compared to the 1 950s and 1 960s when corporal punishment was in use. Teachers often fall back on the old and banned practices of disciplining learners. The school management teams seem to have a negative attitude towards change since they are doing very little to manage discipline in their schools. Cases of corporal punishment are repeatedly reported in the media. There are even principals who smack children (Ilanga,2004: 1) on controversial reasoning that corporal punishment was abolished. One child died after being given a hiding by the school principal for being late at school.