Challenges Facing Teachers’ Attempts to Enhance Learners’ Discipline in Tanzania’s Secondary Schools

Abstract

There is a common belief among Tanzanian teachers and parents that learners’ discipline is essential for effective teaching and learning. Equally, learners’ discipline can transform the larger class by developing small learning groups and independent learning options. In turn, these options can enhance students’ engagement, facilitate positive learning, prevent disruptive problems, and provide overall academic success. The present study examined teachers’ views on discipline to determine how widespread indiscipline might be in schools and whether discipline has any influence on academic success or the overall reputation of the school. Document analysis, classroom observations, field notes, secondary data, and interviews were purposefully collected from selected teachers with at least three years of teaching experience. The study revealed a variety of challenges and dimensions of learners’ discipline engulfed in classroom and school discipline discourses of rewards and punishment.