Excellent Teachers’ Perceptions on the Causes of Disciplinary Problems Among Secondary School Students

Abstract

This study investigates the Excellent Teachers' (Guru Cemerlang) perceptions regarding the causes of disciplinary problems among secondary school students. Excellent Teachers are school teachers deemed as exemplary teachers and awarded with the title ``Guru Cemerlang'' on a promotional basis. The method of data collection employed are semi-structured in-depth interviews and email interviews. The participants of this study are nine Malay Muslim Excellent Teachers; seven females and two males, from nine school districts within Selangor. The Excellent Teachers' range of ages is from thirty seven (37) to fifty three (53) years old. All of the Excellent Teachers teaching experiences in secondary schools are ranging from ten to thirty one (31) years. The data analysis revealed five categories of causes of disciplinary problems among students as explained by the Excellent Teachers which are; personal factors, family factors, teacher factors, peer factor and physical environment factors. Personal factors are characterized by self-limitation and lack of motivation. Family factors are characterized by lack of support from home and responsibilities to support the family. Teacher factors are characterized by teacher inefficiency and unmotivated teachers. Peer factor is characterized by peer influence and, physical environment factors are characterized by classroom, home, and technology.