Disciplining Techniques Used by Teachers and Principals to Deal with Students’ Incivilities in Eritrean Schools

Abstract

In the Eritrean school system, corporal punishment is officially banned, but teachers and principals are often observed using it. There is lack of empirical evidence about the disciplining techniques employed by teachers and school administrators in the literature representing the Eritrean context. However, students and parents complain about the way teachers and school leadership attempt to discipline students. The paper explored the repertoires of strategies schools employ to handle students' misbehaviors and alternative mechanisms of disciplining to positively influence misbehaving students. The study used cross-sectional survey research method combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The study involved 513 participants comprising school management team, teachers, students, members of parent-teacher association, school discipline committee from five schools and college graduating students. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from multiple sources of information through questionnaire, interview and focus group discussions. In addition, experiential data were gathered in a field work of school based observation and relevant secondary data. The results are thematically presented following the major research questions. The main "disciplining techniques teachers and school principals use in school compounds are discussed in detail. The findings show that the disciplining techniques employed in the schools are corporal punishments that reflect the teachers' and principals' aggression rather than wisely guiding and disciplining misbehaving students.