Discipline in Schools: Assessing the Positive Alternative Invitational Discipline Approach

Abstract

The study investigated whether positive alternative discipline approaches have improved the culture of teaching andlearning in South Africa. The implementation of positive alternative discipline approaches encountered difficultiesand challenges that plunged schools into crisis. The culture of teaching and learning subsequently deteriorated overthe past years, notwithstanding various disciplinary interventions. Three hundred and thirty-three teachers of schoolsin the Mpumalanga province of South Africa participated in this quantitative survey. The questionnaires providedvalid responses and an official statistician analysed and tested them using the Cronbach alpha coefficient to establishacceptable reliability. Findings reported the teachers’ unwilling to implement alternative disciplinary approachesimposed upon them. Therefore, the study recommended the creation of a positive invitational framework flexibleenough to accommodate differences among schools to improve the culture of teaching and learning. Thisrecommended framework, customised based on the lived experiences of teachers, must become a mandatorycomponent of a continuous review process for disciplinary improvement to occur.