It has been an immense learning curve for me to conduct this research as I became aware of the various reasons why learners engage in physical altercations. Further to this, the recommendations from the participants on how this kind of misbehaviour is to be handled by the school and the relevant stakeholders has been an eye-opener to me as an insider researcher on alternative measures in handling learners who have engaged in physical abuse. The research has shown that with the SMT being proactive and remedial in its discipline management, the school can become successful in its
management of learners who have engaged in physical abuse and School A can by means of learner awareness reduce future incidents of physical abuse among learners. I have found that parents play an essential role in learner behaviour management and that the participants’ parents failed to fulfil their roles effectively. The home environment that parents create, the type of relationships they have with their children and the behaviour they model were identified as factors that put learners at risk to allude to physical abuse. The manner in which parents respond to their children being involved in physical abuse also hampered the management and outcome of physical abuse incidents.
These above problems could be addressed by learners who hold leadership positions in school (e.g. prefects, peer counsellors), who can make a presentation to a parent’s meeting, appealing for a more hands-on approach by parents in their daughters’ holistic education. Learners could be invited to write a piece on how important their parents are in their lives and the effect they have on how they behave. Further to this learners could be asked to write a short letter of appreciation to their parents thanking them for all their input and sacrifices that the parents make in trying to provide for them. This type of positive reinforcement may succeed in getting parents to become more active in their child’s life at school. The winning piece or pieces can be published in the school newsletter or the local newspaper or can even be attached to the learner’s term report. The learner could choose if they wanted the writing pieces to be done anonymously or not.
Counselling can, in terms of the school’s Code of conduct for learners, be recommended as an outcome of a disciplinary hearing as has been the case with a few of the learner participants. The Code of conduct for learners does not make provision for counselling to be offered as a remedial measure however, it is used successfully in School A. It is important that in order to promote positive and constructive remediation of the learners who have contravened the Code of conduct for learners that counselling be added as a measure.
The police plays a very active role in School A as we have a school liaison officer from the SAPS who often addresses the school assembly on various topics of concern. Further interaction with the police can be extended whereby the SAPS assists learners
in an advisory capacity on behaviour issues. This can be done after School A gains parental consent for the learner to be spoken to by a member of the SAPS. The school counsellor, the parent and the relevant SMT member can also be present in such an intervention measure. This action may assist in discouraging future fights. The Code of conduct for the learners at School A could make a provision that a learner could be sanctioned as an outcome to a disciplinary hearing to speak to a specific police officer in the same manner as in the case with the school counsellor.
I have furthermore established that policies, rules and procedures, as guidelines, have been essential in addressing physical abuse and learner misbehaviour (cf. chapter 4, section 4.4). It is evident from the above study that certain members of the SMT, as well as certain learner offenders and learner victims have indicated their lack of knowledge of the school rules and the relevant law and policies pertaining to physical abuse amongst learners and the consequences thereof. This is a great cause for concern as physical abuse amongst learners will not be adequately remediated if the SMT members themselves are unaware of relevant policy documents and law. Parents, learners, educators and members of the SMT need to be fully aware of the school rules and the school’s Code of conduct for learners and relevant policies so that when there is a contravention of school rules by girls engaging in physical abuse, then the applicable consequences can be applied. It is further recommended that amendments to the Code of conduct for learners at School A take place, making provision for counselling with the school counsellor or an outside child counsellor to take place and to allow for individual learner verbal communication with a specific member of the SAPS to ensue.
School A’s positive attitude and support regarding internal disciplinary hearings for learners engaging in physical abuse, should be commended. However the Schools Act takes precedence and should be adhered to. This is further reiterated by the learner offenders and learner victims support that the school should consider suspension as an outcome in physical abuse cases. For this to materialise external hearings involving the school governing body should take place and can lead to stricter outcomes such as suspension or expulsion.
The disciplinary procedures of the school regarding disciplinary hearings are not in line with the Schools Act, as School A holds internal disciplinary hearings (cf. chapter 4,
section 4.4). This concern can be explained in that School A seeks a timeous, effective and hands-on resolution for the fights. This method of holding internal disciplinary hearings seems to be working for School A, as it is less cumbersome and less time consuming in trying to set up an entire governing body disciplinary intervention. In practice School A feels that holding its own internal disciplinary hearing is practical and successfully resolves the issue at hand. It is recommended that the Schools Act should make allowance for internal disciplinary hearings to be held at schools, should the school not wish to follow the route of a full external disciplinary hearing (including members of the governing body).
I have recognised that a Whole School Approach involving all the stakeholders would be a most appropriate manner in addressing the issue of learners fighting (cf. chapter 5, section 5.5). It is imperative that we have the learners, their parents, the school governing body, the educators, the SMT, the school principal as well as support services on board with us in ensuring that incidents of physical abuse are kept to a minimal. Learners could also be involved in the decision making process on the consequences for girls fighting.
I found that that certain forms of punishment such as detentions, written punishment, a warning letter and community service are being used effectively in helping deter aggressive, violent behaviour. I have observed that the SMT in School A plays a major role in behaviour management and in the carrying out of the disciplinary processes at school which impact on learner behaviour. It is the SMT which is involved in the management of daily disciplinary issues that range from minor infringements to more serious matters like girls engaging in violent behaviour.
The school should have a “hurt free” environment based on its values of respect, discipline, unity in diversity and pride as indicated in its Code of conduct for learners and also by communicating the rights and responsibilities of the learners, themes could be used to drive certain issues (in this case awareness of physical abuse among its learners). Staff, learners and parents need to be taught about hurtful behaviour, and an annual survey could be conducted to monitor and assess the degree of the problem at school (in this case I refer to physical abuse among learners), tutor/peer groups could be
developed were discussion of physical abuse can take place, management could promote better bystander behaviour so that learners could act in a positive way when they witnessed hurtful behaviour (physical abuse). Life Orientation which is a compulsory school subject could include lessons devoted to dealing with physical abuse and thus empowering potential victims and bystanders, general talks about physical abuse could take place in school assemblies, provide an outside listener for learners who want to talk about their issues.
Learners could be taught to treat each other in a dignified manner by ascribing to and taking ownership of the values of respect, discipline, honesty and pride as indicated in the Code of conduct for learners.
Finally I found that school environments conducive to teaching and learning should be