Influence of home based factors on student discipline in public secondary schools in Kitui central sub-county, Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

Discipline is essential for smooth functioning of schools and society. Some of the discipline problems experienced by Kenya public secondary schools include discipline, bullying, destruction of school property, physical violence by students on teachers and other students, alcoholism, abuse of drugs and substances, absenteeism among others. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of home based factors on student discipline in Public Secondary Schools in Kitui Central Sub-County, Kitui County, Kenya. This study adopted descriptive survey research design. The schools that were targeted were 31 public secondary schools with a population of 12654 respondents comprising of 31 school Principals, 233 teachers and 1200 students. The sample size was 221 respondents composed of 31 school principals, 70 teachers and 120 students. Questionnaires were used to collect data from all the respondents. ANOVA was used to test the null hypotheses at α = 0.05. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the impact of each of the independent variable on discipline. The findings of the study were that home based factors influence discipline among students in public secondary schools as shown by ANOVA results (F(1,219) = 166.899 and the P-value = 0.0771). The regression results showed that all the independent variables were significant at 0.05% significant level (p=0.000, p= 0.000 and p=0.021) respectively and that all the factors predicted students’ discipline significantly. The study recommends that school principals should also sensitize parents to be more involved with their children discipline issues and do follow up on their behavior while at home. This would help the school to reduce indiscipline as the parents would be assisting teachers on discipline management when the students are at home. On the other hand parents should not expose their children to drugs and substances at home. This is because when they are exposed it becomes easy for them to access the same leading to indiscipline.