1.1 Introduction
Teacher's misconduct is a negative behaviour that does not promote peace and coexistence in the classroom. This behaviour is a canker to many governments throughout the world since it puts the lives of innocent kids at jeopardy (Clinard & Meier, 2015). The school norms, sometimes referred to as a code of behaviour, are expected of pupils by their teachers as good behaviour (Koomson et al., 2005). Once again, they claim that certain school policies may include expectations for behaviour, dress, punctuality, relationships with teachers, and academic performance. They said that every school has a number of these guidelines in its conclusion.
This chapter will address the background information that motivated this study, the challenges that prompted it, its aim, and its objectives as a preface to subsequent sections of the study. Additional factors include the study's significance, scope, limitations, research questions and hypotheses, and the definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In recent years, misconduct by teachers has become one of the major concerns that has an impact on the achievement of educational objectives worldwide. Various types of professional misconduct occurrences involving teachers have been documented in multiple countries. Serious teacher misconduct in schools in England includes having sex relationships with students and downloading very pornographic material on school laptops (Page, 2014).
According to Ayertey (2002), teachers misconduct is a behaviour that deviates from the standards that are widely accepted in practically every aspect of society, including the household, government, schools, and places of worship. Keoreng (2004) further argued that school-age children's lack of discipline has turned into a global issue. He listed several prevalent issues among schoolchildren, including the increase of cultism, vandalism, test malpractice, student waste of school funds, and absenteeism. He underlined that there are unruly kids around. The behaviour that necessitates the imposition of penalties is indiscipline. A human conduct that is wholly immoral and deviates from societal standards and ideals is called indiscipline.
Koomson et al (2005) further asserted that sometimes, the term school discipline may not only apply to code of school rules. They claim the term may also be applied to punishment as a consequence of transgression of the school code of behaviour. For this reason, the usage of school discipline may sometimes mean punishment for breaking school rules. Discipline can be defined as training, especially of the mind and character, to produce self-control habits of obedience, the result of which sets rules for conduct and methods by which training may be given (Kuh et al., 2004).
Misconduct (Indiscipline) may be seen as quality of individual always doing things in a wrong way by neglecting the rules and regulations. The oxford advanced learners dictionary, defines it as lack of control in the behaviours of a group of people. In other words, it is the inability of a person to live in accordance with rules. Humidity, there are some student whose parents are naturally bad. That is those parents who make trouble with people outside, insult people and even get to the extent of fighting. Etc. The children of such parents are not expected to be have different from their parents because they will eventually inherit.
Prout & James (2003), in their study, observed growing acts of indiscipline among school children which has become a universal challenge facing many countries. Indeed, the acts of indiscipline could be traced to the early period when individuals became conscious of organizing themselves into groups. This act of moral decadence is evident from several studies, pointing to the fact that the level of indiscipline, especially in schools has escalated (Idu & Ojedapo, 2011; Maphosa & Shumba, 2010).
In recognition of the prevalence and impact of teacher misconduct in schools, various countries have implemented strategies through their education policies to lessen the impact of teacher misconduct in the achievement of educational goals. Research on educational leadership and management indicates that teachers are among the key personnel in achieving the goal of education; in particular, several countries have recognized the role of teachers in managing the behaviour of teachers and students. Various countries have established various strategies to ensure the effectiveness of teachers in carrying out their daily responsibilities, including pre-service preparation (training), appointment (recruitment), and in-service training.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Strategies to Teachers Misconduct in Public Junior Secondary Schools.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that principals face several different challenges when fulfilling their roles in managing teachers in schools. despite the efforts by the stakeholders to instill discipline in schools, such as strengthening of Board of Management to deal decisively with this problem and training of administers and teachers through workshops, indiscipline has persistently remained a big problem.
There are many extreme cases of indiscipline that attract newspapers headlines, there are routine cases of truancy, boycotting of lessons, watching and practicing pornography, lies telling, violence, dishonesty, disobedient to teachers, prefects, and school administration, rapping school/class mates, alcohol consumption, confronting and stabbing teachers in schools, vandalism, lateness to school, cultism, drug abuse, insulting/assaulting, stealing, absenteeism, fighting and other example of indiscipline in the classroom which do not appear or are reported in the Newspapers.
Parents blame teachers for the indiscipline among school children and teachers blame parents, government and school administrators for the indiscipline in the society. Student’s misconduct in the Classroom interferes with teaching and learning and is thought to be precursor to later school dropout and similar negative social out-comes.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Strategies to Teachers Misconduct in Public Junior Secondary Schools using Port Harcourt City Local Government Area in Rivers State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the causes of inappropriate behaviour among Public Junior Secondary Schools teachers;
- To explore the principals’ strategies, in curbing teacher misconduct in Public Junior Secondary Schools;
- To identify the frequent and regular types of teachers’ misconduct in Public Junior Secondary Schools; and
- To recommend possible ways of cubing academic misconduct among Public Junior Secondary Schools teachers in the study area.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there factors instigating the inappropriate behaviour among Public Junior Secondary Schools teachers?
- What are the principals’ strategies, in curbing teacher misconduct in Public Junior Secondary Schools?
- What are the frequent and regular types of teachers’ misconduct in Public Junior Secondary Schools?
- What are the possible ways of cubing academic misconduct among Public Junior Secondary Schools teachers in the study area?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There are no significant factors instigating the misconduct among Public Junior Secondary Schools teachers in the area under study
- H1: There are significant factors instigating the misconduct among Public Junior Secondary Schools teachers in the area under study
1.7 Significance of Study
The outcome of the research findings will have an immense impact on parents, teachers, principals, students, and society at large. The secondary schools would greatly benefit from this study as it would clearly examine the reasons behind academic indiscipline among instructors and how it relates to their test failure. Additionally, it will look for a long-term, constructive way to improve their test preparation, particularly in required courses.
Furthermore, teachers would greatly benefit from this study since it will evaluate some key facts, including a code of behaviour and recommendations for instructors to enhance their education. This research might help guidance and counselling department instructors better manage their duties as role models for students' behaviour.
Finally, the Ministry of Education may use the findings to influence management of discipline in secondary schools while the Teacher Service Commission may use the findings to influence deployment of head teachers in the country.
