Unpacking the Realities of Student Indiscipline in Two Zimbabwean Secondary Schools in Masvingo and Mashonaland East Provinces.

Abstract

Students’ indiscipline is one of the key issues in the education of the child the world over, in 
particular in secondary school institutions. Teachers, administrators and learners need to 
understand the students’ indiscipline in schools. This article focuses on unpacking the concept of 
student indiscipline as understood from different contexts and dichotomous secondary schools in 
two provinces in Zimbabwe. Data presented here were collected from two dichotomous 
Zimbabwean secondary schools. The participants included 3 administrators, 1 teacher and 1 
student from a private Zimbabwean secondary school, and 2 administrators, 2 teachers and 3 
students from a Zimbabwean government secondary school. These are people who are directly 
involved in dealing with students’ indiscipline in schools. Data were collected from individual 
semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document analysis. Focus groups were conducted 
with teachers and students. Then individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with some 
administrators, some teachers and some students from the two Zimbabwean secondary schools. 
The study found out that there are multiple and subjective understandings of the term ‘students’ 
indiscipline’ from school context to school context, and from school administrators, teachers, and 
students. There was no agreed understanding of student indiscipline in the two Zimbabwean 
secondary schools under study. The understanding from secondary schools was common on some 
common causes of students’ indiscipline and there were disagreements on some cases of 
indiscipline, depending on the school contexts. Findings indicate that the causes of student 
indiscipline are related to the location of the schools, dysfunctional schools, increasing curricula, 
and cultural diversity. It is recommended that in order to deal with the issue of student indiscipline, 
the stakeholders should have a common understanding of the term.