WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PHILIPPINES-MARIA AURORA, AURORA

DISCIPLINARY PRACTICES IN ALL PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN

SAN LUIS, AURORA TOWARDS EFFECTIVE LEARNING

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A Thesis Proposal Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School

Wesleyan University

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In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirement of the Degree in

Masters of Arts in Education

Major in Education Leadership and Supervision

LORENA P. ESPARIS, LPT

2019
 Chapter 1

The Problem and Its Setting

Introduction

Discipline plays a vital role in the teaching – learning process. Pupils tend to understand

the lesson best when they are well- disciplined as the teachers impart the lesson. Teachers may

not be aware of the consequences their discipline measures have injected in children’s mind

children with misbehavioral problems will always be present in a regular classroom. Teachers

are looked up to by their pupils and they play a vital role in the development and upbringing of a

child. The teacher will surely affect the child’s learning activities. It is in this point that teachers

should be aware in identifying the behaviour problems of their pupils. In the classroom, it is

considered as an effective tool that enhances the teaching – learning process since it may guide

the individual child toward the right conduct in a certain task. In general, discipline leads every

person to be a holistic individual with reasonable values that facilitate a wholesome being.

The tremendous, but definitely surmountable challenge for teachers in today’s situation in

public elementary schools is how to balance their functions as classroom teachers. Although

teaching pupils is their primary goal they must also be aware that discipline is the control to

misbehaviours enforcing orderly conduct for effective learning.

Most of the problems encountered by teachers nowadays are those pupils who are

undisciplined in their responsibilities and which are displayed in the face of frustration, temping

distractions inside the classroom. Thus, teachers should adopt proper values formation in all

aspects sincerely and voluntarily so as to be successful in their daily task especially in the

classroom. As a matter of fact, discipline, conquers all.

 The use of a variety of effective means of discipline by the teacher maybe the tool not

only for the enhancement of pupils’ ways of behaving but also for their success in learning.

Statement of the Problem

This study attempts to analyze the disciplinary approaches as practiced by public

elementary school / teachers and pupil’s classroom behaviour, specifically, it answers the

following questions:

What is the profile of the teacher respondents in terms of:

a. age

b. gender

c. civil status and

d. length of service

How frequent do the following physical and non-physical pupils classroom behaviour

occur as observed by the teacher respondent.

Physical

-bullying

-violence

-hostility and

-quarrelling

Non-physical

-restlessness
-verbal abuse

-teasing

1. How disruptive are these misbehaviour with group according to grade levels?

2. What are the teacher respondents’ attitudes towards pupils classroom behaviour in terms of

perception of teacher toward classroom behaviour?

3. Values on classroom behaviour.

4. Self- concept about pupils classroom behaviour and

5. Anxiety towards pupils class room behaviour.

6. Do the teacher respondents’ attitude towards classroom significantly relate to their profile?

7. Are there significant relationships between the disciplinary approaches practiced by the public

elementary teachers and the classroom behaviour of the pupils?

Conceptual Framework

The researcher conceptualized that there are no significant differences on the disciplinary

approaches practiced by the teachers when profiles are considered. There is no significant

relationship between the disciplinary approaches practiced by the teachers and classroom

behaviour of the pupils that affect their learning process.

This study is hinged on Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs. Maslow proposed a theory

of needs based on a hierarchical model of the basic needs at the bottom and higher needs at the

top (physiological, safety, love, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualisation and transcendence

needs). The most fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called

deficiency needs or d-needs, the individual does not feel anything if they are met, but feels

anxious if they are not met (Snowman & Biehler 2011:79). Needs beyond the D-needs are called

growth needs, being needs or B-needs. When fulfilled, they do not go away, rather they motivate

further. Mwamwenda (2010) posited a hierarchy of needs based on two groupings, physiological

needs and psychological needs.

The central point in Maslow’s theory is that people tend to satisfy their needs

systematically starting with the basic physiological needs and moving up the hierarchy. He

believed that the higher level needs can only be achieved if the lower order needs have been

satisfied first. For example, a bullied child is not likely to be motivated to self-actualise until her

security is satisfied.

The Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation;

personal growth and academic performance of elementary learners in a peaceful school

environment.
Research Paradigm

Teachers’ Attitudes
Teachers’ Profile Toward
> Age
Classroom Behaviour
> Gender
> perception of teachers
> Civil Status towards classroom

> Length of Service > values of teachers

towards classroom
behaviour

> self-concept of teacher

toward disruptive
behaviour

Observed Pupils’ Behaviours

Physical

> Bullying

> Violence

> Hostility Effective Teaching

> Quarrelling For Effective Learning
Non- Physical

> Restlessness

> Verbal – abuse

> Teasing
 Chapter III

Methodology

Research Design

This research work will utilize the descriptive-evaluation method of research in order to

achieve its objections, which was to develop and validate modules in integrative biology.

Also, descriptive evaluative method of research was used in the study. As stated by Padua

“it will be with this method that honest responses from the respondents were directly gathered.”

Same is true with Manuel and Medel. It involves the analysis and interpretation of the present

nature, composition of processes or phenomena.

The aim of the study is to establish baseline information about the perception of

respondents hence; it may be well to consider the Descriptive – evaluation method of research.

The choice of the type of descriptive utilized depends largely on the amount of information, and

for this study, since sampling was conducted, the perception of two groups of respondents

composed of teachers and students were used.

Descriptive-evaluation is a valid method for researching specific subjects and as a

precursor to more quantitative studies. Whilst there are some valid concerns about the statistical

validity, as long as the limitations are understood by the researcher, this type of study is an

invaluable scientific tool. Whilst the results are always open to question and to different

interpretations, there is no doubt that they are preferable to performing no research at all.

The results from a descriptive research can in no way be used as a definitive answer or to

disprove a hypothesis but, if the limitations are understood, they can still be a useful tool in many

areas of scientific research.

The Population Sample and Sampling Technique

All the teacher advisers of all public elementary schools in San Luis, Aurora will serve

as respondents to this study.

Teachers were grouped into primary (Grade I-III) and intermediate (Grade IV-VI) with

questionnaires to be distributed to each teacher advisers in the different grade levels and will

respond to the items that correspond to his/her answer to the question. Each answer will be

considered valid and will be included in the count.

Research Instrument

The researcher will make use of the structured questionnaire. This will help to determine

the degree and frequency of pupils behaviour occurrence in today’s classroom, which

disciplinary measures were applicable to a particular class, to what extent do these disruptive

pupils behaviour affect teaching or motivation to reach, ways by which teachers help promote

school discipline.

Data Gathering Procedures

Upon permission granted by the Department of Education District Supervisor in San

Luis, Aurora, the questionnaires were floated to grades 1-6 teacher respondents for them to fill

up and answer in the questionnaires to be retrieved by the researcher after a week of distribution.
 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

The term ‘discipline’ comes from the word ‘discipulus’ in Latin which means teaching

and learning. The term has the essence of control in it and means “to teach someone to obey

rules and control their behavior or to punish someone in order to keep order and control”

(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005, p. 443); and thus it is mostly connoted

with punishment in case of disobedience. Punitive strategies such as detention are used in

schools based on “the premise that isolation gives the perpetrator time to reflect on what

happened, realize the error of his or her ways, and return to the same situation but with a change

of behavior and attitude” (Pane, 2010, p. 88).

Recent research on the issue of discipline strategies, however, has revealed that punitive

strategies appear to be of limited usefulness in promoting responsible student behavior (Lewis,

2001) and should be replaced by proactive and interactive discipline practices (Pane, 2010). In

this framework, discipline is viewed to be associated with the act of teaching students self-

control based on a contract that binds a teacher and a group of students together so that learning

can be more effective (Harmer, 1983). Thus, emphasis is put on student self-regulation by

negotiating, discussing, and contracting between teachers and students (Vitto, 2003) to let the

group take responsibility for ensuring the appropriateness of the behavior of all its members

(Johnson & Johnson, 2006).

Effective classroom management is obviously linked to teachers’ ability to set an

appropriate tone and gain learner respect and cooperation in class (Williams & Burden, 1997).
As observable instructional behavior of teachers in the classroom is indicative of their teaching

effectiveness (Kyriakides, Creemers, & Antoniou, 2009), the way teachers discipline their

classes has a profound impact on the way they project themselves as effective teachers. It is

evident that more caring teachers choose relationship-based discipline strategies (e.g., discussing

with students about their misbehavior) over coercive ones (e.g., aggression and punishment) in

an attempt to prevent discipline problems (Noddings, 2007). A few studies support the fact that

more caring teachers and those who use relationship-based discipline strategies are perceived to

be more effective teachers by their students (e.g., Teven & McCroskey, 1997).

When teachers involve students in decision makings or recognize their good behavior,

they act more responsibly in class (Lewis, 2001), show more positive affect to their teachers, and

express a greater belief that the intervention was necessary (Lewis, Romi, Katz, & Qui, 2008).

Students prefer teachers who enact caring attitudes, establish community and family type

environment, and make learning fun (Howard, 2001). This is rooted in the fact that caring

teachers show more empathy towards their students and see a situation from their point of view

and feel how they feel about it. They also understand their students’ personal feelings and needs,

are attentive to students, listen to what they say, and react to their needs or problems quickly

(McCroskey, 1992).

Teachers’ appropriate discipline strategies also help students to learn better as class

discipline protects students from disruption and thus emotional and cognitive threat (Lewis,

2001). Research shows that teacher management styles maximize students’ academic

performance and keep them on task (Altinel, 2006), engage students in learning (Everston &

Weinstein, 2006), and influence their motivation and achievement (Freiberg, Stein, & Huang,

1995). In this cycle, “the more that students perceive their teacher cares about them, the more the
students will care about the class, and the more likely they will be to pay attention in class and

consequently learn more course material” (Teven & McCroskey, 1997, p. 167).

In a pioneering empirical study on investigating classroom discipline, Lewis (2001)

examined the role of classroom discipline in promoting student responsibility for learning and

safety rights in the classroom in Australia. The results showed that teachers’ coercive discipline

is perceived by students to be one key factor that inhibits the development of responsibility in

students and distracts them from their schoolwork.

In another study, Lewis et al. (2005) did a cross-cultural comparison of discipline

strategies teachers of different nationalities use. They reported that Chinese teachers use less

punitive strategies in their classes in comparison to their Australian colleagues as Chinese

students normally listen to their teachers and misbehavior does not happen very often in their

classes. Some differences between male and female teachers in adopting classroom discipline

strategies were also found, as male teachers were found to be less likely to use coercive

strategies to discipline their classes.

In a follow up study, Lewis et al. (2008) investigated the extent to which students of

different nationalities perceive their teachers’ discipline strategies to be key players in forming

their attitudes towards the teacher and the schoolwork. Regardless of their nationality, all

students perceived punitive discipline strategies to be related to distraction from schoolwork and

shaping their feeling towards their teachers. The use of recognition of responsible behavior

strategy and discussing it with the students were also found to be related to less distraction of

schoolwork.