| dc.description.abstract | Students' misconduct influences learning and may lead to later school dropout and other negative social outcomes. incidences of student violence have been persistent in secondary schools in Kenya. The government of Kenya banned the use of corporal punishment use in 200 I since it was argued that corporal punishment was not useful in effecting behavior change in students. The Ministry of Education of Kenya instructed schools to use alternative ways to manage student behaviour in schools. In the same year after the ban, students in 253 secondary schools went on strike. Secondary schools in Bonda Sub County have continued to experience student behavior problems after the ban on corporal punishment. The present study therefore investigated the effectiveness of selected alternative methods to corporal punishment used in managing student behavior in public secondary schools in Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to establish the effectiveness of guidance and counseling in managing student behavior, to investigate the effectiveness of exclusion in managing student behaviour, to find out the effectiveness of manual work in managing student behaviour and to determine the effectiveness of positive reinforcement in managing student beheaviour. Assertive Discipline Model informed the study. The study adopted mixed methods paradigm with both quantitative and qualitative approaches, and a concurrent triangulation design was used. Target population of the study comprised 431 teachers from a total number of 40 schools that had 40 Heads of Guidance and Counseling, 40 Deputy Principals and 351 classroom teachers. Stratified random sampling technique was used to identify the schools and their proportions. Krejcie & Morgan sample size determination table was used in the study to determine a sample size of 28 Deputy Principals, 28 Heads of Guidance and Counseling and 196 teachers. In order to ensure reliability of the instruments, a pilot study was done in 9% of the population that didn't participate in the actual study. In addition, split half method was used to ascertain reliability and a reliability coefficient of 0.871 obtained. Validity of the instruments was ensured by seeking expert judgment from university lecturers. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis while the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic framework. Study findings revealed that guidance and counseling was effective in managing student behavior at r= 0.503. The study also established that guidance and counseling enhanced self esteem and made learners develop positive attitude towards school. Exclusion was found to be effective at r= 0.339. This corrective measure also deterred learners from involving in undesirable behaviour that was likely to affect the other learners. Manual work too was weakly effective in managing beheaviour at r=0.106. Additional findings established that manual work made students reform, since they feared being seen working. In addition, positive reinforcement was effective at r=0.411 and was found to be very effective in managing student behavior, especially when used publicly. The study recommended that teachers should adopt the token economy strategy to modify student behaviour in school. | en_US |
