An investigation of the nature of conflict and conflict management strategies involving learners in selected public secondary schools of Lusaka District

Abstract

This study investigated of the nature of conflict and conflict management strategies involving learners in selected public secondary schools. The study considered learners from Kabulonga and Munali Boys Secondary Schools. The objectives of the study were to; investigate the nature of conflict involving learners in schools, find out the effects of these conflicts on the learners, explore conflict management strategies employed in secondary schools and establish the effectiveness of strategies employed by the school administrators in managing conflicts. The study was qualitative in nature and thus primary data was collected using oral interviews and focus group discussions. The study had a sample size of 24 respondents from whom the findings have been reported. Primary data was analyzed qualitatively using thematic and content analysis. The findings show that the nature of conflict involving learners in secondary schools revolves on the common causes of conflict among the learners. The common causes of conflict among learners have been found to be differences in personal opinions on certain subject matters such as social matters, relationships involving girls and boys that is boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, favoritism of some pupils by some teachers, misunderstandings between and among each other, differences in backgrounds, beliefs and interests, miscommunication among them, negative behavior e.g. bullying, harassment, teasing, offensive language and verbal abuse, different levels of competence of learnt material among learners, favoritism from learners to teachers, superiority and inferiority complexes among learners and differences in social economic status of the learners. On the effects of conflicts on the learners, it has been found that most of the pupils that had been involved in conflict with fellow pupils had their friendship broken as a result of such conflicts. It was also found that pupils had difficulties to concentrate in class thus resulting into poor academic performance. It was further found that learners’ school social life becomes affected in that the learners tend to withdraw from friends; they become anti-social to others and hence fail to fit in amongst their peers. The learners’ academic performance tends to go down among the affected parties because they develop fear and stop participating fully in class. The study findings show that conflict management strategies employed in secondary schools are dialogue and mediation as methods of conflict resolution among pupils who resolved conflict among themselves. For the teachers, it has been found that they mostly use mediation and arbitration as conflict management strategies in schools. It has also been found that open dialogue, The study had a sample size of 24 respondents from whom the findings have been reported. Primary data was analyzed qualitatively using thematic and content analysis. The findings show that the nature of conflict involving learners in secondary schools revolves on the common causes of conflict among the learners. The common causes of conflict among learners have been found to be differences in personal opinions on certain subject matters such as social matters, relationships involving girls and boys that is boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, favoritism of some pupils by some teachers, misunderstandings between and among each other, differences in backgrounds, beliefs and interests, miscommunication among them, negative behavior e.g. bullying, harassment, teasing, offensive language and verbal abuse, different levels of competence of learnt material among learners, favoritism from learners to teachers, superiority and inferiority complexes among learners and differences in social economic status of the learners. On the effects of conflicts on the learners, it has been found that most of the pupils that had been involved in conflict with fellow pupils had their friendship broken as a result of such conflicts. It was also found that pupils had difficulties to concentrate in class thus resulting into poor academic performance. It was further found that learners’ school social life becomes affected in that the learners tend to withdraw from friends; they become anti-social to others and hence fail to fit in amongst their peers. The learners’ academic performance tends to go down among the affected parties because they develop fear and stop participating fully in class. The study findings show that conflict management strategies employed in secondary schools are dialogue and mediation as methods of conflict resolution among pupils who resolved conflict among themselves. For the teachers, it has been found that they mostly use mediation and arbitration as conflict management strategies in schools. It has also been found that open dialogue, negotiation and counselling are conflict management strategies teachers employ in school to resolve conflict among the learners. On the effectiveness of strategies employed by the school administration in managing conflicts, the findings show that the strategies are very effective in that the quarrelling pupils cooperate and communicate to each other and that they make pupils change their behavior and create peace among themselves. Furthermore, the strategies have been found to lead to a reduction in conflict among pupils in the schools. The strategies have been found to help in the reduction of conflict in the schools thereby increasing peace building among leaners in school. The researcher’s recommendations are that, government should invest in the training of school administrators and teachers to equip them with conflict management skills for them to be able to resolve conflict among pupils in schools effectively. Secondly, government must invest in setting up active guidance and counselling departments in all secondary schools in the country with qualified counsellors to facilitate for effective counselling of the learners that involve themselves in conflict. Furthermore, the government in collaboration with secondary school administrators must invest in organizing secondary school programs that will facilitate the training of learners in the aspect of conflict resolution among themselves as learners. This will help learners to gainconflict resolution skills for effective and amicable resolution of conflicts among them. The researcher further recommend that the government should invest in training all teachers in conflict management for them to be able to resolve conflicts that occur in schools among learners. Finally, the researcher recommends that since teachers are key in the effective resolution of conflicts among learners in secondary schools there is need for them to be equipped with conflict management skills.