The Nature and Prevalence of Violent Behaviour in High Schools: A Case of Selected High Schools in Masaiti and Ndola Districts in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia

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Date
2011-06-06
Authors
Mungala, Azan
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature and prevalence of violent behaviour among pupils in High Schools in Zambia. The main objectives of the study were to establish the nature of pupil violent behaviour; to determine the causes of pupil violent behaviour; to assess the frequency of pupil violent behaviour; and to determine the gender differences in pupil violent behaviour in High schools. This study was conducted in Masaiti and Ndola Districts in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. Two Boarding High Schools were drawn from Masaiti District.The other four were Day High Schools drawn from Ndola District. 118 pupils (59 boys and 59 girls) and 22 teachers participated in the research. As for teachers, 13 were male and 9 were female. Three types of data collection instruments were used in the research. These were selfadministered questionnaires for teachers and pupils, School Disciplinary Record Book (Black Book) Inventory, and the Focused Group Discussion Guide for pupils. Purposive sampling was used to select the six schools whereas systematic sampling (nth value) was used to select 20 respondents from each school. The teacher respondents were identified through their respective School Management. Some of the main findings of the study indicated that insulting and name calling, fighting, quarrelling and gossiping, vandalism of school property, and bullying were the most prevalent types of violent behaviour among pupils in High Schools. However, insulting and name calling was the highest frequent violent behaviour reported by lOl pupils (87.1%) and 19 teachers (86.4%). Among the main causes of pupil violent behaviour in High Schools, drinking of alcohol reported bylOl (88.0%) pupils and 21 (95.5%) teachers was the highest of all. Also,the effect of the school location was noted by 73 (61.6%) pupils and 16 (76.2%) teachers as one of the likely predictors of pupil violent behaviour in High Schools. Lastly, 77 (70.6%) pupils and 10 (56.6%) teachers cited lack of protection for the pupils who report violent behaviour as a reason why pupils ignored such behaviour in schools. On gender differences in pupil violent behaviour, the findings of this study showed that boys were more likely to commit violent offences in school (reported by 71 (61.2%) pupils and 15 (71.4%) teachers respectively).However, it was also revealed that both the boys and girls conformed to peer pressure which made them commit similar violent offences.
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Violent Behaviour , Violent Behaviour in High Schools
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