Browsing by Author "Okot Jimmy"

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    Students’ Leadership and Students’ Discipline in Secondary Schools in Pader District
    (Gulu University, 2025) Okot Jimmy
    Student discipline is a cornerstone of effective learning environments, yet secondary schools in Uganda continue to face challenges of indiscipline. This study investigated student leadership and student discipline in secondary schools in Pader District. Specifically, it examined three objectives; (i) the level of student discipline, (ii) level of involvement of student leadership in the management of discipline, and (iii) the relationship between level of involvement of student leadership in the management of student’s discipline and the level of student’s discipline. The study employed a mixed-methods cross-sectional design, using questionnaires for students, student leaders, and disciplinary committee chairpersons, alongside interviews with head teachers. A sample of 486 respondents was selected from 13 secondary schools through purposive and simple random sampling. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Findings revealed that the overall level of student discipline was high, especially in dress code and respect for teachers, though it was comparatively low in areas of punctuality and authority relations. Student leaders were significantly involved in supervision, monitoring, and mediation, but less effective in welfare-related issues. A strong positive relationship (r = 0.514, p < 0.05) was found between student leadership involvement and student discipline, with supervision and mediation emerging as the strongest predictors. The study concludes that student leadership plays a critical role in promoting discipline but is underutilized in welfare management, which is a frequent trigger of unrest. It recommends that; school administrators and teachers to provide induction and regular training for student leaders to equip them with skills in supervision, mediation, and leadership ethics, involve student leaders more actively in decision-making on welfare issues. Student leaders to embrace their roles with responsibility, fairness, and integrity to build trust among peers and staff and strengthen their mediation and peer counseling role, finally Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) and policymakers to develop policies and guidelines that formally recognize the role of student leaders in discipline management, support capacity-building programs for teachers and student leaders on participatory discipline management and encourage schools to adopt democratic and transparent methods of electing student leaders.