Influence of principals’ use of peer counselling as an alternative disciplinaly method on students’ discipline in Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to investigate Principals’ influence in use of peer counseling as an alternative disciplinary method on students’ discipline in public secondary schools principals’ in kitui county, Kenya. The study objective sought to establish the extent to which public secondary school principals had implemented peer counseling as an alternative disciplinary method in their schools. The study adopted the ex-post-facto research design to establish the situation of students’ discipline at the ground. The target population consisted of 333 secondary school principals from which a sample of 101 respondents was obtained. Data was collected by use of Questionnaires. A pilot study was used to establish instrument validity. Instrument reliability was determined by a test-re-test technique. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyse data. Data was presented using frequency distribution and cross tabulation tables. Qualitative data was organised and presented in narrative form. A Chi-square (x2 ) test was used to establish the significance of implementation of peer counselling and students’ discipline. The significance level was set at alpha = 0.05. From the findings, 67.3 per cent of the principals agreed that students attended peer counselling in their schools while others did not. Results of chi-square (x2 ) test had a p-value 0.349>0.05. The study concluded that school discipline could be shaped by the disciplinary methods that school principals adopted.