The New Face of Private Schools in Zimbabwe: A Potential Challenge to School Discipline, Organizational Contexts, and Behavior Management?

• In Event: Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Innovation and Impact on Teaching, Learning, and Classrooms in Globalized Settings

Abstract

The dynamics of student population for most private schools in Zimbabwe have changed drastically recently due to several political and economic factors. The dominant perception of ‘White, affluent and exclusive’ vanished as private schools increased enrollments, catering for all races and socioeconomic backgrounds. Through interviews and document analyses, this study investigated teachers and administrators’ perceptions of changes in student population at two private secondary schools and the subsequent impact of these changes on school discipline, behavior management, and organizational contexts of the schools. Most teachers perceived increase in enrollment and changes in compositional characteristics of the student body as posing challenges to school discipline. Interestingly, the majority perceived misbehaviors as surmountable and organizational contexts as buffering occurrences of misbehaviors.

Author

• Angellar Manguvo, University of Missouri