International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5

ISSN: 2222-6990

Investigating the Effect of Positive Discipline on the

Learning Process and its Achieving Strategies with
Focusing on the Students' Abilities
Ghorbani Somayeh
Student of Curriculum, School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Isfahan,
Isfahan, Iran

Jaafari SayyedMirshah
Associate professor, Department of Curriculum, School of Educational sciences and Psychology,
University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Sharif SayyedMostafa
Department of Curriculum, School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of
Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Arbabisarjou Azizollah (Corresponding Author)

Assistant professor,Health Promotion Center Research, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences,
Zahedan, Iran.
Email: Arbabisarjou2007@gmail.com

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of positive discipline on the learning process
and its achieving strategies from teachers and principals’ point of view in the city of Ahwaz in
2011-2012 academic years. The method of research was descriptive-survey. The statistical
population of this study includes all Ahwaz high school teachers and principals. All of the
sample members (105 principals and 321 teachers) were selected by stratified random
sampling. In order to collect the data, a self-administrated questionnaire was used. In
descriptive statistics frequency, percentage, and mean were used and in inferential statistics
one-sample t-test, Friedman test and structural equation modeling in Amos were utilized. The
results of this study indicate that the relationship between positive discipline and each of three
presented strategies is significant. Teachers' learning motivation with 71% and students' self-
control with 58% had, respectively, high correlation coefficient with positive discipline from
teachers and principals’ view. The first rank in teachers and principals’ view assigned to the
students' learning motivation and their commitment.

Keywords: Positive Discipline, Students' Self-control, Students' Commitment, Students'

Learning Motivation

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 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5
ISSN: 2222-6990

Introduction

Discipline is one of the most effective factors in learning process. In the modern educational
plans, the main purpose of discipline is to create the educational environment and
opportunities for learning process. Indeed, discipline is aninstrument for realizing the high
educational goals that leads to the students’ growth and progress in every dimension. In order
to this, the student will acquire a level of self-discipline and self-control (Golkar et al., 2008).
The positive discipline is one of the modern discipline approaches. The positive discipline is a
plan that was designed for educating younger individual so that they became a mannerly,
technician, and responsible ones in their societies. The encouragement and mutual respect
among students and adults (including teachers, parents, and coaches) are the most important
social skills that are learned in this approach (Mcvitte, 2007). The teacher encourages his/her
students for expressing their believes and also they are permitted to select their interests in the
classrooms with positive discipline approaches. In such conditions, it will be possible to solve
the group problems and conditions of the classroom will became to the partnership,
collaboration, and mutual respect climate. Some of the other benefits of this discipline include
skill and perceptual watchfulness, reinforcing the communicational skills, solving the problems
outside of the classroom, concentrating on the solution rather than punishment, helping
teachers by other teachers, problem-solution steps and encouragement sessions (Majdfar and
Haji Hoseynnejhad, 3). Providing the positive discipline style in the classroom and schools can
help the students to increase their belonging sense and self-acceptance through reinforcing
their self-confidence. There are several different thinkers that have effect on the school
discipline improvement and also have offered solutions for creating order and positive
discipline that some of them are indicated in the following section. Shams (1999) indicated that
which students have more educational progress that they have internal control resource.
Khodabakhshi and Abedi (2005) believed that education of commitment through positive
discipline method (by parents, teacher, and self-control) is effective in both post-test and
following steps. Giting et al. (1990) resulted from their study that the positive discipline
program has favorable effectiveness in increasing the responsibility. Lewis (2001) indicated that
the coercive discipline prevent from students’ commitment and isolate them from school’s
assignments. Bergin and Bergin (1999) indicate that applying the effective discipline in the
classroom leads to internalize the values, increase the disruptive behaviors, and also leads to
promote self-control among students. Urdan and Erin (2006) indicated that the school and
classroom characteristics may have effect on the students’ motivation. McCarry et al. (2012)
indicated that the positive discipline is effective in increasing discipline references and failure
rate. Also positive behavior encouragement system can lead to increase negative results of the
students’ experiences and also increase their educational entertainment and successfulness.
Peerz and Roux (2012) indicated that it is possible to promote the positive disciplines in the
schools through creating the main values, liberator values, human rights values, and cultural
values.

The present study is aimed to survey the teachers and principals in terms of the effects that the
positive discipline has on learning process and also seek to offer solutions for its realization.
Therefore, this study seeks to offer three solutions for its realization. These include the

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 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5
ISSN: 2222-6990

following solutions: 1- Students’ responsibility, 2- students’ self-control, and 3- students’

learning motivation.

Students’ responsibility: the students’ commitment refers to the extent that the students act in
support of the teachers and students’ rights. In summary, commitment is the students’
intention to practice the self-learning and support others’ rights for learning and having
physical and emotional safety (Lewis, 2010).

Students’ self-control: this is an overall educational goal that develops the students’ self-control
and conscience. This self-control is learned, developed, and practiced in dealing with discipline
(Cruser and Goodnow, 1994). The students learn the behavioral and social acceptable
territories in dealing with discipline. The backgrounds of conscience growthand self-control are
provided in times of dealing with discipline (Crusec and Kuczynski, 1997).

Students’ learning motivation: naturally, there is significant relationship between student’s

motivation and his/her enthusiasm in the learning process. When the students have
motivation, do the considerable and entertainment activities and learn that help each other as
a whole and also compliment each other and their motivation will be motivated for more and
better use of life. Leps believes that the students who motivated internally do the activities
because of their enjoyment, learning, and successful sense (Lumsdern, 1994). Therefore, the
present study is aimed to study the effects of the positive discipline on the learning process and
its realization solutions from high school teachers and principals’ perspective in the city of
Ahvaz in 2011-2012 academic years.

Research questions

Is the positive discipline effective in learning process?

Is the students’ commitment solution effective in the positive discipline realization in the
learning process?

Is the students’ self-control effective in the realization of positive discipline in the learning
process?

Is the students’ learning solution motivation effective in realization of the positive discipline in
the learning process?

Research methodology

This study is a descriptive-survey research that its statistical population includes all of the male
and female teachers and principals in the high schools in 2011-2012 academic years. In order to
calculate the sample size, a primary sampling with 30 respondents (teachers and principals) has
been done that its variance has been applied in the sampling formula. In order to this, the
questionnaire has been distributed among them randomly and they were asked to indicate the
questionnaire. The following formula has been used to calculate the sample size.

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May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5
ISSN: 2222-6990

Sample of the Principals:

Nt 2 pq 1991 * 3.84 * 0.5 * 0/5

n   321
Nd  t pq 1991 * 0.0025  3.84 * 0.5 * 0.5
2 2

Sample of the teachers:

Nt 2 pq 149 * 3.84 * 0.5 * 0.5
n   105
Nd 2  t 2 pq 149 * 0.0025  3.84 * 0.5 * 0.5

Data-collecting instrument

In this study, the data-collecting method is a self-developed questionnaire that includes three
dimensions and 30 questions based on the Likert scale. Content validity of the questionnaire
has been examined and confirmed by five experts. Also reliability of the questionnaire has been
examined and confirmed through Cronbach’s Alpha that its value was 0.85.

The collected data has been analyzed through SPSS19 and Amos software. The main statistical
methods that have been used to analyze the data and conclude the results are one sample t-
test, analysis of variance, and structural equation modeling.

Findings

In this section of the study, the main four research questions have been introduced and
analyzed.
First question: Is the positive discipline effective in learning process?

Table 1: mean score of the positive discipline effect on the learning process

Groups Mean Standard T df sig

deviation
Principals 4.56 0.28 57.354 104 0.001
Teachers 4.35 0.24 55.942 319 0.001

Based on the results of table 1, mean of the positive discipline effect on the learning process is
4.56 for principals and 4.35 for teachers. The sample t is more than standard t. this indicates
that the positive discipline effect on the learning process is more than average level for both
teachers and principals.
Second question: Is the students’ commitment solution effective in the positive discipline
realization in the learning process?

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May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5
ISSN: 2222-6990

Table 2: the effect of the students’ commitment solution on realization of the positive discipline

Groups Mean Standard T df sig

deviation
Principals 4.74 0.71 24.875 104 0.001
Teachers 4.41 0.71 35.122 319 0.001

The results of table 2 indicate that the mean of the students’ commitment effect on the
learning process is 4.74 for principals and 4.41 for teachers. The sample t is more than standard
t. This indicates that the effect of the students’ commitment solution on realization of the
positive discipline is more than average level for both teachers and principals.

Third question: Is the students’ self-control effective in the realization of positive discipline in
the learning process?

Table 3: the effect of the students’ self-control solution on realization of the positive discipline

Groups Mean Standard T df sig

deviation
Principals 4.53 0.32 49.144 104 0.001
Teachers 4.32 0.61 38.415 319 0.001

The results of table 3 indicate that the mean the effect of the students’ self-control solution on
realization of the positive discipline is 4.53 for principals and 4.32 for teachers. The sample t is
more than standard t. This indicates that the effect of the students’ self-control solution on
realization of the positive discipline is more than average level for both teachers and principals.

Fourth question: Is the students’ learning solution motivation effective in realization of the
positive discipline in the learning process?

Table 4: the effect of the students’ learning motivation solution on realization of the positive
discipline

Groups Mean Standard T df sig

deviation
Principals 4.52 0.49 31.331 104 0.001
Teachers 4.42 0.58 43.850 319 0.001

The results of table 4 indicate that the mean the effect of the students’ learning motivation
solution on realization of the positive discipline is 4.52 for principals and 4.42 for teachers. The
sample t is much than standard t. This indicates that the effect of the students’ learning

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May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5
ISSN: 2222-6990

motivation solution on realization of the positive discipline is more than average level for both
teachers and principals.

Structural equation modeling of the study and its regression coefficients have been offered in
the table 1.

Students’ commitment

0.43

Positive discipline

0.78 0.77

Students’ learning motivation Students’ self-control

Fig 1: structural equation modeling for teachers

sample
The results of structural equation modeling indicate that there are significant positive
relationships among positive discipline and three factors from teachers’ perspectives. The most
correlation coefficient for students’ learning motivation (0.78) and the lowest correlation
coefficient is for the students’ commitment (0.43).

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May 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5
ISSN: 2222-6990

Students’ commitment

0.19

Positive discipline

0.68 0.81

Students’ learning Students’ self-control

motivation

Fig 1: structural equation modeling for pricipals

sample

The results of structural equation modeling indicate that there are significant positive
relationships among positive discipline and three factors from principals’ perspectives. The
most correlation coefficient is for students’ self-control (0.81) and the lowest correlation
coefficient is for students’ commitment (0.19).

Conclusion

This study seeks to study the effects of positive discipline on the learning process and its
realization with focus on the students’ skills. The results of this study indicated that the first
question of the study that examines the effects of positive discipline on the learning process is
confirmed. These results are in consistence with the findings of McCarry et al. (2012) and
Perzweks (2012) studies in terms of the role of positive discipline on promoting the basic and
cultural values and decreasing the discipline references, decreasing the negative outcomes of
the students’ experiences, increasing the social skills and personal skills and internal and
external skills and decreasing failure rate among students.

The solution of students’ commitment: based on the results of table 2, the students’
commitment solution is effective in positive discipline realization and the results of structural
equation modeling also confirm these findings. The results of the studies that have been
conducted by Khodabakhshi and Abedi (2005) and Gitting et al. (1990), and Lewis (2001)in
terms of the effective positive discipline on the students’ commitment confirm our findings.
There is a difference between previous findings and our findings. This difference is that our
findings indicate that the students’ commitment can be a solution to realization of the positive

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ISSN: 2222-6990

discipline. The results of these studies indicate that the students’ commitment leads to
discipline and order among students and the students that consider themselves as
responsibleones create the discipline through their own intention. Also it is should be
remembered that applying discipline techniques by teachers can leads to increase the students’
commitment and their commitment is considered as a solution for solving the discipline
problems.

The solution of students’ self-control: based on the results of the table 3, the solution of
students’ self-control is effective in the realization of positive discipline. The results of this
questions is in consistence with findings of Shams (2008) in terms of the students’ internal
control resources and their educational progress and Bergin and Bergin (1999) in terms of
positive discipline plan leads to the students’ self-control growth. Therefore, it is resulted that
the students that have control of the classroom observe the discipline issues than the students
that are controlled by their teachers.

The solution of students’ learning motivation: based on the results of table 4, the students’
learning motivation is effective in the realization of positive discipline. This result also is
concluded from structural equation modeling. The results of the study of Yourdon (2006) that
indicate the school and classroom characteristics have effect on the students’ motivation and
so the motivated students have more efforts in classroom, request more assignments, find
solution for their problems, are happy, and are coordinated with other students.

Suggestions

The following policies are suggested for reinforcing the positive discipline in the classrooms:
conducting regular sessions and creating powerful and positive interaction among learning
factors, reciprocal cooperation among teachers for solving the problems; the teachers can
discuss about different dimensions of positive discipline and then cooperate with each other to
solve the students’ problems and issues; partner-teacher-student meetings: in order to solve
the students’ problems, presence of the student is necessary; it is possible to use brain
storming method about students’ commitment, also designing especial sessions is an
appropriate mechanism for improving educational system and creating commitment among
students. Educating the students for reviewing their behavior is one of the important steps in
the students’ self-control. Educating the students for reviewing their behavior is effective in
helping them to practice self-control. The main benefit of this practice is that it makes the
student aware from his/her behavior and transfers the student’s control from his/her teacher
to his/herself. This releases the teacher from permanent administrative role. It is necessary to
encourage the students to perceive the relationship between ability, effort, and successfulness
and especially attribute their failures to the factors that depend on themselves; using the verbal
encouragements in the necessary conditions, if the offered issue is new, meaningful, and
surprising, this leads to increase exacerbate level and also provoke the poking sense among the
students.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful from Mrs. Afrooz, Abdullahzadeh, for warmly and hearty collaboration
and support to provide this manuscript.

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