Exploring the effects of the home environment on learner behaviour in school

Abstract

Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, learner behaviour has been perceived as a challenge. At some schools learners display violent behaviour, as is the case of one of the schools that took part in this research. Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Education Arts and Culture in Namibia to create guidelines to guide the behaviour of learners in schools, learner behaviour remains a concern in some schools. This research explored teachers’, principals’ and parents’ views of the effects of the home environment on learner behaviour in school through individual interviews with the school principals, homogeneous focus group interviews with the teachers and parents and observation. Various categories under which the data were organised emerged from the interviews. The findings indicate that learner behaviour in school is embedded in the home background the child comes from. Various socialization aspects of the home environment, i.e., the child’s experiences at home, are what the child will take to school. The child imitates and absorbs what he or she sees and hears at home and owns it as part of his or her behaviour. Therefore, parents at home have a role to play in facilitating and reinforcing values that promote positive behavior in their children if positive behaviour is to be realised in school. The home is the first school that learners attend and, if the home was not a good first school for them, such children can have behavioural problems in school.