Abstract
M. Ed.
Aggression in schools has become the order of the day as incidents of learners stabbing, bullying and killing each other are reported. Parents, educators, learners, the Department of Education, the Department of Correctional Services and the Department of Social Science are concerned about the escalation of aggression in secondary schools.
Current research on learners‟ experience of other learners‟ aggression in a secondary school has identified it as a major concern as it interferes with normal schooling. Aggression begets aggression. One of the goals of this research study was to provide guidelines for learners to manage aggression in a constructive manner. The participants in this research study were learners between the age of sixteen years and eighteen years in a secondary school in the Ekurhuleni area.
The researcher‟s objectives were as follows: to explore and describe learners‟ experience of other learner‟s aggression in a secondary school; and to describe guidelines for the learners which will assist learners in dealing with learner aggression.
The qualitative research approach helps the researcher to understand and interpret the learners‟ aggression. Phenomenological interviews were conducted and naïve sketches were written. The data was analysed by means of open coding. The major themes are set out below.
1. Learners experience other learners‟ aggression as being out of control.
2. Learners experience that cultural differences contribute to other learners‟ aggression.
3. Learners experience inadequate supervision and support of educators.
4. Learners experience other aggressive learners to be challenged in their lives.
5. From the interviews conducted; guidelines were made in line with the findings, to assist learners in dealing with learners‟ aggression.