Abstract
The South African Schools Act of 1996 provides that school governing bodies (SGBs)
should adopt and assist in the enforcement of a learner code of conduct to maintain
discipline effectively. This study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of SGBs
in managing discipline in rural secondary schools through the design and enforcement
of learner codes of conduct. A generic qualitative research paradigm was used
to gain insight into the effectiveness of and factors impeding the enforcement of
learner codes of conduct in rural secondary schools. For this purpose, data were
collected from six secondary schools in the North West Province by means of focus
group interviews and analysed according to Tesch’s method of open coding. One of
the major findings of the study revealed that many rural school governors still lack
the relevant knowledge and skills to design and enforce a learner code of conduct
effectively. The literacy levels of the majority of SGB members (parents) make it
difficult for them to design and enforce the learner code of conduct, even though the
department may have provided training. Furthermore, parent-governors are far
removed from the day-to-day operations of the school, and consequently fail to
contextualise the seriousness of discipline problems as well as to enforce the learner
code of conduct effectively.