Managing School Discipline and Implications for School Social Workers: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

School disciplinary policies and practices are essential features of life in U.S. schools. Conventional approaches to school discipline—including conduct codes and security methods, suspension, corporal punishment, and teachers' methods of managing student behaviors—rely primarily on deterrence, control, and punishment to maintain order. However, approximately 40 years of research, chiefly in education and psychology, has demonstrated that these policies and practices are often associated with and can contribute to increased disorder in schools and behavioral and academic problems among students. Furthermore, school discipline is sometimes administered prejudicially to those students who may be the most vulnerable. School social workers and all social workers working with children and youths can help schools adopt effective and nonpunitive disciplinary approaches. Key professional actions include advocacy for schoolchildren subject to unfair and overly punitive discipline; educating teachers and administrators about the potential harm associated with conventional disciplinary practices; educating school personnel about effective, nonpunitive approaches; and creating a public campaign to generate popular support for the reform of iatrogenic school disciplinary practices.

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