Discipline in the Light of Alternative Ways of Educating Learners

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the concept of discipline in alternative schools throughout the world. The issue of school discipline has given rise to a dispute within the field of pedagogy about the place and role of discipline in school education, as there are many misunderstandings, contradictions, and myths surrounding this issue. In bringing up this topic, the matter is often dealt with in a fragmentary or one-sided way, depending on who is a representative of a particular ideology of education, i.e., whether or not he or she is a supporter or an opponent of disciplining students in the school. This article explores the question of whether or not a difference exists between the assumptions and practices of education in public and alternative schools. I suggest looking at models of (non-) discipline in school education due to acceptance or lack of it by teachers. I maintain that in a global world of interconnected meanings, theories, models, experiences, and individual educational solutions; alternative schools stop being different from some public schools.

Keywords

• alternative education
• pedagogy
• school
• discipline
• ideology of education
• freedom and harsh upbringing