Exploring Teachers’ Lived Experiences with Regard to Alternatives to Corporal Punishment in Addressing Moral Decline in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya
Authors: Mwenesi Jephthar , Nasongo Joseph W. , Injendi Juma 
Published: January 2025

Moral formation constitutes a fundamental undertaking of every educational system. The absence of adequate moral principles among the learners invariably impedes progress for both the learner and the teacher. As a consequence, numerous strategies are consistently implemented to confront moral deficiencies in a learning environment. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ lived experiences in regard to alternatives to corporal punishment in mitigating moral decline among learners in secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The study objective was as to explore teachers' lived experiences with regard to alternatives to corporal punishment in addressing moral decline in secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The study was grounded on a communitarian philosophy, which examine the way shared conceptions of the good are formed, transmitted, justified, and enforced. An interpretive phenomenological design was utilised. The study employed two philosophical methods for the purpose of bringing out methodological triangulation. Hermeneutic phenomenology was utilized in order to extract the lived experiences of the teachers handling discipline in secondary schools. Philosophical analysis was aimed at facilitating Socratic dialogue  and establishing logical coherence from the extracted lived experiences. The target population comprised of deputy principals and heads of guidance and counselling from secondary schools in Bungoma County. To provide a representative sample, this study utilised purposive sampling in choosing schools. A sample size of four deputy principals and four heads of guidance and counselling was chosen. The sample size was guided by the principles of hermeneutic phenomenological research which is concerned mainly with the depth and not the breadth of the information. Information utilised in this study was sourced from both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected using unstructured phenomenological interviews. Secondary data was gathered from articles from peer referred journals, government policy documents and reports, thematic text books, internet sources, pioneer projects, theses and newspaper articles that allude to issues of moral concern in the Kenyan context. Primary data was analyzed through IPA and secondary through document analysis. The study established that, based on the logic of Kants metaphysics of morals, the alternatives to corporal punishment as stipulated were not sufficient to address the moral decline among secondary school learners in Kenya. The study concluded that without a philosophical foundation, the proposed alternatives to corporal punishment in secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya, are insufficiently effective in addressing moral decline. The study therefore recommended that alternatives to corporal punishment should be anchored on communitarianism for them to be effective enough in handling learners behavioural problems. Additionally, Socratic mode of teaching should be emphasized in order to prepare teachers for moral development among the learners.