Abstract:
Children are guaranteed the right to education by various domestic, regional and international
laws. Basing on the daily media reports and the violence witnessed by the investigator during his
teaching career, the researcher set out to investigate the role played by the school senior
managers – hereafter School Management Team (SMT) in managing violence in Swaziland
schools.
A qualitative multiple case study design was chosen to gather information pertaining to the
perceptions on management of school violence by interviewing a principal, a deputy principal
and a senior teacher in three schools. The legal obligation of educators’ duty of care was used as
a conceptual framework to guide the study. Document analysis was used to triangulate the
interview findings. The data gathered was analysed in line with the accepted procedures for
processing qualitative data.
The data revealed that 70% of the respondents indicated witnessing various forms of learnerdirected
violence in schools. All respondents cited corporal punishment as the most frequently
observed form of punishment in addition to sexual harassment, bullying, gender-based violence
(GBV), and fighting. Educators supervised learners in class and during school excursions.
Basing on the study findings, the investigator concludes by suggesting possible
recommendations.
