Discipline problems encountered during class management by the teachers working in the first level of the private and public schools and their approaches in handling the discipline problems

One of the important components of class management is discipline. Correcting problematic behaviors that adversely affect education, and providing class discipline are among the classroom teacher?s significant tasks.This research was carried out for the purpose of detecting the discipline problems and determining the approaches for handling these problems in providing class discipline by the classroom teachers working in the first level of public and private schools. In the frame of this main goal, the answers of the questions given below are sought:1. Do discipline problems that teachers are encountered during class management differ with respect to demographic features (school type, gender, work year, class size, graduated school, instructed class)?2. Do the approaches of the teachers in providing class discipline differ with respect to demographic features (school type, gender, work year, class size, graduated school, instructed class)?Teachers working in the first level of the public and private primary schools in the city center of Kahramanmaraş, constitute the research population. The research was studied in the universe. A questionnaire was handed out to the whole class teachers at the schools mentioned above and 636 responded questionnaires were considered as valid. Findings were analyzed by using a statistical software packet program (SPSS 17, 0). Depending on the homogeneity of the distribution of the data, parametric and nonparametric statistical calculations were computed.Some of the results obtained by interpreting the findings can be summarized:Teachers working in the private schools encounter less discipline problems than their colleagues working in the public schools.To overcome discipline problems, female teachers give place to parent-teacher cooperation more than the male teachers.Increase in teachers? working year results with more cooperation with the school management to provide school discipline.Increase in student number in the class results with more discipline problems more difficulties in class arrangement and cooperation with the families.Opinions of teachers graduated from distant training and from Institute of Education are similar in terms of approaches to discipline problems; and additionally, opinions of graduates from faculty of education and other schools are alike. Some of the suggestions along with the results are stated below:In order to be able to succeed in providing class discipline, the number of students in the class should be decreased. School management should give mare importance to parent-teacher cooperate, in this respect parents should be encouraged to interact with teachers.Key words: Public Primary School, Private Primary School, Class Teachers, Classroom Management, Discipline Problems