The Role of School Security Guards in Promoting Safety and Student Discipline
Keywords:
Discipline, Education, Regulation, Safety, School security guardsAbstract
School security guards ensure everyone’s safety inside the educational learning institution’s premises. They serve as welfare guardians of educational stakeholders while enforcing school rules, regulations, and policies. The school authority's implemented measures also serve as the foundation for their judicious actions. Hence, this study described how school security guards regulate educational safety and discipline in a public university in the Philippines. This qualitative-descriptive research used a duly validated semi-structured interview with seven (7) purposefully selected school security guards. The collected data were analyzed using Wolcott’s Transforming Qualitative Data. From three (3) significant themes namely: (1) imposing security protocols; (2) promoting human inclusion; and (3) preserving school dignity, six (6) meaningful categories emerged such as: (1) protecting school stakeholders; (2) organizing school system; (3) eliminating social problems; (4) building a cohesive school community; (5) implementing ethical interventions; and, (6) carrying-out legal interventions. Thus, school security guards regulate educational safety and discipline to minimize socio-emotional conflicts among stakeholders through rational actions. The findings of this study raise awareness among educational stakeholders about school security guards’ practices in building a conducive academic environment. The information included suggests that the government should empower school security guards to impose security protocols, promote human inclusion, and preserve school dignity. Proper training and seminars are essential to improve their competence, proficiency, and adaptability in fulfilling their responsibilities. Above all, communication and collaboration are significant in building a safe, interactive, and positive school environment.
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