ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to reconceptualize ‘discipline’ consistent with an educational as opposed to a management discourse. It considers etymological explanations for discipline and their contingent principles through the examination of a number of philosophers’ and writers’ contributions to the field. The chapter argues that a more careful definition of terms, accompanied by an examination of their underlying assumptions, generates awareness of implications of various discourses for school organization, curriculum and pedagogy. School discipline and classroom management literature has been dominated by genres within educational psychology. An educational theory of discipline ought to be able to demonstrate consistency between the goals of pedagogy and curriculum and the processes of school governance. The chapter considers the language of discipline to gauge its relationship to educational aims. It concerns the recovery and reconstruction of ‘discipline’ as an educational concept.
