SCHOOL DISCIPLINE AND THE BUILDING OF VALUES IN THE DALLY LIFE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS Ana Maria Cerda and Jenny Assa3l Introduction In the context of a hierarchical and authoritarian education system, school disci- pline has and continues to be an important issue affecting daily teaching practices in primary and secondary schools in Chile. We have been doing some research in this area to gather data that may be of use in approaching the issue. The aim was to uncover the conceptions of school discipline and rules that underlie teaching practices and to study the soundness of educational planning in terms of the type of norms and values that are emphasized in schools. 1As to national-level conflicts over expulsions from secondary schools in Chile, we are conducting a study on disciplinary rules from the viewpoint of human rights3 To understand the matter more fully we have to approach it not only from the perspective of the teachers and the institutional framework but also from that of the youth culture of children from less privileged backgrounds. We are currently carrying out this research and present our preliminary results in this article. 3 Original language : Spanish Ana Maria Cerda (Chile) Professor of history, geography and civic education; lecturer in educational science research. She has been a researcher with the Programa Interdisciplinario de la Educaci6n (PIIE) (Interdisciplinary Education Programme) since 1978. She specializes in educational ethnog- raphy and advanced training for teachers. Jenny Assa3l (Chile) Psychologist; researcher with the Interdisciplinary Education Programme since 1980. She spe- cializes in educational ethnography and advanced training for teachers. Prospects, vol, XXVIII, no. 4, December1998