THE IMPACT OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING ON THE STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN EMMANUEL COLLEGE, ODEDA, OGUN STATE NIGERIA.
ABSTRACT
There is a great impact of students performance when they are being guided and counseled hence this study set to investigate the impact of Guidance and Counselling on the student’s academic performance. Due to the huge challenges students face and some challenges which guidance and counseling helped in solving, the researcher sets objective, which sought to determine the extent to which provision of guidance and counselling materials, socio – cultural, teacher student relationship has helped students academic performance. The research was carried out the research with the aid of questionnaires, reviews and documentations which was used to gather data. Emmanuel College odeda Ogun State was the case study; teachers and students constitute the sample. The result of the analysis shows that there is a great impact on student performance where guidance and counseling is effective in the school they attend
TABLE OF CONTENT
COVER PAGE- - - - - - - - - - - i
TITLE PAGE- - - - - - - - - - - ii
CERTIFICATION- - - - - - - - - - iii
DEDICATION- - - - - - - - - - - iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT- - - - - - - - - v
TABLE OF CONTENTS- - - - - - - - - vi
ABSTRACT - - - - - - - - - - -
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study- - - - - - - - - 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem- - - - - - - - - 5
1.3 Purpose of the Study- - - - - - - - - 5
1.4 Significance of the Study\- - - - - - - - - 6
1.5 The Scope of the Study- - - - - - - - - 7
1.6 Research Questions- - - - - - - - - - 9
1.7 Research Hypotheses - - - - - - - - 10
1.8 Definition of Terms- - - - - - - - - - 11
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Historical background of Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun State, Nigeria 17
2.2 Genesis of Guidance and Counselling- - - - - - 17
2.3 Types of Counselling- - - - - - - - 20
2.4 Role of Guidance and Counselling in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun State, Nigeria- - - - - - - - - -- - 22
2.5 The role of principals in discipline management in schools- - 24
2.6 An Effective Guidance and Counselling Programme in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun State, Nigeria- - - - - - - - 25
2.7 Causes of Poor Academic Performance in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun State, Nigeria- - - - - - - - - - 30
2.8 Theoretical framework- - - - - - - - 36
2.9 Conceptual Framework- - -- - - - - - 37
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction- - - - - - - - - - 39
3.2 Research design- - - - - - - - - 39
3.3 Target population- - - - - - - - - 40
3.4 Study sample and sampling procedure- - - - - - 41
3.5 Research instruments- - - - - - - - 41
3.6 Validity of instruments- - - - - - - - 41
3.7 Reliability of the instruments- - - - - - - 42
3.8 Data collection procedure- - - - - - - - 43
3.9 Data analysis techniques- - - - - - - - 43
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introduction- - - - - - - - - - 45
4.2 Demographic Information- - - - - - - 46
4.3 Experience of the principals and teachers- - - - - 48
4.4 Highest level of education of the principals- - - - - 49
4.5 Effects of the number of children in students’ families on discipline- 50
4.6 Level of education of students’ parents/guardians- - - - 51
4.7 Principals’ responses on the importance of guidance and counselling.- 52
4.8 Services of guidance and counselling offered in schools- - - 53
4.9 Level of agreement by the principals on guidance and counselling services-53
4.10 Material / financial support to guidance and counseling services- - 56
4.11 Challenges of guidance and counselling in the schools- - - 57
4.12 Benefits of Guidance and Counselling to students in schools- - 58
4.13 Students’ preferred source of counseling- - - - - 60
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction- - - - - - - - - - 61
5.2 Summary of findings- - - - - - - - 61
5.3 Conclusions- - - - - - - - - - 62
5.4 Recommendations- - - - - - - - - 63
5.6 Suggestions for further research- - - - - - - 64
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
LIST OF TABLES
Tables Page
Table 4.1 Gender of the principals, teachers and students 46
Table 4.2 Age of the principals, teachers and students 47
Table 4.3 Experience of the principals and teachers 48
Table 4.4 Principals’ responses on the importance of G&C 52
Table 4.5 Level of agreement by the principals on G&C services 54
Table 4.6 Material / financial support to G&C services 56
Table 4.7 Challenges of guidance and counselling in schools 57
Table 4.8 Benefits of guidance and counselling to students in schools 59
Table 4.9 Students’ preferred source of counseling 60
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 4.1 Highest level of education of the principals 49
Figure 4.2 Percentage distribution of the number of children in families 50
Figure 4.3: Distribution of the level of education for parents and guardians 51
Figure 4.4 Services of guidance and counselling offered in schools 53
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Counseling is an idea that has existed for a long time in Nigeria. We have sought through the ages to understand ourselves, offer counsel and develop our potential, become aware of opportunities and, in general, help ourselves in ways associated with formal guidance apply. In most communities, there has been, and there still is, a deeply embedded conviction that, under proper conditions, people can help others with their problems. Some people help others find ways of dealing with, solving, or transcending problems as Nwoye, (2009) prescribed in his writings. In schools, presently if the collaboration between teachers and students is good, students learn in a practical way. Young people develop degrees of freedom in their lives as they become aware of choices and take advantage of them. At its best, helping should enable people to throw off chains and manage life situations effectively. Unprecedented economic and social changes have, over the years, changed the ways in which we manage our lives. Consequently, not all the lessons of the past can effectively deal using the challenges of modern day times. Effective counseling, especially in institutions of learning has now become important. Boys and girls, and young men and women, need to be guided in the relationships between health and the environment, earning abilities, knowledge, and attitudes that lead to success and failure in life. The need for counseling has become paramount in order to promote the well-being with the child. Effective advice and counseling should help to improve the self-image of young people and facilitate achievement in life tasks. Counseling should empower girls and boys to participate fully in, and benefit from, the economic and social development of the nation. Usually, guidance occurs in schools. High college and college students avail of guidance and counseling services in their college. More usually, young people are unsure of what to do, how to react or respond, and how to act in certain possibilities. When this occurs, they need someone older, wiser and more experienced to show them the way, to guide them. This is the role with the advice counselor to extend assistance when necessary to those who are confused, uncertain, and needed advice. However, some adults may need guidance too.
Guidance and Counselling is a professional field which has a broad range of activities and services aimed at assisting individuals to understand themselves, others, school environment and attain abilities to adjust accordingly. Adjustment refers to a process in which an individual find and adopt modes of behaviour suitable to or the changes in the environment. Hence, adjustment involves an individuals’ general adaptation to own environment and the demands of life such as the way one relates to other people, that is interpersonal behaviour, handles responsibilities, deals with stress and meets ones need and life satisfaction. The need for guidance and counselling services in all secondary schools cannot be overstated due to increasingly complexities of modern life that have placed heavy demands and responsibilities on secondary school students. These students are faced with numerous personal, academic, social and emotional needs and problems when unattended could lead to host patterns of undesirable behaviours (Weiten, 2007). school guidance and counselling programs have therefore been introduced to assist students to overcome and adjust to a host of social and emotional challenges they experience at home and at school. Virtually, all countries have established channels to intensify and improve guidance and counselling services in their respective learning institutions in an attempt to address tenets of students’ behaviours. The history of guidance and counselling around the world varies greatly based on how different countries and local communities have chosen to provide personal, academic, social and emotional adjustment among the post primary students (Weiten, 2007)
Kaminer (2004) contends that in the United States, the school counselling profession began as a vocational guidance movement at the beginning of 20th century when a systematic school guidance program was developed and provided for the consumption by the schools. The movement emphasized personal issues, social and emotional adjustments in order to develop and promote students’ character and avoid behavioural problems. In Japan, the goal of high school guidance counselling services is to help every student develop abilities of self-understanding, decision-making, life planning studies on the modification of behaviour among students and action taking to be able to adjust to social and emotional adjustment (Loescher, 2007). The need to strengthen guidance and counselling has been further reinforced by the government directive to ban corporal punishment in schools (G.O.K., 2001). Gichinga (2005) observes that guidance and counselling has had impact in the secondary school students‟ lives and noted that there is relationship between the programme and academic performance. However, according to G.O.K., despite the ministerial directive to implement and effect guidance and counselling programme in all learning institutions in order to uplift the academic standards of students, academic performance in most secondary schools in the country has been declining while disciplinary problems have been increasing over time. For instance, Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state has been registering poor and fluctuating academic performance over the recent years in the West African Examination Council (WEACE). The state with a total of 160 secondary schools registered a mean score of 4.697 in the year 2000, 4.794 in 2001, 4.747 in 2002, 5.18 in 2003 and 5.26 in 2004 out of a possible maximum of 12 points (Ministry of Education Office, 2006). For example, the state with a total of 21 schools registered a mean score of
4.678 in the year 2002, 5.125 in 2003 and 5.165 in 2004. This poor academic record necessitated the need to find out whether guidance and counselling programme had any influence on academic performance of secondary school students in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Academic performance of secondary schools in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state has been declining over time (Ministry of Education Office, 2006). This has a negative reflection on the various programmes put in place to promote academic performance in the area. The main concern was the role of guidance and counselling programme in improving the self-image of the students and facilitating better achievement in academic performance. Little information was available on the extent to which guidance and counselling programme has been used to assist in raising the academic performance of secondary school students. This study sought to provide some insights into these issues and establish the relationship between guidance and counselling and academic performance of secondary school students.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
This study sought to assess the influence of guidance and counselling programme on academic performance of selected public secondary school students in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state.
The study aimed at achieving the following specific objectives:
i. To establish effectiveness of guidance and counselling programme in secondary schools.
ii. To determine the professional qualifications of the teacher counsellors handling guidance and counselling programme in schools.
iii. To identify the role of school administration and other teachers in enhancing guidance and counselling programme.
iv. To determine the attitude of students towards educational/career counselling in their schools.
v. To examine academic performance among secondary school students.
vi. To establish the relationship between the level of effectiveness of guidance and counselling and academic performance of secondary school students.
vii. To identify the challenges facing guidance and counselling programme.
1.4 Significance of the Study
Secondary school students face various challenges that if not well handled affect their academic achievement. Therefore, in order to adequately address these challenges, emphasis has been placed on the existing programmes within the schools. Guidance and counselling is one of these programmes. Detailed studies are needed to evaluate the influence of guidance and counselling programme on academic performance. This study was based on the premise that it is important to understand the extent to which the programme is used in addressing challenges facing students in schools. Such a study helps in providing useful information that could be useful in redesigning and giving impetus to the programme by those concerned including the Ministry of Education, administrators of the institutions, teacher counsellors and students so as to boost the academic performance and overall self-actualization of secondary school students. The teacher counsellor will use this study to evaluate the impact that guidance and counselling will have on academic performance in their respective schools. The Ministry of Education will also use this study in evaluating whether guidance and counselling programme is an effective measure in addressing the challenges facing secondary school students in the country. The study will also assists school administrators in assessing their contribution to guidance and counselling programme and its influence on academic performance of students in their schools. When guidance and counselling programme is well conceptualized by the Ministry of Education and implemented by the teacher counsellor with the support of the school administrators, the students will benefit by improving their academic achievements and self-actualization.
1.5 The Scope of the Study
The study focused on the influence of guidance and counselling programme on academic performance of secondary school students in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state. Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state was chosen as a research site due to the available evidence of poor academic performance among students in national examinations (Ministry of Education Office, 2005). Only Form Four students were involved in this study because they have been in the school for a higher number of years. Therefore, they were in a better position of evaluating guidance and counselling programme more objectively and also have established academic trend.
This study encountered a number of limitations which impeded effective answering of the research questions. These limitations include:
i. Academic performance of students in a school is determined by very many factors including the ability of the individual student, the quality of the teachers, the staffing level, availability of facilities, and guidance and counselling, among others. Therefore, it is not practically possible to isolate one factor and link it to the level of academic performance. However, in this study, the researcher is confined to the academic areas that are of concern to the guidance and counselling programme only.
ii. All secondary schools in the country were expected to have implemented guidance and counselling programme as directed by the government through the Ministry of Education. Therefore, effective analysis of the influence of the programme in the country requires a consideration of as many schools as possible. However, due to time, manpower and financial resource constraints, it is not practically possible to cover all the schools in the country. This means that only a small sample of the schools was be involved. Thus, the 10 public secondary schools in Bahati division, which are a very small fraction of the total number of schools in the country, were involved in this study. The findings of this study were therefore confined to the sampled schools and students in Emmanuel College, Odeda, Ogun state and cannot be overly generalized to all secondary schools in the country.
1.6 Research Questions
The study addressed the following research questions:
i. What is the effectiveness of guidance and counselling programme in secondary schools?
ii. What are the professional qualifications of the teacher counsellors handling guidance and counselling programme in schools?
iii. What is the role of the school administration and other teachers in enhancing guidance and counselling programme?
iv. What is the attitude of students towards educational/career counselling in their schools?
v. What is the academic performance among secondary school students?
vi. Is there any relationship between the level of effectiveness of guidance and counseling and academic performance of secondary school students?
vii. What are the challenges facing guidance and counselling programme in schools?
1.7 Research Hypotheses
These are tentative answers to the research questions in the following hypothetical order:
Hypothesis 1:
H0: There is no significance relationship between effectiveness of guidance and counselling programme policies and performance of secondary schools students.
H1: There is a significance relationship between effectiveness of guidance and counselling programme policies and performance of secondary schools students.
Hypothesis 2:
H0: There is no significant between the professional qualifications of the teacher counsellors handling guidance and counselling programme in schools and performance of secondary schools students.
H1: There is a significant between the professional qualifications of the teacher counsellors handling guidance and counselling programme in schools and performance of secondary schools students.
Hypothesis 3:
H0: There is no significant relationship between the level of effectiveness of guidance and counseling and academic performance of secondary school students? Hi: There is a significant relationship between the level of effectiveness of guidance and counseling and academic performance of secondary school students?
1.8 Definition of Terms
In this section, operational definitions are presented as used within the context of this study. Academic performance: This refers to the academic achievement of a student which is Usually measured in terms of grades or marks attained in a test.
Counselling: Involves helping an individual to deal with or remove frustrations and obstacles that interfere with their lives and develop his most acceptable self by thinking through the situation him/herself in an accepting atmosphere.
Effective counselling: Producing a desired result. In this case, effectiveness refers to the Ability/capacity of guidance and counselling programme to offer its required services in a school. In this study, the effectiveness of guidance and counselling will be measured on a likert scale by examining the extent to which the programme is able to offer various components of academic/career/educational counselling in schools.
Guidance: A process of helping learners to develop self understanding, capabilities for making realistic career decisions, overcome personality deficits and make optimal academic progress.
Guidance and counselling: Includes all services that help an individual understanding of him/herself, his/her attitude, interests, abilities, physical, mental and social maturity for optimum development.
Public schools: These are schools facilitated and controlled/regulated by the government.
Counsellor: A person who has undergone formal training in guidance And counselling including theory and practice.
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