Evaluating the impact of guidance and counselling services in Secondary Schools: A case study of selected secondary schools of Divingstone district

Evaluating the impact of guidance and counselling services in Secondary Schools: A case study of selected secondary schools of Divingstone district

Master of Education (Religious Studies)

The present study seeks to evaluate the impact of Guidance and Counseling Services in the Zambian Secondary Schools. Focusing on guidance and counseling services from counselors or Guidance teachers, class teachers, Deputy Head Teachers, and other stakeholder’s perspectives regarding these services. The available literature shows that pupils worldwide, including in Zambia, experience problems that schools should address through the provision of guidance and counseling services. Therefore, it is important for the researcher to evaluate the impact of the school guidance and counseling services in a quest of meeting pupils’ needs.

Some concerns have been raised over the increase of problems like drug abuse, early marriages and pregnancies, premarital sex, educational performance, and vocational (career) guidance. The research was aimed at addressing the impact of guidance and counseling services in Livingstone secondary schools of Southern Province. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the impact of the guidance and counseling services in secondary schools with the view of improving educational service delivery in Livingstone.

This will help prepare pupils to achieve social personal, educational, and vocational (career) development and make well-informed decisions compatible with their individual needs and abilities. The research adopted a descriptive survey design. Survey questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions and interview guides were used to gather or solicit views, perceptions, and opinions on the impact of Guidance and Counseling in the education system.

Random sampling comprised of 500 pupils, 60 teachers, and 3 deputy headteachers of both junior and senior secondary schools in Livingstone participated in the study. The research shows that about 80% of the secondary schools in the Livingstone district had not yet complied with the Ministry of Education Educational Act of 2011 as well as 1996 Educating our Future Policy document which states that “the Ministry was to strengthen school guidance and counseling services, and through career teachers, it will disseminate information relating to post-basic education training and employment opportunities.”

For a long time now the provision of guidance and counseling services in the secondary school's system has been implemented without clear guidance, teachers and headteachers share responsibility and the guidance teacher cannot work under management where the guidance and counseling services do not figure or rather feature in the time table, this is seen in the manner guidance and counseling is treated to be like the one which must be there and has no one to own by some school authority. This has led to a situation where a teacher is picked to teach to source materials alone because the school has no budget for this department.

Sometimes there are some reasons advanced by these pupils pointing out that the counseling services lacked confidentiality and at times instilled a sense of fear in them, especially once they open up on their situation the next thing is that pupils would hear about their story either through another teacher or fellow pupils. This then defeats the whole purpose of counseling and the goal of helping the pupils who could be in need at that time. “In addition, Collins in his book Christian Counseling states that “based on the valid assumption that counseling can be one of the most positive awards in impacting to the needy. It is always difficult to evaluate the impact of our own motives. Perhaps this is especially true when we examine our reasons for doing guidance and counseling.

Some of the questions we should ask ourselves are; Are there evidence from others that really show that your counseling really has a positive impact on pupils? Do you find counseling to be personally fulfilling? Therefore, these could be further indications of your impact as a counselor or career master of guidance and counseling services. Therefore, there are other issues which sometimes unrecognized, that can interfere with the positive impact being made by guidance and counseling. When you guide and counsel primarily to meet your own needs, you are not likely to be of much help in making an impact on your counselees or pupils.
Another issue is especially in the beginning, counselors and guidance and counseling teachers often discover a gap that exists between their formal academic learning and the actual experience of helping somebody with a real problem. Even experienced counselors and guidance teachers sometimes find themselves struggling with doubts and the feeling of inadequacy about the impact of their guidance and counseling.

It is well known that some people are better counselors or guidance teachers than others. This raises an important, basic question. Such as “Is it possible for every teacher to be able to have an impact as a guidance teacher and counselor? Or “is counseling and guidance a gift, reserved for select members of the teaching board or services? According to the educational policy, all teachers should have compassion and concern for their pupils, but from that, it does not follow that all teachers are or can become gifted counselors and guidance teachers.

The current position of guidance and counseling staffing is managed at the national level by the Principal Education Officer who is assisted by the Senior Education Officer of career Guidance. At the Provincial level Guidance and Counseling is managed by the Senior Education Officer for Administration and school guidance. There is nothing at the District level and secondary level to implement guidance services.

This is so due to lack of teaching materials and other relevant facilities like counseling rooms are found to be major barriers inhibiting the positive impact of guidance and counseling services, this, therefore, puts any gain made in impacting counseling at steak and makes the process being compromised, in some schools the guidance and counseling teacher could only guide pupils under a tree because there is no space for office or class.

This is a clear indication of how guidance and counseling have been treated, whereby even the teacher in charge is not supported and motivated for being there with pupils because it is a more demanding and soul-searching kind of learning environment.

Jacob Manda

Submitted to Justo Mwale University

2016

Supervisor: Dr. Edwin Silavwe

All Right Reserved. Justo Mwale University

Physical Medium.

English

Evaluating the impact of guidance and counselling services in Secondary Schools