EFFECTS OF THE NEGLECT OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter reviews literature on guidance and counselling programme in learning institutions. The review discusses the genesis of guidance and counselling, the role of guidance and counselling in secondary schools, effective guidance and counselling programme in secondary schools, and causes of poor academic performance in secondary schools. The chapter also outlines the theoretical and conceptual frameworks to be used in guiding this study.
2.2 Genesis of Guidance and Counselling
Formal guidance and counselling inthe world originatedfrom Europe andthe united states of America in 1900‟s and by 1911 an organized wide guidance programme in the United
States of America was in place and it catered for students‟ needs. The emphasiswas on vocationalinformation , awareness of theworld of work, location ofemployment and reductionof examination anxiety (Makinde ,1984). Bor, Landy, Gill and Bruce (2002) noted that viewsof guidance andcounselling have changedrapidly and thatunderstanding the functionsof school guidanceand counselling is important.
Kilonzo (1984) states that in Kenya theconcept of guidanceand counselling was introduced to ourschool system inlate 1960‟s andformalized through theMinistry of Educationin 1971. Gichinga (1995) has rightlynoted that theneed for formalguidance and counsellingin African countriesis recognized atthe present timemore than everbefore. In pursuit offormal guidance, the Governmentof Kenya hasset up variouseducation commissions that havecome up withreports on governmentpolicy of guidance andcounselling.
2.3 Role of Guidance and Counselling in Secondary Schools
The objective of guidance and counselling programme is to bring about the maximum development and self-realization of human potential for the benefit of the individual and society. Makinde (1984) observes that the school counsellor is concerned with facilitating the optimum development of students. This is supported by Bennars (1994) and Mutie and Ndambuki (1999) who argue that the programme is supposed to develop the learner‟s intellectual abilities, develop a balanced personality and to have a complete person intellectually, spiritually, morally and socially. Guidance and counselling programme is therefore aimed at assisting students to harmonize their abilities, interests and values, thereby enabling them to develop their potential fully. Self-knowledge helps one to formulate life goals and plans which are realistic.
In secondary schools, there is need for students to make proper subject and career choices after the four year course. Borrow (1983) observes that it is the role of guidance and counselling programme to provide the students with the necessary information about the courses availability and the qualifications required for each course. Such information will assist students develop realistic self-concept according to their academic capabilities.
Most secondary school students are in the adolescent stage. According to Robert and Elizabeth (1983), during this time, adolescent experience alienation which is a syndrome comprising of distrust, anxiety, pessimism, egocentrism, meaninglessness, normlessness and powerlessness. They observe that guidance and counselling is therefore needed during this adolescence stage to assist them understand their developmental stage and adjust to school life.
Guidance and counselling programme also help students choose and pursue achievable careers.
According to Borrow (1983) the world is highly complex and dynamic which makes career choice very difficult. He reckons that time change, people change, technology progresses and these challenges everyone to change to new ways of living and working. The students need guidance and counselling programmes to inform them about various jobs and openings available, the qualification required plus the responsibilities involved and the nature of the work so that they can decide and have clear occupational goals.
The programme also plays the role of intercepting and assisting disadvantaged students and also checks on school drop-out. Makinde (1984) observes that one of the roles for school counsellor is to help students who are experiencing difficulties. Students from disadvantaged families of the society have many problems and needs which, are to be dealt with in guidance and counselling programme .Lindsay (1983) argue that such students may experience difficulty in adjustment with peers, teachers and the environment thus guidance programme helps such students to adjust and utilize the guidance facilities available fully. Majority of the disadvantaged students later acquire low qualifications for the world of work. This poor achievement may even marginalize them more if guidance programme does not intervene; some may even drop out of school, thus the guidance programme is well suited for assisting the students.
2.4 An Effective Guidance and Counselling Programme in Secondary Schools
According to Zeran and Antony (1962) a good and effective guidance and counselling programme is essential in every school. An organized guidance and counselling programme will offer right environment for the growth and development of the student and offer quality education. Gichinga (1995) acknowledges that there has been steady growth of guidance and counselling programme in the secondary schools in Kenya. The major emphasis has been on vocational and educational guidance and counselling aimed at fostering personal/social development.
An effective guidance and counselling programme should be led by a trained counsellor who is responsible for coordinating guidance and counselling activities in the school (Nelson, 1972).
Makinde (1984) observes that the trained counsellor is a leader and consultant in the school‟s student appraisal programme and also helps to plan and develop guidance and counselling programme and the curriculum in relation to students‟ needs. Kyungu (1994) argue that effective guidance and counselling programme should have active cooperation of teachers, teacher counsellors and administrators. The school should make arrangements to enlist the support of the parents and introduce them to the idea of guidance and counselling.
Therefore, in an effective guidance and counselling programme, various guidance and counselling services are offered to assist students in personal development and psychological growth towards maturity. According to Schertzer and Stone (1976), these services include the following:
2.4.1 Orientation Services
Orientation services are provided to help students to adjust better to school environment. According to Makinde (1984), when new students are admitted every new academic year in secondary schools, they feel lost socially and psychologically in their new environment. This is because they no longer enjoy the psychological support of their parents, friends and former teachers. Also the new environment has rules, regulations and administrative set-up appears completely different. Orientation services are therefore designed to help such students adjust during such critical transition periods. Good guidance programme is hence drawn to familiarize then with the overall school situation.
2.4.2 Appraisal Services
Appraisal services involve a teacher counsellor collecting, analyzing and using a variety of objective data that can enhance better understanding of the student. A teacher counsellor without adequate and reliable information of a student will have difficulties in assisting him/her (Makinde 1984). It is therefore important to collect and make available a variety of information through observation, interview, testing, history, and social adjustment data about each student so that they can be in a position to plan satisfying educational, vocational and social programme.
2.4.3 Educational and Occupational Informational Services
These services have the aim of providing students with better knowledge of educational, vocational and social opportunities that can be used to make better and well informed decisions.
In secondary schools, students need at all times to make decisions about their education, career and social life Borrow (1983) Mutie and Kochhar (1992) observe that students need information related to job opportunities, training opportunities, and academic qualifications required.
2.4.4 Counselling Services
Counselling services are designed to help an individual student analyze himself/herself by relating their capabilities, achievements, interests and mode of adjustment to what new decision they have to make Gichinga (1995) These services are very critical for the students because they need it to solve career, study, personal and social problems they encounter in life. The school is supposed to provide time, place, and personnel required for skilled assistance of individual students in working out solutions to their personal problems. The services are designed to facilitate self-understanding through individual or group relationships.
Kyungu(1994)support this by observing that effective guidance and counselling in secondary schools and other learning institutions has become extremely important in guiding students on the relationship between health and the environment, life-earning skills, the knowledge and attitudes that lead to success or failure in life. Effective counselling service should assist in improving the self-image of the students and facilitate better achievement in academic performance.
2.4.5 Placement and Follow-up Services
The placement services are very essential at the end of secondary school education, where students need to decide on the next step after secondary school. These services assist students in selecting subject combinations required for particular courses and choosing of the right careers. Makinde (1984) states that placement service is designed to aid an individual to select and utilize opportunities within the school and in the labour market. Follow-up services are needed follow or trace a student after school and to the world of work. School counsellors develop a systematic plan for maintaining contacts with former students. Makinde (1984) notes that the data obtained from follow-up is kept in the school and it is used in evaluating the effectiveness of the entire guidance and counselling programme.
2.5 Causes of Poor Academic Performance in Schools
Teachers, parents, peers and personal motivation strongly influence a student's academic self-concept and academic achievement.(Napier 1972) observes that leaving secondary school students on their own to develop self-reliance, self-understanding, self-direction and problem-solving skills without proper guidance from trained counsellors will not yield lasting results. There are therefore a host of problems which cause students to attain poor academic performance including: anxiety, poor self-concept, and sexuality, poor methods of study, poor reading techniques, organ disabilities and indiscipline.
2.5.1 Anxiety
According to (Mandler and Sarason 1952) anxiety exists when individuals are at odds with themselves. The underlying conflict springs from a clash between incompatible impulses, desires and values. Secondary school students are in adolescence stage, whereby many adolescents are seriously confronted for the first time with facts about themselves and in specific their academic performance. This brings forth conflict and frustration in them that produce anxiety and tension thus affecting their concentration in studies and they end up performing poorly in academics.
2.5.2 Poor Self-Concept
Self-concept is the sense of self. Its basis is ones knowledge of what he/she has been and has done. Self concept helps a student to understand himself/herself and regulate their behaviour. Teachers, parents, peers, personal motivation and the student's gender strongly influence a student's academic self-concept and academic achievement. Teacher‟s approval - disapproval patterns are directly related to pupils academic self-concepts (Davidson & Lang, 1960). The more positive a student believes about his/her teacher's evaluation of him/her, the better his/her academic achievement as measured by grades, and vice versa. The teacher bears a major responsibility for helping student's develop positive academic self-concepts. According to Makinde (1984), most students in secondary schools being in adolescence have poor self-concept as they undertake the tasks for adolescents. Lindsay (1983) supports this by observing that the adolescents compare their real and ideal selves and judge themselves by how well they perform in academics. Self-concept remains fairly stable during adolescence especially for the students whose view of themselves was initially positive (Engel, 1959). Hence, the individual‟s academic self-concept is a learned structure which grows through training, identification with individual peers, teachers and significant other. The self - concept of an individual is effectively assessed from self-reports in academic and non-academic domains (Marsh, 1990). Since the academic self concept is such a major factor influencing development and learning, the school must assume a prominent role in helping students to develop a more adequate academic self concept.
2.5.3 Poor Methods of Study
A student with self-knowledge will develop a powerful motive or aim in academic achievement. Mutie and Ndambuki (1999) observe that poor organization, laziness, being easily distracted and lack of self-confidence are among issues that contribute to a student‟s poor academic performance. But he emphasizes that through academic counselling; teacher counsellors can motivate students and help them improve their academic standards. To achieve academic success, a student needs to be trained on effective study methods and examination techniques.
2.5.4 Poor Reading Techniques
Many secondary students are faced with academic problems such as poor reading habits, whereby most of them are slow readers and do not comprehend what they read. Lack of recognition of underlying framework and the main points in information already acquired has contributed to students‟ poor academic performance. Poor concentration has been an issue to many students who have performed poorly Mandler and Sarason (1952) . Academic counselling is thus a good remedy for students with reading problem b y training them to have effective reading.
2.5.5 Indiscipline
Indiscipline being acts of disorder in a student against the established norms in a school has widely affected many students‟ academic performance. Lindsay (1983) observes that there are two reasons why adolescents result in indiscipline. These are internal and external reasons. The internal reasons involve fulfilling the needs of the adolescent while the external reasons include individual, administrative and the social community causes. When the students‟ needs are not met, then they are frustrated and this affects their academic performance.
Concept of Academic Achievement
Achievement refers to the degree of success reached or attained in some general or specific area (Enyi 2004). In order words achievement is the extent of success attained by an individual. According to Eze (2009) achievement could be referred to as something very good or difficult which was carried out successfully. Ajah (2004) regarded achievement as a change in behavior exhibited at the end of a given period of time or within a given range of time. Achievement has also been described by Aniekwe (2006) as something which has been accomplished successfully especially by means of exertion, skill, practice or perseverance.
Aniekwe (2006) sees achievement as a test for the measurement and accomplishment of skills in various field of academic study. Also describing achievement Nwagu (1992) stated that achievement is a systematic and purposeful quantification of learning outcome. He explained that it involves the determination of the degree of attainment of individual in task, courses or program of which the individual were sufficiently exposed.
Achievement is accomplishing whatever goals one set for oneself which is doing what one wants to do within the limits of the law, overcome obstacles and attain a high standard (Nwachukwu, 2004).An individual with a high need for achievement is characterized as having a desire to take personal responsibility. Achievement requires drive and single mindedness and it is about completing goals one has set for oneself. Achievement is influenced by opportunities, motivations, education and training. Lansu and Cillessen, (2012) argue that the urge to achieve varies from one individual to the other. For some, the need for achievement is very high while for others it is very low. Achievement is synonymously used with success; it is something that somebody has succeeded in doing usually with effort. It implies the act or process of finishing something successfully; success then in the area of academic is what is referred to as academic achievement usually assessed with achievement test.
Academic achievement has been one of the most important goals of educational process. It has been of concern to parents, guardians, students and even the wider society. The desire for a high level of achievement puts a lot of pressure on students, teachers, schools, and in general the education system itself. Academic achievement is seen as the measure of the learner’s level of knowledge, skills or performance. It is commonly measured by examination; test or assessment.
Academic achievement therefore could be referred to as the degree of success reached or attained by an individual in some general or specific academic area which is measurable.
Enyi (2004) noted the following as uses of academic achievement:
It is used to determine the relative effectiveness of the program (teaching/learning) in terms of students behavioral output.
It provides the educational administrators with adequate information about teachers’ effectiveness and school need.
It helps the school administrators to make reliable decisions about educational planning.
It is used to predict the general trend in the development of the teaching-learning process.
It is used to encourage students to develop a sense of discipline and systematic study habit.
It helps the teachers to determine the effectiveness of their teaching technique and learning materials.
It is used to identify students who have achieved growth or lack of growth in acquiring desirable knowledge, skills, attitude and social values.
Academic achievement is the outcome of education, the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals and it is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment (Bossaert, Doumen, Buyse and Verschueren, 2011). Bassaert et al (2011), maintained that academic achievement is an important parameter in measuring students learning outcome in various school discipline. Academic achievement is a key mechanism through which in-school adolescents learn about their talents, abilities and competencies which are important parts of developing career aspirations. Usman, (2000) defined academic achievement as the measure of students learning acquisition of certain skills at the end of teaching and learning activities. It reflects in examination written by students after the process of learning. Academic achievement is based on the degree of intellectual stimulation that the child could receive from learning situations. Iwundu (2001) sees academic achievement as the degree or level of success attained at the end of an academic endeavour. The yardstick for measuring ones level of academic achievement is by assessing the academic performance of the individual through test and observation. The issue of academic achievement of students at all levels of Education in Nigeria especially at secondary school level is very crucial and has been addressed from different dimension by researchers over the years.
2.6 Theoretical Framework
This study was based on the principles of person-centered and social learning theory. The person centered theory emphasizes on the human interaction between two people (the counsellor and the client, in this case). Social learning theory, on the other hand, postulates that a child learns behaviour through social interaction in the form of observation and imitation of what other people in the society are doing.
2.6.1 Person-Centered Theory
This theory focuses on the human interaction between the counsellor and the client. Rogers (1980) called it the Person-centered theory in order to suggest that his principles extended beyond the client-therapist relationship to encompass all human interaction. The current personcentered theory is understood as a process of helping clients discover new and more satisfying personal meanings about themselves and the world they inhabit. The student will drive towards growth, health and adjustment (Makinde, 1984).
The model assumes that human interaction is only possible when certain conditions prevail. In the case of guidance and counselling, these conditions should prevail sellor‟s demonstration in the counsellor-client orientation. According to Omulema (2000), these conditions include counselor‟s demonstration of empathy, unconditional positive regard and warmth to the client. He notes that growth occurs in an acceptance, warm, empathetic, non-judgmental environment that allows students the freedom to explore their thoughts and feelings and to solve their own problems.
Guidance and counselling programme that lacks these characteristics culminate into poor performance of students in school. When a counsellor communicates the above conditions, those being helped will become less defensive and more open to themselves and their world and they will behave in more social and constructive ways. Many students habour feelings of failure in academics and thus have low self esteem, but a counsellor is able to counter the feelings by working towards fostering the students capacity to hope and believe that they are capable of overcoming academic failure they are experiencing and even end up performing their best potentialities.
A conducive environment for the student should be provided and teachers should provide room for self-actualization by being friendly, loving, competent and responsible. Teacher counsellor should also help the student set goals and allow positive self recognition after attaining set goals and aspirations that will boost success in academic performance. Therefore, a good environment should be created by teacher counsellor.
2.6.2 Social Learning Theory
Learning is a process where behaviours are learnt or acquired from the environment. One way of learning is through social observation and imitation. This theory is advanced by Albert Bandura (1986). This theory explains delinquency as a behaviour learnt through the complex process of socialization. The theory postulates that the behaviour is reflective of people observing and imitating others and imagining the consequence of their own behaviour. The theory advocates that human behaviour is modified using learning principles to change behaviour (Omulema, 2000).
The behavioural approach emphasizes that the client define goals in behavioural terms provide resources and encouragement in helping clients more towards goals and helps clients with different problems (Patterson, 1973). Teacher counsellors can therefore apply this in counselling students concerning their academic performance. Makinde (1984) notes that counselling effectiveness and outcome of counselling are assessed by change in the specific student‟s behaviour. This implies that counselling can use behavioural counselling to create a conducive environment for the students to modify their behaviours in order to solve their academic problems through creation of learning conditions. Teacher counsellors can use behavioural techniques like self management programmes and self directed behaviours which may deal with learning, study and time management skills in schools. This will foster the students‟ academic performance. The student will drive towards growth, health and adjustment (Makinde, 1984). Therefore, a good environment created by the teacher counsellor. School can provide room for good self-concept that will boost success in academic performance.
2.7 Conceptual Framework
The theoretical framework assisted in the conceptualization of this study to show the relationship between guidance and counselling and academic performance of the students. The study conceptualized that all secondary schools in the country had established guidance and counselling programme to offer orientation, appraisal, educational/career, counselling and placement services to students (independent variable). The programme is supposed to assist students to harmonize their abilities, interests and values and thereby develop their full potential. All these activities and services are geared towards improving the self-image of the students and facilitate better achievement in academic performance (dependent variable). 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 counseling, among others. Other factors like extraneous and intervening variables were controlled using one of the methods of controlling variance that of holding factors constant. This involves reducing a variable to a constant which helped in reducing their effects on the dependent variable. Therefore, the influence of these factors, though present, was not directly captured. The actual influence of guidance and counseling programme on the academic performance of the student is in turn given chance to be assessed.