Comprehensive Guidance and Counselling Programmes and Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in Edo State, Nigeria.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Comprehensive Guidance and Counselling Programmes and Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in Edo State, Nigeria.

OSUMAH, Obaze Agbonluae, Ph.D
Department of Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract
This study assessed comprehensive guidance and counselling programmes and academic achievement of secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. This was a correlation study based on survey research design. A sample of two thousand, two hundred secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria were selected for the study. A validated instrument titled “Comprehensive Guidance and Counselling Programmes and Students’ Academic Achievement Questionnaire (CGCPSAAQ)” was used for collection of data for the study. The instrument was administered on the participants by the researcher and five research assistants specifically trained for the purpose. Data collected were analyzed using t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC). The analyses yielded the following results: that there was significant relationship between comprehensive guidance and counselling programmes and academic achievement of students in secondary schools in Edo State, Nigeria and the significant relationship between comprehensive guidance programmes and achievement outcomes of secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria was gender, school location and school type based. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations among others were made: government should put in place comprehensive guidance and counselling programmes in all secondary schools and qualified guidance counsellors who are the drivers of counselling programmes should be employed in all secondary schools in Edo State, Nigeria.

Keywords: Guidance and counselling programmes, achievement outcomes, students.

Introduction

Education is development. It is a critical factor of human development. The Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), states that education serves as the pinnacle of intellectual activities that guarantee the worth, development and existence of individuals and societies.
Nigeria’s education system is based on the (1)-6-3-3-4 formula: One year pre-primary education, six years primary, three years junior secondary, three years senior secondary, and a minimum of four year tertiary education. The model had been used successfully in China, Germany and Ghana before Nigeria adopted it in 1989 (Ekundayo (2019).
Education improves the quality of lives of the people. Hawkins (2002) observes that education is aimed at providing a form where teachers and scholars are able to evaluate challenges facing the society from a balanced and comparative socio-economic perspective. Education plays a crucial role in securing economic and social progress. Education is expected to prepare and equip the youth of the country to play an effective role in a nation’s life and building.
The education sector aim at providing an all rounded programme of instruction which are appropriate to the cultural, intellectual and social needs of the students. Schools encourage acceptance and tolerance to the diversity of moral, traditional and religions values and learning institutions aim at fostering a sense of individual responsibility, self-discipline, self-reliance, creative and active lifestyle and respect for self and others.
Education improves the quality of people’s lives and may also lead to broad social benefits to individual and society. Education has a vital role in developing the abilities of students. With education expected individual (students) can develop to their full potentials. Indicators of school success in carrying out her task can be seen from the high academic achievement and variety of specialized skills possess by learner and not the least of which involves issues related to academic. While students are required to continue to improve academic achievement, students need to follow the guidance and counselling services in schools to improve achievement outcomes (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004).
Academic achievement of students typically refers to either the desired learning objectives or standards that schools and teachers want students to achieve or educational, societal and life affects that result from students being educated. Students outcomes could be intended goals of a course, programme or learning experience; it could also be that student outcomes are the actual results that students either achieve or fail to achieve during their education or later in life. Academic achievement of students in this endeavour means the results achieved by educators and others including results such as standardized-test-scores, test examinations, graduation rates and college-enrolment rates. Generally speaking, students achievement outcomes are considered-either explicitly or implicitly to be positive or negative by educators. If students are learning what they are expected to learn, or graduation rates in a school are rising, these results would generally be viewed as “positive students academic achievement;” conversely, low or declining test scores and high dropout rates would be “negative student academic achievement” (American School Counselling Association, 2005).

Read More