Influence Of School Administration In Promotion Of Effective Guidance And Counseling Services In Secondary Schools In Bungoma West District, Kenya

Abstract

Guidance and Counseling in secondary schools in Kenya is of major concern especially after"

the ban on corporal punishment. School administrators in secondary schools have been

given the mandate to establish and maintain effective Guidance and Counseling services in

the schools. However, the situation on the ground reveals that Guidance and Counseling

services are not effective in many schools in Kenya. The study assessed the influence of

school administration in promoting effective Guidance and Counseling services in

secondary schools particularly in Bungoma West district. The study was carried out in 8

secondary schools and the education office in Bungoma west district, The research design

used was descriptive survey design. Purposive sampling, Stratified sampling and simple

random sampling techniques were used to select the study sample. The target population

included school principals, teacher counselors, Education officers and students. The sample

size consisted of eight principals, eight teacher counselors, five education officers and three

hundred and fourteen students. The study area was Bungoma West district. Questionnaires,

interview schedules, and observation checklist were blended together to capture exhaustive

data. A pilot study was conducted and content validity was ascertained by experts in the

department of psychology. Reliability of the instruments was calculated using spearman

Brown prophecy and a computed correlation coefficient was found to be 0.67 for students

and 0.78 for teacher counselors. Quantitative data collected was sorted, classified and

analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques. Qualitative data was received in verbatim,

transcribed and organized into themes and sub-themes. It was found that all secondary

schools in Bungoma West district have established Guidance and Counseling services. In

objective one, the Counseling services provided in secondary schools mainly comprise of

educational, career, pastoral counseling as well as personal counseling. In objective two, it

was found that the major factors which affect implementation of Guidance and Counseling

services in schools are administrative. The school administration has a direct influence in

promotion of Guidance and Counseling services in schools through appointment of heads of

department to coordinate counseling activities as well as the counseling committee,

provision of basic counseling facilities, advocacy and publicity of the services, and

monitoring and evaluation. Students, Teacher counselors and School Administrators

reported that the counseling services in the respective schools were effective. However,

Education Officers reported that the Counseling services in secondary schools were

ineffective owing to the results of their previous assessments. In conclusion, the school

administration accords low priority to Guidance and Counseling services since many schools

lacked basic facilities for Guidance and counseling like offices and reference materials,

teachers are overloaded with their teaching subjects and emphasis is put on attainment of

good mean grade. It is recommended that there is urgent need for the school administration

to prioritize counseling services as they go hand in hand with academic excellence and give

the necessary support to the teacher counselors. The Ministry of Education should put

disciplinary measures against school administrators who do not implement viable and

sustainable Guidance and Counseling services in secondary schools. This study was

significant in that it would generate additional knowledge on existing guidance and

counseling policies and services in order to meet the varied needs of learners and to

challenge the scho,ol. '~rators on their role in promoting guidance and counseling.