Factors influencing attitude of Teacher Counsellors toward Guidance and Counselling in secondary schools in Keiyo District

Abstract

Students in secondary schools face various challenges arising from social, financial emotional and academic issues. If these issues are unresolved it may lead to students' maladaptive behavior such as drag and alcohol abuse, violence and riots, a.nd irresponsible sexual behavior. This is the reason why effective implementation of counselling programs in secondary schools is very important. The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors influencing teacher counsellors' attitude towards the Guidance and Counselling in schools. The study was guided by Gross, Giacquita and Bernstein theory (1971) of programme implementation that emphasizes the importance of teacher orientation towards any programme so as to make them have a positive attitude towards it. Teacher counsellor training management support for guidance and counselling, availability of material resources and teacher counsellor experience and gender were the independent variables, where as the teacher counsellor attitude was the dependent variable. The study was conducted using an cross-sectional survey research design. Data were collected from 62 teachers in 31 public secondary schools in Keiyo district, Kenya using teacher counsellor questionnaire. Male and one female teacher counsellor in every school in Keiyo district were selected during sampling. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, cross-tabulations and chi-square tests. The study established that teacher counsellor qualification, training, availability or lack of educational management support for counselling; teacher counsellor experience had significant influence on teacher counsellor attitude towards guidance and counselling. In view of these findings, the study recommended that all teacher counsellors be adequately trained, regular in-service courses be held and that the issue of time as a resource be addressed urgently.