Assessment of the quality of career guidance and counselling services for secondary school students in Mtito-Andei division, Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

Career guidance and counseling is an important function in any secondary school. The purpose of the study was to assess the quality of career guidance and counselling services in secondary schools and suggest strategies for improvement. The specific objectives of the study were to; identify the career activities available to students for career decision making, assess students’ knowledge on career options in the job market, identify the career programmes available to students’ for career decision making, to assess students’ knowledge in career options, to find out the career assessment tools used by school counsellors in assisting students’ make career decisions and find out the hindrances faced by the guidance and counselling department in offering career guidance and counselling in secondary schools. The study was informed by the facilitation theory by Carl Rogers and adopted the descriptive survey design with mixed approach. It based on the main assumption that all public secondary schools had functional guidance and counseling units with counselor in place. A population of 1,354 Forms three and four students, 30 heads of school guidance and counselling department and 30 school heads from public secondary schools was used. The total sample consisted of 120 students, 15 counselors and 15 heads of schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the participating schools and students. This allowed the parties equal opportunity for inclusion in the study. On the other hand, purposive sampling was employed for the school counsellors and heads of institutions. Piloting of data collection instruments aided in determining reliability. This was done among students, school counsellors and school heads of four schools from the neighbouring division that did not participate in the actual study, and were conveniently selected for their availability. Reliability of the study instruments was determined through test-retest within a span of two weeks. Content validity was ascertained using jury criterion. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using percentages and tables. Qualitative data was by identifying the themes that emerged. The study found that not all the school counselors had undertaken the personality test to determine their students’ career suitability, and most were overloaded with other school duties impacting negatively on the quality of career guidance and counseling that they offered to the students. This study would hopefully benefit secondary school students who would obtain good services, help yield stronger guidance and counselling departments, contribute to success in secondary school administration and, the Ministry of Education at large, and finally avail data for future researchers. Recommendations from this study were as follows: Structure career guidance and counselling programmes in secondary schools, capacity building for the guidance and counselling personnel, equipping the guidance and counselling department with the necessary materials and emphasis on stakeholder support