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.
