Abstract:
Strikes, unrest and student indiscipline in secondary schools have raised concern from
leaders, parents, religious leaders and educators in addition to societal problems like drug
abuse, HIV and AIDS. There has been advocacy for peer counselling for students to help
manage social, psychological and educational problems. Consequently, this study was
designed to investigate the influence of peer counseling and locus of control on conflict
resolution among secondary school students in Eldoret East district. The study was
propounded on the basis of social learning theory by Bandura. The theory asserts that
children learn behaviours largely through modeling. For example, a child who sees his
parents arguing or fighting when they disagree is most likely to learn aggressive ways of
solving problems encountered as per this theory, therefore if peer counsellors provide
good models and counselling to fellow colleagues, then they shall be imitated by peers.
This was ex-post-facto research that examined the situation as it is without any
manipulation of variables. Questionnaires were used as the main instruments of data
collection. The reliability of the instruments was established through pilot study in two
schools outside area of study. The internal consistency of the instrument was 0.083 at
u=O.05showing that the instrument was good and hence was used in the main study. The
data collected was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics by using
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Inferential statistics used was Chi-Square, Independent t-test. Data was presented in frequency tables and in figures and charts. Results showed that there was significant difference in levels of conflict resolution
among students. Further findings showed that peer counselling and locus of control had
significant influence on conflict resolution among the students. From this, it was
concluded that better conflict resolution was a function of peer counselling and locus of
control for both the students of different gender, age and class. It is therefore
recommended that schools should adopt peer counselling to help students deal with their
issues that may degenerate into indisciplineor violence which may lead to destruction of
property or life hence creating peaceful school environment where the students and
teachers feel comfortable to be in and where each individual rights are respected.
