Effects of Peer Counselling and Locus of control on Conflict Resolution among secondary school Students in Eldoret East District, Kenya

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.