Variance of pupils’ perception on different areas of guidance and counseling and their effect on pupil discipline in Soy constituency, Kenya

Chege Kimani Gabriel

Greener Journal of Educational Research, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 050-056, July 2015

Department of Sociology & Psychology, Moi University, Kenya.

INTRODUCTION

The terms “guidance and counseling” have been conceived internationally in different ways. Makinde (1987) defined counseling as an interactive process co-joining the counselee, who is vulnerable and who needs assistance and the counselor who is trained and educated to give this assistance, the goal of which is to help the counselee learn to deal more effectively with himself/herself and the reality of his/her environment. Society itself could not function without the exercise of discipline. Using guidance and counseling to promote discipline which must continually be practiced if people are to work harmoniously for the achievement of common purpose. Hendrikz (1986) stressed that teachers and schools have the responsibility of ensuring that each pupil matures steadily along his own personal line. This means that they are responsible for planning the learning experiences activities, attitudes and relationships so that as much as possible, each pupil’s basic psychological needs are satisfied through the medium of education.

Worldwide, guidance occurs mainly in high schools, colleges and other institutions of higher learning. Usually, young adults are unsure of what to do or to react or respond to external and internal pressures. However, most primary schools have now adopted guidance and counseling. When external and internal pressures occur, the pupils need someone older, wiser and more experienced to show them the way through counseling programs. This is a common practice in areas where the professional counselor is involved and understands problems associated with the young adults who are slowly adjusting to the environment. The practice has been employed in the developed countries as an effective way of managing discipline in schools.

Guidance and counseling in the education sector in many African countries is regarded as the youngest discipline. Johnson, (2005) pointed out that Counseling and a Youth Development Program are a necessity in the region to help the youth cope with the daily challenges that they come across. Many guidance and counseling programs have been designed to help the young generation cope with these life challenges. Counselors have also been trained at both regional and national levels on issues that affect the youth especially at the school setting where the discipline problem can be effectively managed. As a result a number of experts in the practice have been produced though this has not translated yet to a positive influence in discipline in schools. This has mainly been attributed to the lack of schools management commitment to enforce the counseling programs and their lack of provision of adequate resources within the school setting.

The role of guidance and counseling in the administration and management of student discipline in Kenya has been recognized by the various government policy documents since independence. The “Report of the National Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies of 1976” recommended that guidance and counseling be taught using subjects like Religious Education, Social Education and Ethics to enable the schools to promote the growth of self-discipline among pupils (Republic of Kenya, 1976). Despite this recommendation, the use of guidance and counseling services is still wanting in helping curb indiscipline in schools, which is increasing. Infractions that require guidance and counseling include assault, arson, fighting and theft and vandalism, destruction of school stores, administration blocks, and libraries, harassment, riots and rape and loss of lives.

Although, the Ministry of Education made a move to curb the destructive tendencies in schools is enacting the Children’s Act in the year 2001, which provides that a child should be entitled to protection from physical and psychological abuse by any person. The unrest in schools is still being reported in large numbers (Ramani, 2002). A new approach to education has been formulated and a new management strategy of managing discipline has been employed. The need curb the destructive tendencies together with the escalating destructive tendencies is what made Stoops, Raffer & Johnson (2005) maintain that, many student discipline problems that occur in secondary and primary schools might not exist if guidance and counseling services were offered correctly and in a timely manner. All these incidents make it necessary to strengthen guidance and counseling services in the management of student discipline in schools. This call can also be realized from the words of Oliver (2001) that, that is lacking is a type of discipline, which empowers an individual to take responsibility for his action in a socially acceptable way. As a result the research identified a need to scrutinize how guidance and counseling services were used in primary schools in Ziwa zone in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya to promote pupils’ discipline where there is a high number of indiscipline cases due to lack of inadequate guidance and counseling measures in the schools (Ramani, 2002).

The Problem

The banning of the cane through Legal Notice No. 56 of Kenya Gazette (30^th March 2009) in schools may have been a timely children’s rights issue but it ended up making the work of the school teacher difficult in maintaining discipline. The teacher has to use counseling for correcting errant learners and guidance for preventing misbehavior and development of socially disapproved conduct. The issues of guidance and counseling on the discipline of classes seven and eight in primary schools in Kenya are viewed by many education stakeholders as contemporary problems that may turn into a crisis if not checked. One significant issue of concern is that indiscipline and violence in schools does not discriminate; essentially transcending the boundaries of gender, class and race. The impact has vast implications for schools; teachers have less time to deliver teaching in order to effectively manage indiscipline cases, school property and even lives are lost. Not much is known about the effectiveness of the guidance and counseling as pupils in some schools still remain undisciplined, violent and destructive in their schools. The study sought to investigate the variance of the pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling and their effect on pupil discipline in Soy constituencies, Kenya

Objectives of the study

The study objectives were: (1) to find out the discipline Measures used in schools in soy constituency, (2) to find out the pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling in soy constituency and (3) to find out the variance of pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling in soy constituency.

Research questions

While the research questions that guided the study were: (1) what discipline measures are used in schools in soy constituency? (2) what are the pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling in soy constituency? and (3) what is the variance of pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling in soy constituency?

The study design

The study employed a descriptive survey research design. A descriptive Survey method was used to collect data from a large number of subjects within a very short period of time (Creswell, 2003). The design was chosen because it helped in obtaining information that describes the existence status of respondents in an attempt to get the perception of the respondents on teachers and pupil’s perception toward guidance and counseling program in managing of pupils’ discipline.

The study population and sample

The Uasin Gishu county region has a total of 200 primary schools with a pupil population of 184,954. The study targeted those schools that have an operational guidance and counseling programme which were 20 within the Ziwa zone of Soy constituency, and the records of pupils who had benefited from the guidance and counseling program formed the study’s sampling frame for pupils.

This represented 10% of the target population as prescribed by Newman (2003) who recognizes 10% as an adequate sample in an explanatory survey research design. This meant that only 20 schools were selected to participate in the study. The sample size therefore comprised of 20 head teachers, 100 teachers and 200 pupils. The head teachers were selected because they were expected to supply information relevant to the study from the policy and administration point of view.

The study employed purposive sampling at the school level and simple random sampling technique to select the pupil respondents from the sampling frame of those who had undergone counseling and guidance, who were 200. This totaled to 10% of the beneficiaries of the program.

Research Instruments

The researcher used questionnaires for collecting data. The selection of these tools was guided by the nature of data to be collected, the time available as well the objectives of the study. The questionnaire comprised both open ended and close ended items. The instrument was used to transmit a set of questions to which the subject required to respond. They filled in their responses depending on their understanding of the perception of respondents on the guidance and counseling programme on pupil’s discipline.

Validity and reliability of the data collection instruments

Validity is the degree to which results obtained from the analysis of the data actually represents the phenomenon under study (Mutai, 2001). The questionnaire was checked for content validity using the expert judgment method. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was determined be computing the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. A coefficient of 0.70 was obtained which as opined by Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) was adequate for the conclusion that the instrument was reliable.

Data Collection procedures

Permission to conduct research was obtained from the Soy sub-county administrator in writing. The researcher personally placed the questionnaires with the respondents and collected them immediately.

Ethical Considerations

The study obtained written informed consent from the participants before involving them in the study. They were informed about the overall purpose of research as well as “possible risks and benefits from participation in the research project” (Mutai, 2001). Confidentiality was upheld during the study by assuring the participants of anonymity by concealing their identities. Ethics on avoidance of fraud, plagiarism among others were also upheld.

Data and results

Respondents’ demographic information

All the 20 head teachers were male whereas male teachers were 57 and the female teachers were 43. The distribution of students by gender was such that males were 100 while females were also 100. The teachers were in the age bracket of between 28years and 51 years. Having focused on primary schools the students were aged between 11 and 14 years.

Discipline Measures used in schools

The researcher sought to investigate the discipline measures used in schools; the findings were presented in table 1

Table 1: Discipline measures used in schools at the time of the study

The study revealed that 52% (mean=0.5213) of the respondents agreed that the discipline measure used in the school was guiding and counseling, 16.6% (mean=0.1664) agreed that expulsion is mostly used in the school, 12% (mean=0.1235) agreed that suspension is used, 10% (mean=0.1022) of the pupils agreed that doing extra duties (such as cleaning, weeding flower beds, extra assignments etc) is the discipline measures used in their school and 9.3% (mean=0.093) of the pupils agreed that their schools use canes as a disciplinary measure. The findings are further presented graphically below:

Discipline measures used in school

The study sought to find out the discipline measures adopted in the study are and the findings are presented in figure 1 below.

The results indicates that most of the students had the feeling that guidance and counseling can act as the best method to be used as disciplinary measures which is likely to give a good result at the end of the day because it will help students to understand their abilities, interests, values and personality; as well as adjust to their educational tasks, help students to attain maximum discipline and cooperation between them and their teachers whereas, students gave less weightage to doing extra duties.  

Pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling

The researcher sought findings from the students’ experience on counseling and guidance in instilling discipline cases in school. The research findings were then presented in the table 2.

Table 2: Pupils perception on different areas of guiding and counseling

The study findings showed that 81.3% (mean=0.8139) of the pupils agreed that guiding and counseling is a good disciplinary measure, 60.2% (0.6217) agreed that school guiding and counseling cares about their discipline and 60.0% (0.6000) agreed that guiding and counseling should be used as a disciplinary measure in schools. The findings are graphically presented in the figure 2.

The results show that most of the students had the feeling that guidance and counseling can act as the best method to be used as disciplinary measures which is likely to give a good results at the end of the day because it will help student to understand their abilities, interests, values and personality; as well as adjust to their educational tasks, help student to attain maximum discipline and cooperation between them and their teachers.

Variance of the pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling

The researcher wanted to know the variations between the student perceptions on guiding and counseling. The findings are as tabulated 3:

Table 3: Variations of the pupils’ perception on different areas of guiding and counseling

On the issue of the relevance and caring of school guidance and counseling about the discipline of pupils, a t= -2.394 (p<0.05) was obtained indicating that according to the pupils, guidance and counseling cares for their discipline.

It can be deduced from the results therefore that guiding and counseling is a good disciplinary measure (t=-3.73, p=0.000<0.05) as it is the most preferred in schools. Most respondents felt that guidance and counseling should be used as disciplinary measure in schools.

DISCUSSION

Ramani (2002) observed that a new approach to education has been formulated and a new management strategy of managing discipline has been employed. The study findings revealed in confirmation of the Ramani (2002) observation considering that 52% (mean=0.5213) of the respondents agreed that the discipline measure used in the school was guiding and counseling,

Most of the students had the feeling that guidance and counseling can act as the best method to be used as disciplinary measures which is likely to give a good result at the end of the day because it will help students to understand their abilities, interests, values and personality.

It can be deduced from the results therefore that guiding and counseling is a good disciplinary measure (t=-3.73, p=0.000<0.05) as it is the most preferred in schools. This finding confirms what Stoops, Raffer & Johnson (2005) maintained, that many student discipline problems that occur in secondary and primary schools might not exist if guidance and counseling services were correctly offered.

CONCLUSION

The study established that over a half of the respondents agreed that the most used discipline measure in the schools was guiding and counseling, whereas like expulsion, suspension and extra duties were used infrequently. The students’ perceived guidance and counseling as having a potential in being the best method for use as a disciplinary measure which is likely to yield a good result. The perception of the students varied based on how the measures applied affected the student himself or herself.

The way forward

There is need for government to develop a policy document on guidance and counseling that will serve as an operational framework for use in schools.

The students need to be sensitized by their teachers on the role and importance of guidance and counseling so that they can seek those services

The emphasize on the appraisal service to help students to understand their abilities, interests, values and personality; as well as adjust to their educational, social help student to attain maximum discipline and cooperation between them and their teachers.

REFERENCES

Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Government of Kenya (2001). The Children Act Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 95 (Acts No. 8) (Revised Edition). Nairobi: Government Printers.

Hendrikz, E. (1986). Introduction to educational psychology. London: Macmillan.

Makinde, O. (1987). Foundations of guidance and counseling. London: Macmillan.

Mutai K. B. (2001). How to write quality research proposal: Complete simplified recipe.    New Delhi: Thelley Publications.

Newman, L. W. (2003) Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (3rd Ed). New York:  Allyn and Bacon, Needham Heights.

Oliva, F. P. (1989). Supervision for today’s schools. (3^rd Ed). New York: Longman.

Ramani, K. (2002, May 11). Schools dilemma over discipline. The east African standard, pp.16.