A Propsal on Influence of Guidance and Counselling on Students’ Discipline in Koforidua Technical University
The purpose of the study
The purpose of this study will be to investigate the influence of guidance and counselling services on students’ discipline in Koforidua Technical University, Eastern Region.
Objectives of the study
To fulfil the purpose of the study the following objectives were examined:
- To determine the extent to which provision of guidance and counselling materials influences students’ counselling in Koforidua Technical University.
- To establish the extent to which lecturer-counsellors’ exposure to training influences students’
- To determine the influence of training of peer counselling on students’
- To establish the extent to which guest speakers on guidance and counselling influences students’
- To determine the extent to which the time allocated to student counselling influences students’
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Review
Overview of Guidance and Counseling Programme
At the start of the 20th century, a push for vocational assistance gave rise to the profession of school counseling in the United States. There is evidence to suggest that some of the techniques and skills of modern-day guidance and counseling were used by catholic priests in the middle ages, as can be seen by the dedication to the concept of confidentiality within the confessional, even though a case can be made for tracing the roots of counseling and guidance principles to ancient Greece and Rome with the philosophical teaching of (Plato & Aristotle, Schellenberg, 2007). One of the earliest texts describing possible careers was published. Tomaso Garzoni’s 1626 work The Universal Plaza of All the Professions of the World, as cited in Schellenberg (2007).
Guidance and counseling in the educational sector in Tanzania and some other African nations is recognized as the newest field in many publications and sources. The First International Conference on Guidance, Counseling, and Youth Development in Africa, which took place in Nairobi, Ghana, from April 22 to 26, 2002, provided evidence of this by pointing out that the program for guidance, counseling, and youth development was first introduced in Africa in April of that year (Biswalo, 1996). The conference’s goal was to create system requirements for guidance and counseling services for university students.
In Ghana, counseling and guidance are relatively new professions that are still developing their identities. The majority of school counselors are lecturers who are appointed to the post of guidance and counseling without any relief from their teaching responsibilities and without receiving any additional compensation (Gysters & Henderson, 2001). This approach is known as a “position” model. Additionally, there is no official organizational structure in place for the delivery of counseling services (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000). The function of the school counselor in Ghana has become more difficult due to a lack of a clear professional identity, and school counselors are having difficulty defining their position.
Tolbert (2006) defines guidance as the overall program or all the activities and services provided by the school or other institutions that are primarily focused on assessing an individual to help them make and carry out adequate plans and achieve satisfactory adjustment in all aspects of their daily lives. Different schools offer guidance and counseling in different ways.
According to GOK (2002), a guidance expert is one who provides young children and youth with direction through teaching, directing, and opinion-giving, as well as by setting an example, clarifying, or instructing guidance. As a result, in the delivery of pertinent information by an authority to a person who needs it. According to Hoftman and Spelet (1994), receiving guidance is a lifetime process that will help a person recognize and address issues as they arise. Guidance is a discipline that involves helping; it is personalized and aims to promote self-understanding; as a result, it can be seen as a process that aids students in developing self-understanding, the capacity to make realistic career decisions, the ability to overcome personality deficits, and the ability to make the best possible academic progress.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
Orodho, (2003) describes research design as the scheme, outline or plan that is used to generate answers to research problems. This study will employ descriptive survey design. Borg and Gall (1989), explains that descriptive study determines and reports the way things are and commonly involves assessing attitude, opinions towards individuals, organizations and procedures. In qualitative methods, the knowledge claims used by researchers are primarily based on constructivist perspectives – such as the different meanings of individuals’ life experiences, historically and socially constructed meanings.
Alternatively, qualitative research could also make knowledge claims based on advocacy/participatory perspectives – such as collaborative or issue-oriented). Sometimes, researchers use both. Strategies of inquiry in the qualitative method are case studies, grounded theory studies, ethnographies, phenomenology, or narratives. The researcher typically gathers responses to open-ended queries with the main objective of deriving themes from these data. The scenarios in qualitative research are those wherein the researcher aims to establish the meanings of various phenomenon’s based on the participants’ perspectives. A fundamental aspect of qualitative research is that the investigator observes participants’ behaviours by joining the latter’s activities (Creswell, 2003). On the other hand, researchers could also examine issues like oppression of individuals. To collect data, the researcher used a narrative approach wherein the participants were able to openly discuss how they had personally encountered oppression. The many benefits of the qualitative method include, (i) its employability at “simplifying and managing data without destroying complexity and context;” (ii) it builds on existing traditions; (iii) qualitative data may be coded quantitatively (Nuttal, Shankar & Beverland, 2011; Atieno, 2009, p. 17). Some of the shortcomings of the qualitative data are: it does not attempt to assign frequencies to linguistic features that are identified in the data and ambiguities (Atieno, 2009). Descriptive survey design will be relevant to this study because the study sought to collect data from respondents about their opinions on the influence of guidance and counselling on the discipline of university students and the support given by the staffs to G&C in Koforidua Technical University, Eastern Region.
Target population
Target population also known as universe population is a group of elements such individuals, objects or items from which samples will be taken for measurement. From information obtained in the office of the A.E.O, Koforidua Technical University comprises of 20 tertiary institutions and each school has a staff and a Head of Department (H.O.D) lecturer-counsellor. The target population will be staffs, lecturer- counsellors and form four candidates for reliable information on guidance and counselling services offered in their schools. In this study, 20 staffs, 20 lecturers and a total of 720 students will be used by the researcher.
REFERENCES
- Abiri, J. O. O. (1996). The educational attitudes of some Nigerian adolescent grammar school pupils. West African Journal of Education 10(3) 118 – 121
- Achebe, C. C. (1986). The role and responsibilities of university staffs in the school guidance and counselling programme. The Nigeria Journal of guidance and counselling 2 (1), 1-11.
- Adimula, D. O. (1988). The attitude of students, lecturers, university staffs towards continuous assessment in some of selected universities in Ilorin. An unpublished Ilorin M.Ed. project Department of Guidance and counselling
- Al-Rowaie, O.O. (2001). Predictors of Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Among Kuwait University Students. Published Doctoral Dissertation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
- Bulus, I. (2001). Counselling and counsellor education Nigeria: The post present and future challenges” ABU Journal of counselling and Human Development 1(1), 284 – 299.
- Burks, H. M. & Stefflre, B. (1979). Theories of counselling. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Castilo, G.(1978).Teenagers And Their Problems. Nairobi: Focus Publishers Ltd
- Collins, G.R (2007) Christian Counselling (3rd edition.) Dallas: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
- Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research designs: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Denga, D. I. (2001). Guidance and counselling in school and non school settings.
- 2nd ed. Port Harcourt Double Diamond publications
- Edet, I. P. (2008). Parents and lecturers perception of vocational guidance in university in Calabar metropolis – Calabar Cross River State. An unpublished post guidance diploma thesis University of Calabar, Calabar.
- Egbochuku, E.O (2008). Assessment of the Quality of Guidance and Counselling Services to Students’ Adjustment in Universities in Edo State of Nigeria Research Journal of Internatıonal Studıes, Issue 8 (November, 2008)
- Egong, A. L Okon, CE, Adadu, PM., and Egbe, A.O (2007). University Students’ Attitudes Towards Counselling In The Central Senatorial District Of Cross River State. Global Journal for Educational Research, Vol. 6, pp. 5-10
- Franken, R. E (1998) Human Motivation (4th edition) Brooks and Sole: Pacific Grove.
- Gay, L.R (1996) Education Research and Competencies for Analysis and Application(5th edition) New Jersey. Prentice Hall Inc.
- Gichinga, E. M. (2007). Counselling In The African Context: A Counselling Guide Nairobi : GEM Counselling Services
