Effectiveness of Guidance and Counseling in the Management of Students’ Indiscipline in Public Secondary Schools in Busia County, Kenya

Abstract

There had been continued rise in indiscipline issues in many schools in Kenya manifested in the form of drug taking, arsons, bullying, sneaking out of school, theft cases among others despite the implementation of guidance and counseling program. The purpose of this study was to determine how effective guidance and counseling was in managing the indiscipline of students in public secondary schools in Bunyala sub-county, Busia County. The objectives for this study sought to determine the extent to which trained teacher counselors are effective in instilling discipline among the students, the extent to which trained peer counselors are effective in instilling discipline among the students, to assess the extent to which time allocated to guidance and counseling is benefiting students, parents and administrators in managing students’ indiscipline, to assess the extent to which the role of guidance and counseling have been achieved in managing students’ indiscipline and to determine the challenges facing school administrators in effectively implementing guidance and counseling to manage students’ indiscipline in public secondary schools in Bunyala sub-county. The study was guided by social learning theory of Albert Bandura (1977) who regarded learning as observation of other people as role models. The researcher used descriptive survey design and the study locale was in Bunyala sub-county. The targeted population for the study was 10 public secondary schools, 10 principals, 10 deputy principals, 20 teacher counselors and 280 peer counselors totaling to 320. A sample size was 201 respondents comprising of 10 principals, 10 deputy principals, 19 teacher counselors and 162 peer counselors. The study used questionnaires in collecting data and a pilot study was done in two public secondary schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies and percentages was used to analyze quantitative data and then analyzed data were presented by use of charts, graphs and tables. The analyzed data were then used to make conclusions and recommendations for the study. A significant proportion of respondents indicated that trained teacher counselors were effective in instilling discipline among the students. Regarding peer counseling, the findings showed that most peer counselors had little skills in counseling although the service they provided was beneficial to students to some extent in dealing with challenges affecting them. Regarding the benefit of guidance and counseling program in managing students’ indiscipline, it was concluded as an important program in instilling good morals to students which gave rise to good academic performance especially in extra-county and county schools. Some of the roles of G&C outlined by the Ministry of Education were not fully implemented in handling students’ indiscipline as evidenced by a number of indiscipline issues in schools in Bunyala sub-county like early pregnancies and absenteeism. Majority of school administrators indicated that they still faced some serious challenges in effectively implementing G&C whose main purpose was to manage students’ indiscipline. The study recommends that school principals should provide essential resources like reference materials needed to enhance effectiveness of G&C program in management of indiscipline amongst students, the Ministry of Education should do follow-up activities in schools in Bunyala sub-county to ensure the role of G&C is implemented and school administrators should curb the challenges facing guidance and counseling by putting in place correct measures like taking untrained teacher and peer counselors for in-service training. The study is significant to the Ministry of Education, counselors and school administrators as it enables them to come up with better techniques and programs for guidance and counseling.