Implementation of guidelines on guidance and counselling in selected secondary schools in Chongwe district,Zambia
Date
2017
Authors
Zulu, Fales
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of guidance and counselling guidelines in selected secondary schools in Chongwe district. The specific objectives of the study were: to assess how the guidelines on the administration of guidance and counselling have been done, to explore the extent to which the implementation of guidelines on administration and management of guidance and counselling has been done, to establish how the implementation guidelines on guidance and counselling have affected the provision of guidance and counselling services in schools and to identify the challenges faced when implementing guidelines on the administration and management of guidance and counselling in schools. A descriptive design using qualitative research methods was used to conduct this study. The population consisted of all head teachers, guidance and counselling teachers and pupils in the selected four secondary schools in Chongwe District. The sample population consisted of 40 respondents comprising of four head teachers, eight guidance and counselling teachers and twenty eight pupils from the selected schools in Chongwe District. Purposive sampling and simple random procedures were used to select the sample. Interview-guides, focus group discussion and observational checklist were used to collect data. Thematic analysis was used to collect data. The study revealed that schools had not implemented the administration and management guidelines for guidance and counselling because the head teachers and guidance and counselling teachers were not aware about them. Schools were offering guidance and counselling but it was not very difficult to ascertain whether the services were effective or not due to lack of guidance and counselling implementation guidelines. Teachers had no Guidance and Counselling handbooks, while the pupils had no Career Guides for the Learners. Schools were also facing a lot of challenges in the provision of guidance and counselling. These challenges included lack of adequately trained teachers, lack of establishment for trained teacher’s dual roles and heavy loads for school counsellors, none timetabling of guidance and counselling, lack of guidance and counselling committees, inadequate resources and office space. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended that the Ministry of General Education and the Teaching service Commission should come up with clear guidelines on the appointment of school counsellors, training of counsellors work load, remuneration and responsibilities of school counsellors guidance and counselling teachers should also be freed from other responsibilities which interfere with their work as counsellors like heavy work loads. Furthermore the Ministry of Education should orient head teachers, guidance and counselling teachers and other stakeholders on the implementation of the administration and management guidelines in schools. It was recommended that the problem of the PMEC vacancies for guidance and counselling at DEBS and in schools should be resolved as quickly as possible for guidance and counselling services to be effective.
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Thesis
Keywords
Guidance and counselling--Adminstration and management--Secondary schools--Zambia , Vocational guidance--Secondary schools--Zambia