The role of guidance and counseling in management of Schools: a case of secondary schools in Kirinyaga County- Kenya

The current under achievement and indiscipline trends among secondary school students have put the school management in sharp focus. This investigation was motivated by the unanimous out cry of stakeholders in the educational sector that managing students has become so challenging in our society today. Despite the campaign on the use of guidance and counseling in managing students, cases of unrest and poor academic performance among secondary school students raises various questions concerning the effectiveness of guidance and counseling in management of secondary schools. The purpose of this study was to find out the effectiveness of guidance and counseling in management of secondary schools in Kirinyaga district. The specific objectives were; To find out the state of guidance and counseling in secondary schools, to find out the effects of guidance and counseling on management of discipline, to investigate the effects of guidance and counseling on management of academic performance, to determine the effects of guidance and counseling on the execution of management functions in schools and also to find out the challenges facing guidance and counseling in secondary schools. The research was guided by a conceptual frame work designed by the researcher and a theoretical frame work adopted from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. The literature reviewed does not show why there is increase of unrest in schools and poor academic performance among students in this era of guidance and counseling. The researcher adopted descriptive survey design and a sample of 8 secondary schools in Kirinyaga district which has 80 public schools. Stratified, purposive and snow ball sampling techniques were employed to arrive at 208 respondents who were included in this sample. Snow ball sampling was used to selected students who had participated in guidance and counseling sessions, purposive sampling was used to select schools which were disciplined and performed well in K.C.S.E and those schools which were in disciplined and performed poorly in K.C.S.E, while stratified sampling was used to sample schools in the four division of Kirinyaga district for equal representation. Four instruments were used to collect data for the study. These were questionnaires for principals, deputy principals and heads of departments, in- depth interview guide for teacher counselors and focus group discussion guide for students. Documents analysis guide was used to analyze reports from the ministry of education concerning the state and the role of guidance and counseling in secondary schools. The reliability of the instruments was determined by assessing the responses from respondents during pilot study which was done in three secondary schools in Rift valley province. The instruments were vetted by supervisors in the department of educational management who have authority in this area of study to assure validity. The qualitative data was analyzed through the use of quick impressionist summary and thematic analysis while descriptive statistics (Frequencies and percentages) was used to analyze quantitative data. The study concluded that guidance and counseling is so effective in management of students but its implementation in our schools is very poor. This program also faces myriad challenges ranging from lack of policy guidelines from the Ministry of Education to lack of commitment by school managers. The study recommended that the government should provide the resources needed for guidance and counseling provision, policy framework and sporadic monitoring and evaluating these programs. All the stake holders should also be involved in ensuring success of guidance and counseling in secondary schools for the benefit of our students. This will also be of benefit to school management and the Ministry of Educatio