Influence of Guidance and Counselling Programmes on Secondary School Students Academic Engagement in Nyamira County, Kenya

Secondary school students are still in the age of rapid physical, social and psychological developments. These developmental changes pose a number of challenges which result to cases of maladaptive behaviour as evidenced by strikes, riots, boycotts, truancy, low self-esteem and a general lack of enthusiasm in academic activities in school, leading to poor academic performance. The current study sought to establish the influence of guidance and counselling programmes on secondary school students academic engagement. The study was guided by two theories namely; Ludwig Bertalanffy’s Systems Theory and Erickson’s Psychological Development Theory. The study utilized descriptive survey design as well as ex-post facto design. The sample size of the study were 52 head teachers, 52 Deputy head teachers, 52 guidance and counselling teachers and 311 students drawn from a population of 174 head teachers, 174 Deputy head teachers, 174 Guidance and Counselling Teachers and 7740 form three students. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select public secondary schools, head teachers, Deputy head teachers, Guidance and Counselling Teachers and form three students. Stratified sampling procedure was used to group the target population into four strata based on school type and gender. Proportionate sampling procedure was used to select equal representation of respondents from each stratum of public secondary school. Random sampling procedure was used to obtain the final sample from each of the stratum. Questionnaires and interview schedules were utilized to collect data. Prior to data collection, a pilot study was conducted to ensure validity and reliability of the research instruments and using Cronbach reliability test, reliability co-efficient of = 0.727 was reported, which was considered adequate for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze data. The data analysis was done with the help of computer software-statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. The study found out that there is a strong positive relationship (R = .575) between guidance and counselling services and students, academic engagement which was statistically significant (P<0.05). All the respondents in the study perceived school guidance and counseling programmes as effective in enhancing students academic engagement. Education stake-holders and policy makers in education who include guidance and counselling teachers, school managers, TSC personnel, Ministry of Education officials and NGOs interested in education matters may use the results of this study to strengthen, improve and maintain the guidance and counselling programme. It was recommended that guidance and counselling programme be fully supported as a matter of priority in all secondary schools to enhance students academic engagement and hence improvement in academic performance. Keywords: Guidance and counselling programme, academic engagement Nyamira County. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-29-13 Publication date:October 31st 201