Perceived role of guidance and counseling on academic achievement among primary school children in Charitable institutions in Kisumu city, Kenya

Abstract

Kisumu city has public and charitable children institutions. Of these there seem to be apparent variation in the outcome from both counseling and academic achievement. This is despite the fact that there are counseling services and teaching assumedly going on in all these institutions. Evidence provided by adult and continuing education Kisumu city showed that there was negative variation in the KCPE mean score between 2010 and 2013. The overall mean score for CCIs in KCPE was 229.58, which had a mean deviation of -20.47 from the average of 250 marks. While the mean score for public primary schools was 281.15 with a positive mean deviation of 31.15. This showed difference of over 50 marks in academic achievement between public primary schools and CCIs. This is despite guidance and counseling program which is mandated to address psychological and academic achievement issues affecting pupils in the CCIs and public primary schools. Therefore the purpose of this study was to establish the role of guidance and counseling on academic achievement of charitable children institutions in Kisumu city. Objectives of the study was: to establish role of individual counseling, group counseling and peer counseling in addressing academic achievement of children in CCIs and challenges counselors face in addressing academic achievements of children in CCIs in Kisumu City. The study was guided by a conceptual framework with role of Guidance and counseling as the independent variable while academic achievement was the dependent variable. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Target population comprised of854children, 7CCI heads, and 7 heads of Guidance and Counseling departments from the CCIs in Kisumu City. Proportionate sampling technique was used to select 282children while saturated sampling technique was used to select 6 heads of Institutions and 6 heads of Guidance and Counseling departments. Data was collected using questionnaire and interview schedules. A pilot study was conducted on 28 children using test-retest method, which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.72. Experts in the Department of Educational Psychology of Maseno University ascertained face and content validity of the data collection tools. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviation while qualitative data was transcribed and analyzed thematically. Findings showed that 51.65% (n = 282) of CCI children preferred individual counseling; 67.1% (n = 282) of children in CCIs preferred groupcounseling;61.7% (n = 282) of children in CCIs preferred peer counseling; and that 49.9% (n = 282) of counselors in CCIs had faced challenges in their guidance and counseling service. Based on the study objectives, it was concluded that level of preference of individual, group and peer guidance and counseling does not correlate to academic achievement in CCIs and that the challenges faced by counselors in addressing the academic achievement may sometimes hinder their service. The study recommends that the management of CCIs and other stakeholders in education should address the challenges faced by counselors in CCI in Kisumu City with a view to alleviating them. The study might benefit CCI leaders in streamlining individual, group and peer guidance and counseling in addressing academic achievements and challenges faced by counselors in CCIs.