Policy, Capacity Building and School-Based Counselling in Nigeria

Abstract

School-based counselling is indispensable in the educational system of any nation. It is the arm of education that develops and sustains students’ academic, vocational and personal-social needs. For first-hand information on how school-based counselling has grown in Nigeria, it becomes imperative to examine the policies made about it and to what extent these policies have influenced counselling in Nigeria. The authors therefore succinctly investigated the history and policy, challenges, crisis and problems, summary and evaluation of research policy and impact of capacity building on school-based counselling. The authors also pointed out the future outlook of school-based counselling in Nigeria and concluded that policies on school-based counselling rarely exist in Nigeria. The dearth has obviously affected the training, retraining, practice and future direction of school-based counselling in Nigeria. They agreed that concerted efforts need to be made by stakeholders, which include government at all levels to ensure that existing policies on school-based counselling are strengthened and new ones are promulgated, that would positively affect school-based counselling practices in Nigeria.