QUALITY ASSURANCE REQUIRED FOR EFFECTIVENESS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated quality assurance required for effectiveness of guidance and counselling services in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Three research questions were answered while three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Multistage random sampling was used for selecting 178 guidance counsellors across 104 secondary schools in the two education zones (Aguata and Otuocha) used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a structured closeended questionnaire titled: “Quality Assurance of Guidance and Counselling Services Questionnaire (QAGCSQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts while the reliability was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha reliability method which yielded a coefficient of 0.792. Data for the study were collected with the help of six research assistants. One hundred and seventy eight (178) copies of the questionnaire were administered on the respondents out of which 162 copies were completely filled and retrieved, representing 91% rate of return. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation for answering the research questions while t-test statistics was used for testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. From the data collected and analysed, the study identified 11 competencies related, 8 materials and facilities related and 9 funding related items for quality assurance of guidance and counselling services in public Secondary Schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Result on hypotheses tested showed no significant difference in the mean ratings of male and female guidance counsellors on quality assurance required for effectiveness of guidance and counselling services in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, the study among others recommended that there should be recruitment of qualified guidance counsellors for effective services to secondary school students in public schools in the state, and provision of relevant materials and facilities in schools to make the work of guidance counsellors more effective for quality assurance.