Students Perceptions on School Counselors and the Counseling Services Provided in Secondary Schools in Konoin Sub-County, Bomet County, Kenya

Abstract

Schools with the support of the Ministry of Education have worked tirelessly to eliminate disruptive tendencies in learning institutions. However, despite all the efforts, students’ unrests have continued to be witnessed in many secondary schools. Many a time, these unrests have been violent and destructive of property and even life. There seems to be a lack of effective alternative strategies to contain students’ indiscipline. Although guidance and counseling has worked in many different situations, its effectiveness in the management of discipline in secondary schools has not been established especially from the students’ perceptions on their counselor(s) and the counseling services that are availed in their schools. The purpose of this study therefore was to examine students perceptions on School Counselors and the Counseling Services Provided in Secondary Schools in Konoin Sub-County, Bomet County, Kenya. To achieve this objective, the study employed a descriptive survey research design. A sample size of 327 students was chosen from a population of 2200 students who comprised of all the form three students in the 40 Secondary schools in Konoin sub-county, Bomet County. Thereafter, simple random sampling was adopted in selecting actual respondents for the study. The study adopted the ex post facto research design in which survey method of cross sectional type was used to collect data using a self made five- point likert scale with the following response categories: Strongly Disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; Not Sure = 3; Agree = 4 and Strongly Agree = 5.The findings revealed that students had negative perceptions on seeking counseling services and lacked confidence (60%) in school counselors who were perceived not to have the ability to help and lacked ethics (58%). The implication of this finding was that the more the students had negative perceptions on the school counselors and the counsling services availed to them, the higher the likelihood of the students not to seek counseling services in school and also from their counseling teachers. From the findings, it is recommended that the ministry of education provide targeted professional learning and development for school leaders and people working in guidance and counseling roles.