Teachers' Perception of the Roles of Guidance Counsellors in Secondary Schools in Rivers State

Abstract

The study investigated teachers' perception of the roles of Guidance Counsellors in secondary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was adopted to select three hundred and seventy (370) male and female secondary school teachers from a population of five thousand three hundred school teachers. The School Teachers' Perception of Guidance Counsellors Rating Scale (STPRGCRS) was administered to the respondents to collect necessary data. The t-test statistics was used to test three null hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences in teachers' perception of the role of Guidance counsellors in secondary school in Rivers State. Therefore, the three null hypotheses were accepted. Based on the above findings six (6) recommendation were made: (1)The Government of Rivers State should endearvour to establish counselling units in each secondary schools, and should be functional to meet the needs of students. (2) Qualified counsellors from accredited colleges and universities, with minimum qualification of bachelor in Guidance and counselling or psychology. (3) Counsellors should focus on counselling students as their primary functions. (4) Counsellors should hold staffing with parents, students and teachers as time will permit in each school session. (5) Counsellors should strictly observe confidentiality as code of ethics. (6) Counsellor should be able to refer students with major emotional problems to the appropriate helping professionals. .