The Role of the School Counsellor: The Voice of Senior High School Students in the Effutu Municipality

Abstract

Guidance and counselling play a very important role in the school system and the role of the school counsellor is seen as an essential concern of patrons in senior high schools (SHS). However, little attention has been paid to the preconceived conceptions of the roles of the SHS counsellors held by students. In this article we share the results of an assessment of 600 senior high school students’ perceptions on the role of their counsellors. The accessible population was made up of all the 27113 students in SHS2 and SHS3 in the Municipality. A descriptive survey design was used to collect data for this study. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed in selecting the single and mixed sex schools. A significant finding of the study was that, generally, students have positive perception on the role of the SHS counsellors. However, they considered the counsellors’ role of assessment and appraisal as not so important. The study concluded that counsellors may be lacking the needed repertoire in the use of assessment and appraisal tool and that some positive action may be needed to urge counsellors to make use of test instruments and other forms of appraisals in ascertaining the needs of students for proper remediation. It was recommended that counsellor educators should be made aware of the perception SHS students hold concerning the counsellor’s role on assessment and appraisal so as to enable him/her educate the counsellor trainees on their importance.