Effects of guidance and counselling programme on senior school students’ academic performance in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the influence of counselling programme on students’ academic performance. The study was guided by four  research questions and four corresponding hypotheses. The quasi experimental non-randomized research design was adopted. The population for the study comprised senior secondary school II students in Lagos, Nigeria. Four co-educational schools were selected for  the study using random sampling method. The sample for the study comprised 168 students from four intact classes (individual counselling = 38, small group counselling = 42; large group/classroom counselling = 48 and control group = 40). Two instruments were  utilized for the collection of data: Students Welcome Test (SWT) and Terminal Examination (TE) with reliability coefficients of 0.84 and 0.86  respectively. The research hypotheses were tested using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test statistics at 0.05 significant  level with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21). The findings of the study revealed that that there is a  significant difference in the mean performance of students exposed to counselling programme and those not exposed to counselling  programme. It was also observed that no significant difference exists in the mean performance of students exposed to individual and  small group counselling programme; small group and large group/classroom counseling; individual and large group/classroom  counselling respectively. The study concluded that the availability of counselling programme in schools improves students’ academic  performance and it was recommended among others that government should employ qualified counsellors into schools to be able to   address students’ various counselling needs.