INFLUENCE OF GUIDANCE
ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Guidance
can be said to have started all over the world as a movement at the beginning of
20th Century as a reaction to change process in an industrialized society.
Guidance services were set up within the department of education in September
1968 when a consultant Louis, made recommendations and was sent over to Nigeria
by United Nation’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
(Summit, 1997). Globally, guidance as a major service is an essential element
in management of discipline among the people in any society. It could be
difficult for any society to function well without the maintaining of
discipline.
School
guidance programs have therefore been introduced to assist students overcome
numerous challenges they experience at home and at school in other to yield
positive result in their academic achievement and performances. Nziramasanga (1999)
states that because of many environmental pressures imposed on the family,
parents tend to spend little time with their children to give them the necessary
guidance which might go a long way to affect their academic performances.
However, the parents expect the school to provide solutions to the indiscipline
caused by their negligence in their children (UNESCO, 2002). Nigerian adults
have become more concerned with earning money and are less bothered by
traditional practices that formerly contributed to the upbringing of young
people.
In
Nigeria, the need for guidance and counseling in schools has been recognized
when a survey was done on 20 school counselors selected from different states
of the federation and the main problems examined. It was noted that, there is
great need for a clear rationale and guidelines for Guidance and Counseling
programs, and also the Guidance Counselors (Taylor and Francis, 1998).
The
main goal is to help the counselee learn to deal more effectively with himself anytime
he/she is in trouble and the reality of his environment so as to improve the
counselee’s academic performances.
Allis
and Kame (1999) conducted a survey in Alexandria in Egypt on indiscipline among
2170 preparatory and secondary school students attending mainstream
governmental schools, in this study Indiscipline among school students and its
predictors were investigated. Few indiscipline cases were related to family
background whereas the majority was related to the children themselves and
according to the research it has a major effect on the academic performance of
these students. Schools are social organizations which have several objectives
to achieve and role in guidance of students in shaping their academic
performances.
Guidance is a rudimentary ingredient
that plays a crucial role in school system and insists on upholding the social
and moral values of students. It is intended to suppress, control and redirect
behavior. In a school system all students must be aware of the rules laid down
through thorough guidance before disciplinary action can be administered, in
which this has been a key factor to better academic performance in students.
(Franken, 1998). The idea of relating discipline and guidance helps to
determine the value of G&C to students in schools with respect to their
academic performance.
Schools as well as parents share the
responsibility of promoting values and standards which we believe will help
younger people to establish not just sound academic performances but sound
behavioral codes for their lives, hence parents and schools should ensure good
discipline is maintained among students at all times. However, greater effort
should also be made by the Ministry of Education to offer competent Guidance
and counseling teachers not only to help
students to perform well in their academics but also in developing an
understanding of one self and of others, supporting students to deal with their
personal- social, academic and career related concerns.
Guidance also helps to facilitate
development of effective study habits, motivation, identifying learning or
subject related problems, helping students to see the relevance of school years
in life and for future, developing skills, right attitude and interests to help
making a choice in career.
Guidance and counseling, thus, promotes
holistic development of every student. This shows the need for every teacher to
become a ‘guidance minded’ teacher in the course of carrying out his/her duties
with aim of making impacts in the students’ lives.
A
major turning point in adolescents’ lives involves the career choice that they
make while in senior secondary school. However, this decision plays a major
role in establishing youth in a career path that opens as well as closes
opportunities depending on the strength of guidance they are subjected to.
Adolescents with special needs like those with severe mental retardation may not
even complete secondary school education because of their unique
characteristics, proper guidance will assist these adolescents in their career
development as early as possible. Guidance expose students to numerous career
development activities in order to help them choose occupations, prepare for,
enter into them successfully.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It
is a great concern for stakeholders to see students still performing poorly in
their academics despite the numerous ways in which they are guided either by
their teachers or parents which seems to be caused by inability of the students
to follow the laid down rules and regulations. Despite the fact that, guidance
and counseling programs are made available in both homes and in schools, there
is still great height of indiscipline among student which contributed has
influence on their academic performance. The researcher intended to examine the
influence of guidance on academic performance of students.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study;
1.
To determine the influence of guidance on academic
performance of students
2.
To examine the relationship between discipline and students
academic performance
3.
To determine factors affecting students academic performance
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is the influence of guidance on
academic performance of students
2. What is the relation between discipline
and students academic performance
3. What are the factors affecting students
academic performance
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO: There is no significant relationship between guidance and students’
academic performance
HA: There is significant relationship between guidance and
students’ academic performance
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
1. The outcome of this research will help
in educating and concomitantly serving as a guide to both parents and schools
on the effect of guidance on the academic performance of students.
2. This research will also serve as a
resource base to other scholars and researchers interested in carrying out
further research in this field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to
provide new explanation to the topic.
3.1 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF STUDY
The study of influence of guidance on
academic performance of students will involve students and teachers of selected
secondary schools in Ekiti State who will participate in this research.
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time
constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with
other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for
the research work.
3.2
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Academic: someone considered to be scholarly
Performance: the accomplishment of a given task measured against preset
known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost and speed
Student: a person formally engaged in learning, especially one
enrolled in a school or college
Guidance: the act or function of guiding, leadership and direction.
Influence: is the power to have an important effect on someone or
something
REFERNCES
Allis, M.S
& Kamel, M.I.(1999) Children Experiencing Violence. II: Relevance
and Determinants of Corporal Punishment in Schools, Child Abuse and articles
(Internet source).British Journal of Guidance and Counselling Volume 26, Issue
2. RSSCited Challenges. Publishers Enterprises (PEG), Malta.
Franken, R.
E (1998) Human Motivation (4th edition) Brooks and Sole: Pacific Grove. Guidance
And Counselling Programme in Malawi Secondary Schools Neglect.
Nziramasanga,
C.T. (1999). Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Paris:
iac.
Sammut,
J.M. (1997). Careers Education and Guidance in Malta-Issues and Taylor,
M. & Francis, H. ( Online), (1998) School Counsellors Perceptions of a
the Education and Training. Harare: Government Printers.
UNESCO.
(2002). New Roles and Challenges for Guidance and Counselling.