Guidance and Counseling Practices in Selected Secondary Schools of Addis Ababa
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Date
2014-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study explores the main features of guidance and counseling services in selected secondary schools of Addis Ababa and the views of stakeholders about their effectiveness and usefulness under five research questions. The research sought to evaluate the ways in which the problems faced by the youth and the concern with the normal conduct of the learning and teaching problems determined the features of ongoing school guidance and counseling services and the considerations on the basis of which stakeholders value them as effective and useful. Empirical data consisted of both quantitative and qualitative information. The quantitative data was solicited through questionnaires that surveyed a total of 234 respondents (166 students, 8 counselors, 42 teachers, 13 administrators, and 5 parents). The qualitative data was collected through interviews with selected representatives from each of the groups who participated. Existing literature was reviewed to provide context in which current practices in secondary schools of Addis Ababa should be understood and their effectiveness evaluated. For quantitative data, for percentages and frequencies were calculated. The study revealed that school guidance and counseling in secondary schools of Addis Ababa is organized and delivered in order to meet some of the immediate and pressing needs of students (including destitution, violence, irregular attendance, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse) and deal with problems that are believed to negatively affect the teaching and learning process, not as a package of programs put together to enhance the intellectual and personal development of the student. Judgment about effectiveness and usefulness of the services varied from school to school and also depending on the demographic characteristics of the respondents. However, on most of the criteria used to measure effectiveness and usefulness, the majority of respondents viewed the services as effective and useful. The responses were also consistent regarding the factors that negatively affected the effectiveness of the services. Based on the findings, recommendations are made about how school guidance and counseling in the city's secondary schools might be improved in the short term, and changed in the long term. It is suggested that interventions to improve the current system should focus on awareness creation, better coordination, and collaboration between counselors and their colleagues, and move away from violence as a means of enforcing discipline. Change in the long term should involve a rethinking of school guidance and counseling in order to establish it in the school system on sound scientific and professional grounds.
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Keywords
Guidance, Counseling