Abstract:
Since the introduction of Western education in Kenya, corporal punishment has for many decades been used as a method of instilling discipline among students in Kenyan schools. However, in 2001, the Kenyan government passed a law in parliament that led to the banning of the controversial corporal punishment in Kenyan schools. Consequently, the government has embarked on the policy of implementing guidance and counselling in schools as a method of maintaining discipline among students alongside the use of non-corporal punishments. The purpose of this study was therefore to establish the influence of guidance and counselling programmme in influencing discipline among students in secondary schools. The study employed an ex post facto research design and was conducted on a population of 1460 form three students, 22 guidance and counselling heads of departments and 22 deputy head teachers drawn from 22 public schools within Bahati division of Nakuru district. A sample of 6 schools, 6 deputy head teachers, 6 guidance and counselling heads of departments and 197 students was drawn from the population. In order to get the required sample, stratified random sampling procedures were used to identify the schools and the students in mixed schools. Also, purposive sampling procedure helped to identify the guidance and counselling heads of departments and deputy head teachers whereas simple random sampling procedure was used to select the students in single sex schools. Questionnaires were used to collect data from students and deputy head teachers, whereas interview schedules were conducted among the guidance and counselling heads of departments. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Consequently, frequencies, percentages, chi square, t-test and ANOVA statistics were used for data analysis with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12.5 for Windows and the significance level set at α = 0.05. The major findings of this study indicated that guidance and counselling has not had any significant influence on students’ discipline. Further evidence was the use of non-corporal punishments believed to have an influence on students’ discipline. It is hoped that the findings of this study might help the Ministry of Education to lay further strategies to empower the guidance and counselling department in schools through teacher counsellors training, proper implementation of the guidance and counselling programme, motivation of the teacher counsellors and involvement of the parents in the guidance and counselling programme among other benefits.
