Teacher perceptions on the role of guidance and counselling in addressing school dropout in primary schools in Ainabkoi Division, Uasingishu County, Kenya

Abstract

All over the world education is considered to be a benchmark over which economic development and growth of a country depend upon. Due to the current educational demands, guidance and counselling is becoming an area of concern in primary schools in Kenya. Guidance and counselling helps an individual to understand him/herself and his/her environment so as to cope with his/her problems. Guidance and counselling helps pupils to understand themselves and their environment so as to cope with pupils‘ concerns. A considerable number of primary school children in Ainabkoi Division dropout of school before completing their primary school education system. Statistics from Ministry of Education (MoE) office in Ainabkoi indicate that 25% of the pupils drop out of school before completing their primary education. However, little has been known on the role of guidance and counselling in addressing school dropout. This study was to investigate teacher perceptions on the role of guidance and counselling in addressing school dropout in primary schools in Ainabkoi Division Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study was conducted in public primary schools in Ainabkoi Division, Uasin-Gishu County. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population of the study consisted of 38 head teachers and 320 teachers drawn from 38 primary schools in the Division. Stein‘s method by Stephan (1945) in Nassiuma (2000) was used to select the sample size. The study sampled 11 head teachers out of 38 head teachers and 167 teachers out of 320 teachers. This gave a total of 178 respondents. A questionnaire and an interview guide were utilized in collecting information from teachers and head teachers respectfully. Cronbach Alpha was used to estimate the reliability coefficient of the instruments. The tools were pilot tested to 38 respondents in Keiyo South Constituency. The questionnaire yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.786 which was considered adequate. Validity of instruments was established by seeking expert opinion from four psychologists and counsellors from the Department of Psychology, Counselling and Educational Foundations in Egerton University. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included frequencies and percentages. Findings indicated that guidance and counselling helps identify potential dropouts and feelings of dropout. The teachers also agreed that guidance and counselling assist pupils with study skills help pupils in dealing with academic difficulties, help in reducing cases of delinquent behaviours and cases of truancy among pupils. The study concluded that guidance and counselling provided diagnosis of potential dropouts provided targeted interventions to potential dropouts and provided school wide interventions to potential dropouts. Therefore, this study recommended that teachers should ensure that provision of guidance and counselling identify maladjusted pupils. The study suggested a similar study to be carried out on teacher perceptions on the role of guidance and counselling in identifying maladjusted pupils in primary schools.