CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
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.
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.
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study;
- To determine the influence of guidance on academic performance of students
- To examine the relationship between discipline and students academic performance
- To determine factors affecting students academic performance
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What is the influence of guidance on academic performance of students
- What is the relation between discipline and students academic performance
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.