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
1.4Â Â 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
1.5Â Â HYPOTHESIS
HO: There is no
significant relationship between guidance and students’ academic performance
HA: There is
significant relationship between guidance and students’ academic performance
1.6Â Â 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
AndCounsellingProgramme 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.