IMPACT OF GUIDANCE SERVICES ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed the Impact of Guidance Services on Senior Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievement in public schools of Kwara State. Four research objectives and four hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. The study adopted correlation research design. The population of the students comprised of 102,112 senior secondary school students from three educational zones of Kwara State. Stratified random sampling technique was used to draw the sample from the study. A sample of 384 respondents was randomly selected out of the population. A 40-item structure questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three (3) experts, one from Measurement and Evaluation and two from Guidance and counselling unit from the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Technology Education ATBU Bauchi. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of reliability was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and Pearson Moment Correlation (PPMC). The results revealed that there exists significance relationship between orientation, information counselling and referral services and academic achievement of senior secondary school students of public schools in Kwara state with r=.026* for orientation service, r=.015* for information service, r=.036* for counselling service and r=.035* for referral service respectively. Based on the findings, it was recommended that guidance and counselling programmes should be strengthened in order to improve the academic achievement of secondary school students in public schools of Kwara state. Also, Kwara State government should endeavour to establish Guidance and Counselling Departments in all the secondary schools in the state to enable counsellors provide guidance services to students on how to develop, build, and promote their future career.