Guidance and counselling services and their influence on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Kenya: A case study of Bureti sub county

Individual, Group and Peer Guidance and Counselling services in Secondary Schools are conceived as important services towards strengthening students’ character and academic achievement. In Bureti Sub County performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education from 2007 to 2009 was below average, that is, mean scores of 4.445, 4.435 and 4.491 respectively in spite of Guidance and Counselling services being in place, perhaps due to shortcoming in the effectiveness of these Guidance and Counselling services on academic achievement. The purpose of this study therefore was to examine guidance and counselling services and their influence on students’ academic performance in Bureti Sub County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: establish the preferred types of guidance and counselling services offered in secondary schools and determine the relationship between Guidance and Counselling services and students’ academic performance in Public secondary schools in Bureti Sub County. A conceptual framework based on Biswalo’s (1996) concept that guidance and counselling helps students develop proper study skills and acquisition of knowledge on examination techniques was adopted in this study to establish the influence of Guidance and Counselling services on student’s academic performance. The study established that 13(65%) of the practicing school counselors did not have the required qualifications of diploma and above in Guidance and Counselling. Guidance and Counseling facilities were inadequate in most schools. Types of Guidance and Counselling services offered in schools included individual, peer and group. The relationships between Guidance and Counselling services offered and academic performance was statistically significant. The study concluded that the types of Guidance and Counselling services preferred were peer and group and that Guidance and Counselling services accounted for 46.6% of students’ academic performance as signified by adjusted R square of .466. The study recommended that teacher counselors should be trained and the facilities for counseling should be improved. The findings of this study are significant to teacher counselors, Principals and the Ministry of Education Science and Technology as they will enable them to enhance Guidance and Counselling services in schools so as to achieve the set objectives of school guidance and counseling program.