ABSTRACT
This study determined the counselling needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South east, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. A sample of 773 SSII adolescents consisting of 165 minor seminarian and 608 in-school adolescents selected from a population of 15,450 minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in the South east Nigeria. Seven research questions and seven corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. The sample which represents 5% of the population was selected using multi-staged sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a 51-item researcher-developed Questionnaire titled: Counselling Needs of Minor seminarian and in-school adolescent. Questionnaire (CNSSSAQ). The instrument was validated by three experts: one each from Guidance and counselling, Psychology and Measurement and Evaluation all in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. The stability of the instrument was determined using Pearson product moment correlation with a coefficient of 0.84 while the internal consistency reliability was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistic with an overall reliability index of 0.82. Five briefed research assistants helped the researcher in data collection. Out of the 773 copies of the questionnaire administered, 754 copies were returned representing 98 percent return rate and were used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses that guided the study at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that the educational counselling needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in the South East Nigeria are almost the same and their needs include to: build confidence in the class and to improve their academic performance while their vocational counselling needs include to guide them on the type of career/vocation to venture into as well as on how to be self-employed after school; their social personal needs includes how to deal with peer groups, parental autonomy and interpersonal relationship while among their health counselling needs are drug abuse, sexual deviation, interhealth issue, how to deal with infectious diseases such as HIV and AIDS, among other findings. It was also found out that students in rural areas have more counselling needs than their counterpart in urban areas. Based on the findings, conclusion, discussion and recommendations were made. One of the recommendations was that Guidance-counsellors should be posted to all seminary and secondary schools for the provision of counselling needs of the students, irrespective of their school location.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables ix
Abstract x
CHAPTER
1:
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study 1
1.2 Statement
of the Problem 8
1.3 Purpose
of the Study 9
1.4 Research Questions 11
1.5 Hypotheses 11
1.6 Significance of the Study 12
1.7 Scope of the Study 14
CHAPTER
2:
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 15
2.1 Conceptual
Framework 15
2.1.1 Concept
adolescence 15
2.1.2 Concept of minor seminaries 17
2.1.3 Concept
of Counselling 17
2.1.4 Need
for Counselling Schools 24
2.1.5 Roles
of Counsellors 26
2.1.6
Counselling Needs of minor Seminarians and
In-School Adolescents 29
2.2 Theoretical Framework 36
2.2.1 Client-Centered
Theory by Carl Roges (1956) 36
2.2.2
Rational-Emotive Theory by Albert Ellis
(1977) 38
2.2.3
Need Theory by Dover (2019) 40
2.4 Review
of Empirical Studies 41
2.5 Summary
of Literature Review 54
CHAPTER
3: METHODOLOGY 56
3.1 Design of the study 56
3.2 Area of the Study 56
3.3 Population of the
Study 57
3.4 Sample and
Sampling Technique 57
3.5 Instrument for
Data Collection 59
3.6 Validation of the
Instrument 60
3.7 Reliability of the
Instrument 60
3.8 Method of Data
Collection 61
3.9 Method of Data
Analysis 61
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 62
1.1
Results 62
4.2 Major Findings 82
4.3 Discussion of Findings 84
CHAPTER 5:
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 89
5.1 Summary
of the Study 89
5.2 Conclusion 90
5.3 Educational and Counselling Implications
of the Study 92
5.4 Recommendations 94
5.5 Limitation of the Study 95
5.6 Suggestions
for Further Study 95
References
Appendices
LIST OF TABLES
4.1: Mean Ratings on the Educational Counselling Needs of
Minor
seminarians and in school
adolescents in South East (N=754) 62
4.2: t-test Analysis of mean Ratings of Minor seminarians
and
In-school
Adolescents on their Educational Counselling Needs 63
4.3: Mean Ratings on
the Vocational
Counselling Needs of Minor
seminary and In-school adolescents
in South East (N=752) 64
4.4: Mean Ratings on the Vocational Counselling Needs of Minor
seminary and In -school adolescents
in South East 65
4.5: Mean Ratings on
the Socio-Personal
Counselling Needs of Minor
seminary and in school adolescents
in South East (N=754) 66
4.6: Mean Ratings on the Socio-Personal Counselling Needs of
minor seminary and In- school
adolescents in South East 68
4.7: Mean Ratings on
the Health-Related
Counselling Needs of Minor
seminary
and In-school adolescents in South East 69
4.8: Mean Ratings on the Health-Related Counselling Needs of
Minor seminary and In- school
adolescents in South East 71
4.9: Mean Ratings on
the Counselling Needs of
Minor seminary
adolescents in Urban and rural areas
in the South East (N=157) 72
4.10: Mean Ratings on the Educational Counselling Needs of Minor
seminary Adolescents in Urban and
Rural Areas in South East 77
4.11: Mean Ratings on the Counselling Needs of In-school Adolescents
in Urban and rural areas in the
South East (N=597) 77
4.12: Mean Ratings on the Educational Counselling Needs of
In-School Adolescents in Urban and
Rural Areas in South East 82
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
Adolescents
are young people in the adolescence stage of life. There are individuals between
the ages of 10 and19 years (WHO,
2011). Those in schools are called
in-school adolescents,
some are in technical, vocational schools while some are in seminary schools.
In which ever learning ground they are, they have educational, vocational and
personal-
socio
needs (Bor, Dean, Najman & Hayatbakhsh, 2014). Adolescence represents a
distinct transitional and developmental stage, during which adolescents go
through important biological, psychological, and social changes (Casey, Duhoux
& Cohen, 2010). This transitional period is often accompanied by feelings
of insecurity, disorientation and anxiety that need to be overcome to
successfully complete the transition. Research findings over the past couple of
decades suggest that there has been a notable increase in behavioural and
psychological problems in adolescents This increase is often attributed to
changes in the socio-economical and family context in which children grow up,
as well as to changes in adolescents’ experiences, lifestyles, and expectations
(Reiss, 2013). As a consequence, researchers now recognize a growing need for
the implementation of effective counselling policies that address the needs of
adolescents in educational settings (National Academy of Sciences, 2021).
The investigation of adolescents’
counselling concerns through finding out their needs as an important first step
towards developing and implementing comprehensive school counselling programmes
(Chireshe 2012; Giovazolias, Leontopoulou & Triliva, 2010). Despite this,
research investigating adolescents’ perceptions of their counselling needs
seems surprisingly scarce, both in Nigeria and elsewhere. What is more, the
onset of the recent global
recession has dramatically affected the lives of millions of people all over
the world and has created an urgent need for research on students and their
counselling needs, which might drive future counselling programme
decision-making. Adolescents’ perceived counselling needs tend to vary
depending on their sex, age, and family socio-economic status including
locations (Sculli, 2011). In a study conducted in the USA (Sculli, 2011), high school boys
reported greater need in the social/personal domain compared to girls.
Moreover, younger adolescents reported more need for help in the areas of
bullying and peer pressure, whereas older adolescents expressed a desire to
know more about community resources. However, despite preliminary evidence
suggesting that Greek university students’ counseling needs varied according to
their sex and the number of semesters spent at a university. (Giovazolias,
Leontopoulou & Triliva,
2010), a study investigating Nigeria adolescents’ perceptions of their
counselling needs is currently not much.
Guidance
and counselling is a process
of helping individuals through their own efforts to develop and discover their
potentialities for personal happiness and social usefulness. It is not the imposition
of one person’s point of view upon another person. It is not making decision
for an individual which he should make for himself. It is not carrying the
burden of another’s life. Rather, guidance and counselling is assistance made
available by professionally qualified and adequately trained men and women to an individual
of any age to help him manage his own life activities, develop his own point of
view, make his own decisions, and carry out his own burden (Parankimalil,
2015).
It
includes the help given by one person to another in making choices and
adjustments and in solving problems. It aims at aiding the recipient to grow in
his independence and ability to be responsible for himself. It is a service
that is universal not confined to the school or the family, it is found in all
phases of life,
in the home, in business and industry, and in government. In social life, in
hospitals and in prisons,
indeed it is present where there are people who help and wherever there are
people who need help.
In other words, guidance and counselling is
that systematic, organized phase of the educational process which helps youth to
grow in his power to give point and direction to his own life, to the end that
he may gain richer personal experience while making his own unique contribution
to our democratic society. Guidance and counselling has many services, one of
which is counselling.
Counselling
refers to professional services given to an individual who is facing problem
and is in need of help to overcome the problem. It is a form of ‘talk theraphy’
(Sharma, 2015). It is a professional process which occurs when a counsellor and
a client meet to enhance the psychological wellbeing of a client and also a
definitely structured permissive relationship which allows the client to gain
an understanding of himself to a degree which enables him to take new positive
steps in the light of his new orientation (Mat Nor, 2020). Counselling as the
process of education along with instruction, is an integral part of educational
system. Counselling programme is
designed to address the physical, emotional, social, vocational and academic
difficulties of adolescent students. This is to complement learning in the
classroom and also enhance academic performance and achievements of the
students. Counselling plays a vital role in providing educational, personal,
social, mental, emotional and other similar needs of adolescent students.
Counselling can be seen as a programme of activities which provide us with the
gateway out of existing numerous needs in our present age of complex scientific
and technological development (Okobiah & Okorodudu, 2014). UNESCO module on counselling (2010) posits
that counselling is a programme of services to individuals based on their needs
and the influence of environmental factors. It is a professional field which
has a broad range of activities, programmes and services geared towards
assisting individuals to understand themselves, their problems, their school
environments and their world and also to develop adequate capacity for making
wise choices and decisions (Egenti, Ewomaoghene & Ebizie, 2016).
The goal of counselling services is to
enable each learner in institutions of learning derive optimal educational
benefits so as to actualize his/her potentialities. Thus, the National Policy
on Education (2013) states that in view of the apparent ignorance of many young
people about career prospects and in view of personality adjustments of in
school adolescent students, career officers and counsellors will be appointed in
post-primary institutions and tertiary levels. Anyi (2017) asserts that the
aims of counselling services are to provide learners with opportunities to
develop knowledge and appreciation of themselves and others, to develop
relationship skills, ethical standards and a sense of responsibility. According
to Akinade (2012), the major functions of counselling services are to provide
opportunities for each in-school adolescents to reach his full potential in the areas of
educational, vocational, personal and emotional development. In line with this,
Thamarasseri (2014) affirmed that counselling services prepare in school adolescent students to assume increasing responsibility for their
decisions and grow in their ability to understand and accept the results of
their choices.
Knowledge therefore, reveals that counselling services
are range of processes designed to enable adolescents to make informed choices
and transitions to adulthood related to their educational, vocational and
socio-personal development. Pandey (2016) defined counselling services as
services that help students to adjust to all aspects of their life and
development and develop into responsible citizens of society. Counselling
services are undertaken based on the unique needs of students and take into
consideration the fact that an individual has different needs that can affect them
physically, mentally as well as emotionally. The services such as educational
services, Socio-personal services and vocational
services aim to assist
students in gaining deeper self-understanding and awareness of one’s problems
and the effective use of the decision-making process by formulating
alternatives and projecting consequences of each that allow learners such as
secondary school adolescents to review critically what has taken place and make
provision for future activities if they are needed (Anwana, 2014).
Educational
counseling services are the assistance given to learners to help them make
suitable decisions regarding their education. According to Phillips (2012),
counsellors who provide counseling through classroom activities, individual and
group techniques, assists students
in applying effective study skills, setting realistic goals, learning
effectively and gaining test-taking skills. Educational counselling also
focuses on note taking, time management, memory techniques, relaxation
techniques, overcoming test anxiety and developing listening skills (Nwaoba, 2015). Educational
counselling services have an essential role to play in making sure that
students’ educational decisions are grounded on sound decisions and students
are helped to develop effective self-management in education and career path.
These educational services, according to Paraveen (2017) help all students
including minor seminarians, to check wastage and starvation in education,
choose educational courses best suited to them and make educational plans
consistent with their abilities, interests and goals, to select appropriate
curricula and help the learner to be informed about various educational
opportunities available for educational growth and developmental needs. These
services are expected to be accessed by all students including those studying
at the seminary schools.
Another
aspect of counselling in-schools is social-personal counselling
which are
those services that are designed to assist the student to understand, accept and respect themselves and others,
acquire effective interpersonal skills, understand safety and survival skills,
and be able to contribute in their immediate community (Purnama & Rahman,
2014). The counselling services help students to develop awareness and
acceptance of self and others, help improve personal competence in survival and
responsible for their decisions, develop and maintain good relationships with
others. Guidance-
Counsellors
are expected to provide personal and crisis counselling to students. Socio-personal counselling is also concerned with the
developmental needs of the individual in personal and social areas such as
developing awareness about interpersonal relationships beginning from the early
ages; working on communication skills, life skills, social skills,
problem-solving skills, decision-making skills; anger management, dealing with
peer pressure and developing healthy relationships with the opposite sex
(Bulus, 2010). According to Gatua (2014), Counselling plays a major role of
promoting students’ success through a focus on social and emotional adjustment
by means of prevention and intervention services, advocacy and treatment of
emotional turbulence. They learn more about themselves and others before they
have problems resulting from fear, anger and grieving. Socio-personal guidance
and counselling services help an individual to know and understand
himself/herself and others,
accept his superior and limiting features and develop
himself, trust himself, develop effective interpersonal relationships, make
sound choices about personal and social decisions, become a personally,
socially balanced and harmonious individual (Durlak, Weissberg, Taylor and Schellinger,
2011). Thus, they enable the continuously developing individual such as minor
seminarians or any other adolescents to manage the developmental tasks at
various developmental stages.
Vocational
counselling services according to Kehinde (2011), is the process of
assisting the individual to choose an occupation, prepare for it, enter upon it
and progress in it. It is concerned primarily with helping individuals make
decisions and choices involved in planning a future and building a career. The
purpose behind assisting the youths to choose, prepare, enter and progress in a
vocation is for the optimum growth of the individual. According to Denga
(2011), vocational counselling services are those services and activities
intended to assist an individual of any age and field of life at any point
throughout their lives, for training and for occupational choices and to manage
their careers. Stern (2021) defined vocational counselling services as those
activities that assesse an individual’s intelligence, aptitude, interests,
abilities and skill levels in order to create and follow a career path. Such
services refer to services that assist individuals to choose a vocation,
prepare for efficiency and success in it (Ogbodo, 2013). Every individual
including students has to work. They need to be prepared for such an important
aspect of life. Adolescents in schools whether secondary school or seminaries
need such services.
Notwithstanding
the importance of counselling
services embedded in those counselling aspects, the specific counselling services such as
counselling, appraisal, referral, placement, information, orientation and
follow up are very vital in the life of a student. These are needed by all
learners in every institution of learning including those in seminary schools
known as seminarians. Apart from academic problems of failure and dropout of
students from schools, other numerous psycho-social; vocational and
personal-social problems abound among students in schools. Parents and other
stakeholders in the education sector in recent times have been concerned about
these academic problems of students. WASC results between 2012 and 2017 showed
45% failure according to chief examiner report (2017); this indicate need for
counselling in all categories of schools including seminaries. It is of great importance that counsellors
carry out personal-social, educational and vocational guidance and counselling
in order to attend to students’ educational, vocational, emotional and social
development, bearing in mind their needs and problems as adolescents in
secondary schools (Denga, 2011).
The
provision of counselling services to minor seminarians and secondary school
adolescents is geared towards helping students to understand self and to take
appropriate steps in making educational, social, vocational and psychological
lifelong decisions (Omoniyi 2016). Consequently, it is necessary to help minor
seminarians and secondary school adolescents gain adequate knowledge and
understanding about the skills, attitudes and values that they need to
cultivate in order to live functionally in a constantly changing society such
as Nigeria. According to Omoniyi (2016) the objectives of counselling needs of
minor seminarians and school adolescents according to the blueprint are to:
Equip minor seminarians and secondary
school adolescents through guidance and counselling programme with the skills
of making appropriate satisfying choices, enable the students to develop
positive self-image, assist the students to effect smooth transition from one
educational level to the other, assist teachers, other school staff members and
parents in understanding the needs and problems of each student, assist school
administration in her improving educational opportunities and programmes, equip
students with problem-solving skills, encourage students to develop good
interpersonal relationship, assist students to develop adequate time management
skills, mobilize school, home ,comprehensive
and community for the satisfaction of students educational, vocational
and psycho-social needs yet there is no guidance and counselling services in
seminaries and in some secondary schools in South East Nigeria.
(Field survey, 2021) Seminaries here are
post primary schools for the training of would be Catholic Priests. Minor
seminaries are for secondary adolescents’ while senior seminaries are for Under
graduates or those who have finished their secondary school. It is based on
this that the study tried to find out the counselling needs of minor
seminarians and in- school adolescents in public secondary schools in the
South-East, Nigeria.
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Students
at the secondary level of education are mostly adolescents, such as those in the
minor Seminaries and secondary schools. These adolescents are in the trial
period between the end of childhood and
beginning of adulthood. They
have their peculiar needs from those of adults and children irrespective of
their learning settings. To
be able to transit into adulthood with minimum problems, the adolescents must
go through some developmental tasks such as achieving new and more mature
relationship with the age mates of both sexes, achieve masculine and
feminine roles, emotional
independence, social
responsible behaviour, prepare for economic life
and many others, while their developmental needs include physical needs, personality needs, need for independence, achievement, and a satisfying philosophy
of life (Nwaoba, 2015). Government at all levels, seem to encourage every
sector of the society to have a stake in seeing to it that adolescents
developmental tasks and needs are sufficiently guided to enable them achieve
self-worth
during this trial period. Stakeholders
in education on their own part seem to have encouraged schools to utilize all
the available resources within the school and home to help adolescents meet
their needs. Hence
guidance and counselling programme is established for some periods in the
secondary schools excluding seminary schools. Through guidance and
counselling programme the
adolescents’ tasks and needs could
be sufficiently guided.
In
spite of these, personal experience shows that minor Seminarians who are also
adolescents seem to have no official marked means of meeting and satisfying
their developmental tasks and needs through guidance and counselling programme unlike other
adolescents in the secondary schools. There are neither guidance and counselling
programme nor professional Guidance-Cousellors in the seminary
schools.
Consequently, the seminarian's needs
for various aspects of school guidance and counselling programme such as
educational, vocational and social personal services seem largely unmet. No wonder that some of
the minor Seminarians experience intense conflicts and majority rarely get to
the peak of the Priestly vocation. This study sets out to identify the
counselling needs of adolescents in both minor seminaries and secondary schools
mainly to find out if the counselling needs of secondary school adolescents are
different or the same with those adolescents in the minor seminaries; with the intention of
being equipped with strong scientific basis for advocating for the official
establishment of guidance and counselling programme in the minor seminaries. As
well as the improvement of the already existing guidance and counselling programme in
secondary schools. Therefore, the
problem of this study is. What are the counselling needs of minor seminarians
and in-school adolescents in public secondary schools in South East, Nigeria?
1.3
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study was to find out counselling needs of minor
seminarians and in- school adolescents in South-East, Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of the study
are to:
1.
Determine the educational
counselling needs of minor seminarians and
in-school adolescents in South-Eastern, Nigeria
2.
Determine the vocational counselling needs of
minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in
South-Eastern, Nigeria
3.
Determine the socio-personal counselling needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in
South-Eastern, Nigeria
4.
Determine the health
counselling needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in
South-Eastern, Nigeria.
5.
Determine the counselling
needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in
South-Eastern, Nigeria
based on location.
6.
Determine
the difference between the educational, vocational
and socio-personal counselling
needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South Eastern
Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions guided the study:
1.
What are the
educational needs of Minor Seminaries and in-school adolescents in South East Nigeria?
2.
What are the
vocational needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South East Nigeria?
3.
What are the
socio-personal counselling needs of the minor
seminarians and in-school adolescents in South East Nigeria?
4.
What are the
health needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents’ in South East,
Nigeria?
5.
What are the counselling needs of
minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South
East Nigeria based on location?
6.
What is the
difference between the educational, vocational and socio-personal counselling
needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in the South East, Nigeria?
1.5 HYPOTHESES
The following null
hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05level of significance to further guide the study.
Ho1: There is no significant difference between the educational counselling
needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South East, Nigeria?
Ho2: There
is no significant difference between the vocational counselling
needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South East, Nigeria?
Ho3: There
is no significant difference between the socio-personal counselling needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents in South East, Nigeria?
HO4: There is no
significant difference between the health counselling needs of
minor-seminarians and in-school adolescents in South-East, Nigeria.
Ho5: There is no significant difference in the counselling needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescent in South East Nigeria based on
location?
HO6: There
is no significant difference between the educational, vocational
and socio-personal couselling needs of the minor seminarians
and in-school adolescants in South East, Nigeria?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The findings of this study
if published would be of a great benefit to minor seminarians and in school
adolescents, school guidance-counsellors, teachers, school principals, parents and policy makers, religious
formators and the church. The findings would also be significant theoretically.
The findings of this study
would help the minor seminarians to make their need assessment and also to
understand the need for counseling in seminary schools.
To in-school adolescents, the study would help them to be aware of the
benefit and the need for counseling on their needs such as Educational,
Vocational and social-personal needs.
The
findings of this study would help guidance-counsellors to understand the
various counselling needs of in-school adolescents’ including those at the
seminary schools. This would help them adjust where necessary for an
improvement in their service delivery.
To
the principals and teachers, the right perception of the needs of thier
in-school adolescents’. would not only assist them in ensuring that they offer
students the necessary support, but would motivate them to also assist school
counsellors
in promoting the counselling services in schools profession. The findings could
sent us a means for advocating for adequate school counsellor roles across the
country. The findings would help principals and heads of schools to support
counsellors
to work towards providing the needs of minor seminarians and in-school
adolescents.
The
findings of the study would be beneficial to the parents in that it could
bridge the gap between the school system and the students’ families. The parent
would be helped to see the needs of their children and wards vis-a-vis the
guidance-counsellors
in the lives of their children and or wards especially on their academic,
social and vocational development.
The
findings of this study would be an eye-opener to the policy makers on the
relevance of counselling programme in all schools especially in the seminaries.
This could spur them to make policies/laws that would positively improve the
condition of the counselling
in our educational institutions and provide an enabling environment for
counselling services in our society generally.
Finally,
the findings of this study would contribute to available literature on
counselling needs of minor seminarians and in school adolescents. This study
would thus serve as valid and usable information to educational sector and add
knowledge to other researchers who might wish to embark on research or related
perspectives. It is obvious that this work would provide them direction and
guideline for their study. Above all, the findings of this study would be used
to make a laudable
case for establishment of counselling in all seminary schools and secondary schools in South East Nigeria.
The
findings of this study would obviously authenticate the assumptions of the
major theories on which this study is
based.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The
study was on counselling needs of minor seminarians and in school adolescents
in public Secondary Schools in South-East, Nigeria in areas of Educational
need, Vocational need and social personal need as the content scope.
Geographically, this study took place in minor seminary and public secondary
schools in South-East, Nigeria. Educational counselling needs, vocational counseling
needs, social-personal counselling needs and
health-related counselling
needs of minor seminarians and in-school adolescents constitute the major content scope. Location
(rural and urban) served as the moderating variable.
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