Role of guidance and counselling in managing discipline among tertiary college students in western region, Kenya

Abstract

Management of discipline among students in tertiary colleges is one issue that many college administrators are grappling with almost on a daily basis. Cases of sexual pervasion, drug abuse, prostitution, bullying, vandalism and examination malpractice among others have become prevalent in learning institutions in Kenya. Administrators are known to be applying more of the traditional methods than guidance and counselling to ensure effective management of discipline with very minimal success. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of guidance and counselling (G&C) in managing discipline among students in tertiary colleges in Western Region, Kenya. This study used a survey research design. The study had a population of 12,123 students and 39 G&C Coordinators. A sample size of 411 respondents comprising 375 students and 36 guidance and counselling coordinators were used. Data collection was done using two sets of questionnaires, one for G&C coordinators and another for students. The collected data was then analysed using both inferential and descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS computer software for windows. The following were the findings of this study: - Management of discipline had not fully been entrusted to guidance and counselling as the most preferred method; when G&C was involved, 24% of the G&C coordinators participated in the disciplinary proceedings. One quarter of the G&C coordinators had no professional training in counselling. This study concluded that the number of colleges that had fully embraced G&C as an intervention measure to manage discipline among students was below average. It was established that guidance and counselling had played a key role in helping students to change their behaviour and improve in academic performance in the colleges where it was fully operational; Most colleges had clear G&C policy frameworks despite the fact that their G&C programmes were not in tandem with the policies. The study came up with the following recommendations:- All G&C coordinators must undertake a professional training in counselling; The number of counselling teachers per institution should be proportional to the student enrolment and should not have any teaching load; It should be made policy that Guidance and counselling becomes the first line of defence when addressing discipline issues among students and all G&C coordinators were supposed to be inducted about implementation of policy.