Status of Counselling Awareness among Secondary School Students: A Case Study of Oji River Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria

Counselling provides information and assistance in critical areas of academic, social, personal, vocational, emotional and psychological challenges. Despite its importance, the level of counselling awareness among secondary school students leaves much to be desired. Hence, this descriptive study investigated status of counselling awareness among secondary school students in Oji River Local Government Area of Enugu State. A sample of 1218 students drawn from the population using proportional stratified random sampling technique participated in the study. The instrument for data collection was Counselling Awareness Inventory which was validated with the assistance of experts from the Department of Counselling Psychology. It has a reliability index of 0.83 which was established through test-retest method and Pearson correlation coefficient technique. The results of the study showed that there was no counselling awareness among the students; no significant difference in counselling awareness existed between male and female students and there was no significant difference in counselling awareness between students from schools located in urban centres and students from schools located in rural areas. It was therefore recommended that government of Enugu State should consider it a matter of necessity to employ professional counsellors and deploy them to secondary schools as staff to provide the much needed counselling services to the students. Keywords: Career counselling, vocational counselling, academic counselling, personal counseling, marriage counsellin

Personality Traits and Socio-Demographic Variables as Correlates of Counselling Effectiveness of Counsellors in Enugu State, Nigeria

Quality personality traits and socio-demographic variables are essential elements of effective counselling. This correlational study investigated personality traits and socio-demographic variables as predictors of counselling effectiveness of counsellors in Enugu State. The instruments for data collection were Personality Traits Assessment Scale and Counselling Effectiveness Inventory. These instruments were validated by three experts in Counselling Psychology. The reliability coefficients of Personality Traits Assessment Scale and Counselling Effectiveness Inventory as established by test-retest method and Pearson product moment correlation technique were 0.78 and 0.83 respectively. A sample of 309 registered and practising counsellors participated in the study. Four research questions and four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Research questions 1 and 3 were answered using the coefficient of regression (r), while research questions 2 and 4 were answered using the beta values associated with multiple regression analysis. Hypotheses 1 and 3 were tested at 0.05 probability level using analysis of variance associated with multiple regression analysis while hypotheses 2 and 4 were tested at 0.05 probability level using independent sample t-test associated with multiple regression analysis. Some major findings of this study revealed that there was a positive and significant joint relationship between personality traits and counselling effectiveness; extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness each had a positive relationship with counselling effectiveness of counsellors while neurotism had a negative relationship with the counselling effectiveness; socio-demographic variables had a positive and significant joint relationship with counselling effectiveness. It was therefore recommended that for effective counselling to take place, the counsellors should endeavour to manifest only the personality traits that relate positively with counselling effectiveness so as to produce effective counselling. Keywords: Personality traits, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, extraversion, socio-demographic variables and counselling effectiveness

Predictive Power of School Based Assessment Scores On Students’ Achievement In Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) In English And Mathematics

The study investigated the predictive power of school based assessment scores on students’ achievement in Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) in English and Mathematics. Two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. A sample of 250 students were randomly drawn from ten (10) schools out of twenty (20) Junior secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The instrument used for data collection was titled “Students Academic Record Inventory” (SARI). The instrument involves the students SBA score for JS1, JS2, JS3 and JSCE scores in English and Mathematics. The data generated were analyzed using multiple regression. The result revealed that the combination of the SBA scores significantly predicted students’ English and Mathematics achievement in JSCE, and there are relative effectiveness of SBA scores in students’ English and Mathematics achievement. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made including that school-based assessment should be encouraged and made compulsory for every secondary schools especially in core subjects which include English and Mathematics. Key words: Predictive power, school based, assessment, achievement