THE IMPACT OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLORS ON THE GENERAL SCHOOL PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ORDEO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This study examined the impact of professional counsellors on the general school performance of public senior secondary school students in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State. The study was guided by four research questions/objectives and three hypotheses. The study covered public senior secondary schools in Oredo LGA, Edo State. The study was built around Social Cognitive Theory (SLT) of Albert Bandura and Carl Ranson Rogers theory of Personality development. The descriptive survey research was adopted for this study. The population for the study consisted of two thousand and nineteen (2019) students in the thirteen (13) public senior secondary schools in Oredo LGA, Benin City, Edo state as at 2023/2024 academic session. The sample size for the study was three hundred and seventy-one (371) students in the public senior secondary schools in Oredo LGA. The multi-stage proportionate random sampling technique was adopted. The questionnaire was used to collect data titled ‘Guidance and Counselling and Students’ General School Performance (GCSGSP)’. The validity of the instrument was done by expert judgment of three lecturers from the Department of Educational Evaluation and Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin. The Cronbach Alpha statistics was used to analyze data collected to determine the reliability coefficient of the instrument which yielded coefficients value of 0.94, 0.90, and 0.83. Research question one (1) was analysed using frequency and percentage while the research hypotheses were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). All hypotheses were tested at 0.01 level of significance. Findings revealed that students in public senior secondary schools in Oredo LGA do not consult counsellors. Also, it was discovered that educational, vocational, personal and social counselling significantly impact on the general school performance of senior secondary  school student in Oredo LGA, Edo State. The study recommended that Students should see counsellors as their parents away from home by regularly consulting them in areas of personal and social counselling, educational counselling and vocational counselling which may help them improve their general school performance.