Counselling For Educational Reform and Sustainability: A 21ST Century Approach

COUNSELLING FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND
SUSTAINABILITY:
A 21ST CENTURY APPROACH
EDUCATION
Guidance
Counselling
CAREER
Therapeautic Interventions
Information
PERSONAL-SOCIAL
Edited by Agbajor, Asamaigo and Anigala
SCIENCE AND EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, NIGERIA
COUNSELLING FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND SUSTAINABILITY:

A 21ST CENTURY APPROACH
Dr. (Mrs) Helena T. Agbajor, (Editor-in-Chief)

Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, P.M.B. 1251, Warri, Delta
State, Nigeria
Dr. (Mrs) E.E. Asamaigo (Associate Editor)

State, Nigeria
Dr. (Mrs) A. Anigala (Associate Editor)

College of Education Demonstration Secondary School, Warri, Delta State. Nigeria

i
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be

made without written permission.
This first edition published 2014 by

2 Church Avenue, Oke Eri Quarters
Oba Ile
P.O.Box 214, Akure
Ondo State
Nigeria
+2348122469297
ISBN: 978 978 52231 4 - 9
ii
BOARD
Abulude, F.O. (Nigeria) - President/CEO
LIST OF ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Balogun G. A. Sanni
Saag Chemical (Nig.) Ltd, 4 Sanni Way, Off Godwin Omonua, Off Banks Way, Isolo
Illasamaja, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Prof. Mohammad S. Mubarak
Chemistry Department, University of Jordan, Amman-11942, JORDAN
Prof. T. T. Adebolu
Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Ondo State, Akure,
Nigeria
Prof. Francisco Torrens
Universitat de Valncia, InstitutUniversitari de Cincia Molecular, Universitat de
Valncia, Edificid'Instituts de Paterna, Valncia, Spain
Hon. Niyi Jones Akinyugha
30B, Olufumilayo Str., Dideolu Estate, P.O.Box 4822K, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
Prof. V. A. Aletor
Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria
Mr. Sola Akitimehin
Akinrinaye Street, Ilesha Garage, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
Prof. E. A. Aderinola
Department of Agricultural Economics, Federal University of Technology, Akure,
Ondo State, Nigeria
iii
CONTENTS
Board
iii
Contents
iv
Acknowledgments
vi
Preface
vii
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
Counselling for Sustainable Education: Issues in The

21st Century - Agbajor, T. Helena and Alordiah Caroline
Ochuko
Adoption for Psychological Tests in Guidance and

Counselling: A Panacea for Educational Reform and
Sustainability in Nigeria - A. A. Agbaje and A. O. Agbaje
11
Functional and Sustainable Education in Nigeria:

The 21st Century Approach - Oghiagbephan, A.D.
19
Counselling for Effective Utilization of

Information and Communication Technology Among
Ekiti State Secondary School Students, Nigeria
- E. O. Osakinle
30
Criminal Gangs in Urban Areas: A Threat to Democratic

Governance in Nigeria - Beetseh, Kwaghga
38
Curriculum and Vocational Counselling: Implication

for Educational Reforms and Management of
Unemployment among Nigerian Youth
- Olagunju, Mukaila K. O. and Adeyemi, Shade Vivian
55
Guidance and Counselling Needs in the Educational

Programme - Edna Abibetu Abidde
70
Counselling For Utilization of Information and

Communication Technology Anigala A.
79
Evaluation of Continuous Assessment Practice by

Secondary School Teachers: Counselling Implication
iv
CHAPTER 10
for Functional and Sustainable Education

- Alordiah Caroline Ochuko and Agbajor, T. Helena
86
The Impact of Anxiety, Self-Concept and Truancy

on Children With Off-Task Behaviour In Warri
Metropolis - Asamaigo, E. E
98
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The President/CEO wishes to thank members of staff of Science and Education
Development Institute, Nigeria for their selfless service in making this publication a
reality.
vi
PREFACE
PREFACE
The book titled Counselling for Functional and Sustainable Education: A 21st Century
Approach is a maiden edition of Science and Education Development Institute
(SEDInst) intended for student, neophyte and professional counsellors, care givers,
researchers and all that need help in educational, vocational and personal-social
matters. Education is an informal and formal teaching and learning process aimed at
improving knowledge and the development of skills from elementary to higher
education. Counselling is a significant means of functionalising and sustaining
education through its array of qualitative services meant to make education goals
meaningful and achievable to its recipient.
The main objective of the book which is a blend of chapters on reviewed and empirical
studies is to equip individuals with relevant data for subsequent researches, satisfy
their personal quest for knowledge and meet their needs. The book contains a total of
ten chapters that began with an introductory presentation on Counselling for
Sustainable Education: Issues in the 21st Century and ended with
. Each chapter, especially chapters eight to ten were carefully selected and written with
accurate and appropriate literature review, methodology, discussions, findings and
recommendations.
We give God all the credit for His enabling grace in making this book a reality and we
deeply appreciate the privilege given to us by Mr. F. O. Abulude, the president of
Science and Education Development Institute (SEDInst) in ensuring that a book chapter
in counselling is accorded its apt position in the scheme of things in academic
environment. The effort of meaningful scholars who contributed various chapters and
authors whose materials were used that cumulated to the success of the book is also
acknowledged. This edition will create possibility for subsequent editions in the realm
of counselling.
Dr. (Mrs) Agbajor, Helena Tsaninomi
Editor in Chief
State, Nigeria.
vii
CHAPTER ONE
COUNSELLING FOR SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION: ISSUES IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
Agbajor, T. Helena and Alordiah Caroline Ochuko
Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, Warri
ABSTRACT
The study is aimed at exploring counselling as an instrument of
attaining sustainable of education processes at all levels. Education is
relevant in fulfilling economic, political, social, cultural and
technological advancement. Counselling serves as one of the agencies
for creating an intervening effect in the standard of education.
However, this is not without its attendant inhibitions which this study
discussed and has attempted to offer recommendations that can brand
counselling more efficacious in the implementation of its services.
KEYWORDS: Sustainable Education, Counselling
INTRODUCTION
Education is a significant means of achieving economic and technological
improvement when fully implemented in school and out of school situations. Its
usefulness in assessing opportunities and self-enhancement in terms of career
and development cannot be over-emphasized. Students and non-students alike
benefit from its dividends. Education laid the foundation in which many nations
of the world attained reasonable heights of technology advancement required for
the rare innovations, creativity and economic rehabilitation (Maduewesi &
Ezeoba, 2010).
In view of this, sustaining education will amount to preserving it through the
processes which Ughammadu (2006) outlined as peoples acquisition of cultural
heritage, knowledge, ideals and civilization of the future. Education can be
sustained when its values, principles and processes are adhered to by the
learners, teachers and counsellors who are the keepers of the tenets of education.
Counselling is unique and second to none in providing assistance to teachers,
students, parents, school administrators and curriculum planners in fulfilling the
policies of education as it applies to each of them. The counselling process
remains one of the exclusive ways of sustaining the age long system of education
that has been nurtured to build useful and self-productive citizens that can
transfer a nation into an acceptable level of development.
Knowledge for Global Development

1
The Concept of Education

Education is a continuous process that compasses teaching and learning which
commences from birth till death. These processes is what Fafunwa (1987)
described as the aggregate by which a child or adult develops the abilities,
attitudes and other forms of behaviors which are of positive value to the society
in which he lives. Education is also perceived in three dimensions. They are
development of knowledge, training of mental abilities and development of
character (Anyaogu, 2011). The three areas accentuated above can be attained
through the rendering of assistance to students, teachers, parents school
management which is what counselling entails. Education is a mirage of all
activities that involves the learners, teachers and content to be learnt or taught. In
most of these activities counselling is required to make teaching and learning
experiences worthwhile. A section of the National Policy on Education (NPE)
states that education should be geared towards:
Self-realization, better human relationship, individual and national efficiency,
effective citizenship, national consciousness, national unity, social, cultural,
economic, political, scientific and technical progress (NCE, 2004).
The laudable objective indicated above cannot be achieved by teachers effort
alone. The input of counselling through the effort of professional counsellors is
required to help pupils and students alike achieve these educational goals.
The Meaning of Counselling
Counselling is one to one encounter in form of a relationship between
professionally trained helper and a helpee with the sole aim of rendering
assistance that enables the helpee achieve set - realization and adjust to life
encounters. Counselling can be defined from the perspective of learning. In this
regard, it is considered as a process of learning in which individuals learn about
themselves (personal characteristics, interpersonal relationships, attitudes, values
and behavior) that help them in their development (Okon,1984). In other words,
counselling provides learning opportunities for individuals who are willing to
learn from the counsellor and make appropriate choices applicable to their area
of needs. Counselling also act as a helping process whereby the helpers basic
function is to provide facilitative and action condition necessary for change in the
clients mode of thinking, feeling and behaviour (Alao, 1991). The facilitative role
is provided by counsellors who act as guide to clients with a view to helping
them make selection from a number of alternatives that relates to their prodding
needs.
Counselling relationships in most cases are between two persons (a counsellor
and a client). In group counselling, it could be a counsell or and 10-12 persons. It
could also be two counselors relating with 6 10 or15 individuals in a group of
counselling section (Okobia and Okorodudu, 2004). Counselling encounter
2
between the counsellor and clients operates not only within the confine of
schools but also homes, churches, offices, industries and the society in general. It
was suggested by Bulus and Okpede (2012) as one of the important guidance
services that is relevant in ensuring quality education. Its usefulness in the
educational parlance enables it to render assistance to individuals in their areas
of need.
THE ROLE OF COUNSELLING IN SUSTAINING EDUCATION IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
Counselling is uniquely relevant and sine quanon in the reformation and
sustainability of education all over the world. It is the driving or motivating force
that makes teaching and learning more meaningful to students and adults in all
levels of education. Counselling is instrumental in preserving the values of
education and in ensuring that educational course content of each subject or
course is actualized through the facilitative role of the manager of counselling
programmes the counsellor.
The objectives of counselling as outlined by Adediran (1995), Ogunyemi (2003)
and Mallum (2005) include the following:
1. To assist all students in making appropriate and satisfying educational,
vocational and personal-social choices.
2. To assist all students in acquiring as early as possible positive image of self
through self-understanding, self-direction and skills in problem-solving
and decision making.
3. To develop in students an awareness of opportunities in the personal
social, educational and vocational areas by providing them with
appropriate, useful and usable information.
4. To help students acquire the skills of collecting, collating and using
appropriate information.
5. To help students develop positive attitudes to self, others, to appropriate
national issues to work and to learn.
6. To develop among them career awareness through understanding of
career opportunities, lifestyles that are reflected in different types of work
and job openings.
7. To help students remove barriers that may inhibit learning.
8. To help them participate meaningfully in the opportunities provided by
the school in curricular and co-curricular activities.
These objectives are not only applicable to students but also to other wellmeaning individuals that need counselling and they are to be implemented
through counselling in order to achieve the central objectives of education. In
doing this, the counselor is saddled with a huge responsibility which Ogunyemi
(2003) noted to be a function that cannot be provided by parents, peers or
teachers.
3
The counsellor plays a fundamental function in interpreting the content of the

school curriculum through individual and group counselling that involves the
use of psychological techniques and theories intended to aid clients in identifying
problems, explore possible solutions and carry out assignments that are targeted
towards resolving challenges. The services of counsellors are expressly reflected
in the three tiers of counselling which is educational, vocational and personalsocial counselling. These services are meant to help individuals understand self
and apply educational principles to life situations and adapt favourably to their
environment.
These activities of the counsellors are indicative of the ways in which counselling
helps in reforming and preserving the educational norms through the
modification of individual behaviour. The behaviour of individuals could be
changed and made to conform to educational goals and standards through
individual and group counselling.
Individual Counselling
Individual counselling is an interaction involving an agreement between two
individuals. It is a relationship in which at least one of the parties (the counsellor)
has the intent of promoting growth, development, maturity, improved
functioning and improved coping with life of the other (the client) (Rogers, 1961).
This kind of counselling encounter provides a kind of relationship that is
therapeutic, professional and educative.
Group Counselling
Group counselling is a process that involves a counselling experience between
one or more counsellors and a group of individuals who are provided with
educational, vocational and personal - social information relating to their
necessities. It is a mode of counselling based on a counsellor and four to ten
clients (Clifford cited in Okobiah and Okorodudu, 2004). There is no restriction
as to the number of clients that should be in the group. The goal of group
counselling is to share and solve problems through group association.
The major goal of these two forms of counselling according to Okobia and
Okorodudu (2004)is helping the individuals, whether they are alone or in a
group towards remediation of their emotional, social, psychological and
educational problems and in developing a positive self- concept or a fulfilling
and satisfying self-actualization. The major difference in the two forms of
counselling is in each setting. The setting for individual counselling must exclude
a third party while that of group counselling is an open setting.
CHALLENGES OF COUNSELLING PRACTICE
Counselling practice is meant to enhance individuals needs through the
provision of adequate educational, vocational and personal-social information.
4
Interestingly, the implementations of these services are not without some

impediments that have reduce the efficacy of counselling practice both within
school and non-school setting viz:
Counselling Facilities
Counselling facilities is a prominent index that has militated against counselling
in all capacities. The government through its national policy on education in
1977, 1978, 1979 and revised in 2004 saw counselling as an instrument for
sustaining education and effecting national development (Owuamanam, 2005
and Agbajor, 2013) and hence its inclusion in the Nigerian educational system by
the federal government (Saidu, 2011). The implication of this is that education
can be reformed and sustained when the necessary counselling facilities which
(Oladele, 1987 and Isiugo Abanihe & Odenyi, 2011) listed as psychological tests
(vocational interest inventory -V11, motivation for occupation preference scale MOPsand student problem inventory-SPI), career album, information boards,
counselling office,
counselling records, Suggestion boxes, tape records,
computers, stationaries, etc. are provided.
These counselling facilities when available in any counselling or school settings
make counselling functional and the relationship a worthwhile experience.
Counselling in any school environment should be to cater for pressing issues that
bothers on relationships, poor study habits, poor performance, psychological and
social challenges that tend to disturb learning processes.
Funding
Counselling practice like any other service need finance to provide facilities, run
its programmes and pay its personnel where necessary. The reverse seems to be
the case in the school system. Odigie(2005) is however, of the opinion that there
ought to be enough financial support for counselling units for the purpose of
adequate provision of utilities such as audio visuals, stationery and fund for
attendance of conferences, seminars and workshops.
Lack of fund in most cases, tend to thwart the effort of the counsellor in achieving
counselling goals and in performing administrative roles and functions. This is
the ordeal of counsellors in most cases as there is no financial budget made
specifically for counselling programmes (Alao, 2005). There is no fund is often
the slangs of principals. Counsellors are consequently left to fend for themselves
and their programmes which are financially involving.
Counselors Relationship with School Administrative Personnel
A cordial relationship ought to exist between counsellors, principals, teachers,
vice principals and other counselling personnel. Hostility, rancor, role confusion,
excessive workload for counsellors, degradation and disregard seems to have its
toll in most counselling relationships with members of staff. Such rivalries and
5
lack of cooperation according to Mallum (2000) affects the effort of stake holders
whose input in sustaining education provided in schools and other organization
where counselling is practiced is marginalized. The cause of the rivalries could be
as a result of fear ofcounsellors taking over their roles, exercising superiority over
them especially because he or she has close affinity with the students and
students hold them in high esteem where counsellors are models indeed.
Close relationship, support and cooperation is needed between principals,
members of staff and counsellors to reduce numerous school problems like
indiscipline, examination malpractice, poor academic performance, rioting,
cultism, sexual immorality, truancy, premarital pregnancy, rape and others
which negatively affect students performance (Owuamanam, 2005). Parents are
not exempted from this as they are part of the agent of educational change. Their
cooperation with the counsellor is something that should be highly solicited for.
Counsellors cannot achieve counselling goals when they are at pal with
authorities that are. Counsellors can only be termed successful when things are
going on smoothly in the school system, organizational settings and any country
where counselling is practiced.
Training of Counsellors
Training of counsellors for the purpose of creating change and sustainable
education is as important as training the recipient. One of the major challenges
plaguing counselling practice is lack of adequate and qualified counselors in the
schooling environment and this Aluede and Imonike (2002) noted, is largely
responsible for lack of articulated guidance curriculum. Individuals without
appropriate training in counselling may lack psychological skills for diagnosing,
administering and analyzing psychological tests as well as employing the right
therapeutic measures for treatment of certain behavioural cases. This is why they
need training and according to Saidu (2011), they should be competent
professionals whose services are highly required in school setting. The main
training for counselling is organized by universities and some colleges of
education (Oladele, 1987) and the least qualification for a counsellor as stipulated
by the Nigerian Policy on Education in collaboration with the counselling
Association of Nigeria (CASSON) is B.ED certificate in guidance and counselling
(Olayinka, 1980 & Achebe, 1986). Counsellors with such qualification can
upgrade themselves by going for further training to obtain M.ED and Ph.D in
guidance and counselling in order to meet up to professional trends. The essence
of this is for them to be well equipped to manage modern day challenges
associated with clients needs. Engaging in researches and participating in
seminars, workshops and conferences are ways of advancement for counsellors.
However, lack of awareness, motivation and finance are factors that have stalled
their training in recent times.

6
ECounselling
E counselling seems to be a new phenomenon within the counselling parlance. It
is a modern means of communication between counsellor(s) and client(s) in
sessions via internet within a stipulated period of at least once a week in a year or
six months with a singular purpose of assisting clients in discovering themselves
and making useful choices in relation to their educational, vocational and
personal-social needs. E counselling or telecounselling is an extension of
information and communication technology which Ivowi (2005) prescribed as
generic term employed in describing the generation, storage, dissemination and
eliciting of relevant information for therapeutic encounter. Most counsellors seem
to be regressive in relation to familiarization and use of information technology.
Their lack of competency in the use of electronic services could deter them from
relating effectively with clients who are not within their immediate reach.
Electronic communication involves the use of e-mails, internet and
communication aided strategies in counselling clients (Adika, 2011). Adika
further added that counsellors are not left out in this all-important phenomenon
which has potential to transform not only counselling practices but education as
well. Counsellors who lack basic skills in electronic services may not be able to
email and make internet contact with distant clients that need such help. This
may have been necessitated by lack of access to the electronic gadgets or lack of
training in their usage.
CONCLUSION
The government, federal and state ministries of education, school administrators,
parents, teachers, counsellors and students havestarring role to play in reforming
and sustaining educational standard towards producing self-reliant citizens that
can fend for themselves and others which is the major goal of education as stated
in the National Policy on Education (2004). Counselling function in this regard is
encompassing because it connects the home, school and society through its
unique activities that offers therapeutic services in individual and group
counselling.
Recommendations for Managing Challenges in Counselling for Sustainable
Education in the 21st Century
Educational reform and sustainability is attainable if only the following
recommendations that will allow for effective counselling are enforced.
1. Government, federal and state ministries of education and school heads
should as a matter of policy have annual allocation of fund that will be
sufficient to manage counselling programmes.
2. Government should make available counselling facilities that could enhance
counselling activities both in school and non-school setting.
3. Organizations and schools with counselling facilities should imbibe
maintenance culture that will enable equipment such as computer, office
furniture, tapes and others serve for a long period of time.
7
4. Scholarship and subventions should be made available to counsellors by

government and NGOs in order to give themselves to adequate training.
5. More effort should be made by the government to train and retrain
counsellors in E communication. It gives room for a wider range of
counselling activities. Individuals will have opportunity to relate with
counsellors on line as it is in developed countries.
6. Government and NGOs should establish more counselling centers in every
field of organizations in government custody. There should be at least three
counsellor to a school from nursery to tertiary institutions depending on the
population strength. It creates an atmosphere for early introduction of
children to counselling practice which is intended to foster quality education.
REFERENCES
Achebe, C.C. (1986). Training and certification of Nigerian counselors: Problems
and prospects. Nigerian Journal of Counselling and Development.1 (2), 95-105.
Adediran, G. (1995).Handbook of guidance and counselling. Ado-Ekiti: Hope Paper
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Agbajor, H.T. (2013).The impact of Mathematics education and economic
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Alao, A. A. (1991). Individual Counselling.In S. A.Gerinde (Ed).Readings in
counselling practicum. Ibadan: Vantage Publisher.
Alao, I.F. (2005). Repositioning guidance and counselling services in the National
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Anyaogu, R.O. (2011). The role of parents in refocusing child education in
Nigeria.In P. Egbule, J. E. Tabotnadip and D. A. Abaho (Eds.),Refocusing education
in Nigeria in the 21st century (pp 348-357). Lagos: West and Solomon Publishing
Ltd.
Bulus, I.,& Okpede, D.O. (2012). Managing the guidance programmes in schools
for quality education. Retrieved from http://www.dspace.unijos.edu.ng
Fafunwa, A. B. (1989). Education in mother tongue, Ibadan: University Press Ltd.
Isiugo-Abanihe, I. M.,&Odeniyi, O. A. (2011).Evaluation of guidance and
counselling resources in secondary schools in Oyo State.Conference Proceedings of

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the Annual National Conference of the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON).

40-46
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O.Igbo (Eds.), Issues and challenges in Nigerian education in the 21st century (pp. 115). Onitsha. West and Solomon Publishing Coy Ltd
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Odigie, J.I. (2005). Counselling for holistic education.WAJOPHE, 9, 1, 73-80.
Okobia, O. C.,& Okorodudu, R.I. (2004).Concepts of guidance and counselling. In
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Oladele, J. O. (1987). Guidance and counselling. A functional approach. Lagos: JohnsLad Enterprises.
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Ogunyemi, B. (2003). The counsellor and other school personnel: Practical
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Ughamadu, K. A. (2006). Curriculum Concept, development and implementation.

Nkpor Onitsha: Lincel Publishers.

10
CHAPTER TWO
ADOPTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS IN GUIDANCE AND
COUNSELLING: A PANACEA FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM
AND SUSTAINABILITY IN NIGERIA
A. A. Agbaje
Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling
University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
A. O. Agbaje
Union Bank of Nigeria, Amuwo Odofin Branch, Festac Town, Lagos
ABSTRACT
The study clarified the nature of psychological tests and portrays these
tests as a stimulus presented to an individual so as to elicit a response
on the basis of which a judgment is made on certain attributes and
abilities possessed by that individual. The response which constitutes
the basis of such a judgment is essentially a sample of the individual
background behaviour from which inferences are made about the entire
universe of abilities and attributes possessed by that individual. Three
major categories of human attributes were highlighted and classification
of psychological tests was similarly identified. The differences existing
between standardized and non-standardized test were clarified,
significance and functions of psychological test were spelt out to
familiarize the testers and proctors with the relevance of psychological
test and the work that lie ahead of them. A number of basic principles
that can guide the selection of psychological tests within the school and
non-school settings were itemized as a proof for understanding the
administration, scoring and interpretation of test. Besides it shows the
benefits of using psychological tests, how it makes counselling more
scientific and enhances the effectiveness of counselling programmes in
making the individual more useful to self and the environment.
KEYWORDS:
Educational Reform
and
Psychological test, Guidance and Counselling.
Sustainability,
INTRODUCTION
A psychological test can be observed as a stimulus presented to an individual so
as to elicit a response on the basis of which a judgment is made on certain
attributes and abilities possessed by that individual. The response which
constitutes the basis of such a judgment is essentially a sample of the individual
behaviour from which inferences are made about the entire abilities and
attributes possessed by that individual. This is why some psychologists define a

11
test as an objective sample of some aspects of behaviour (Bakare, 1977; Carton,

2005).
The presented stimulus could be of several types and they gave rise to particular
types of tests. First, there could be a written stimulus such as the question, what
is your name and if the answer is also in written form, this gives rise to paperpencil-test. Second, there could be a performance stimulus in which the
individual is required to execute some specified practical task as solving jig-saw
puzzle or constructing blocks to match presented designs, such tasks give rise to
performance test. Third, there could be situation stimuli which consist of
putting the individual in special situations such as: speaking before a strange
audience so as to observe his reaction.
This gives a view of situational stimuli and fourth, there could be an oral
stimulus such as asking an oral question What is the capital of Nigeria. If an
oral answer is required to this question, this gives rise to oral test, (Carton, 2005).
As it could be seen from the above, various types of test stimulus rise to different
types of tests. The responses to these stimuli are used to assess three major
categories of human attributes. First, there is the Psychomotor Domain of human
attributes which refer to the capacities involving motor abilities. Secondly, there
is the Cognitive Domain which involves capacities dealing with knowledge and
the acquisition and utilization of information and thirdly there is an Affective
Domain which deals with feelings and values. It is from responses which
individuals give to the test stimuli that psychologists infer how much of the
various attributes in each domain that the individual possesses.
Classification of Psychological Tests
Depending on the particular criteria used, psychological tests could be classified
into several major categories. In fact the above classification into psychomotor,
cognitive and affective tests is one of the commonly used classifications. One
more commonly accepted classification is that by Goddon (1970) which classified
psychological tests thus:
Achievement Tests: These types of test assess the mastery of a specified area after
exposure to a course of instruction, for example, Chemistry Test, History Test,
and so on. They are Standard Achievement Test (SAT) and the West Africans
School Certificate Examination or General Certificate Examination.
Mental Ability Tests: are also known as intelligence tests which assess an
individuals mental capacity. Examples are the Wechsler Intelligence Adult Scale
(WAIS) and the Progressive Matrice Test (PMT).

12
Aptitude Tests: Assess an individuals ability to benefit from training. These tests
predict the capacity of do well after a period of training in an area. In laymans
terms, it measures individuals Flair for an area of learning. Examples of
Aptitude Tests are the General Aptitude Test Battery, (GATB), TEDRO Aptitude
Test in Nigeria and the newly constructed Federal Ministry of Education Test.
Interest Inventories: Assess the type of activities in which an individual would
like to be engaged for his own sakes without necessarily seeking remuneration such activities are believed to be linked to occupations which would give the
individual considerable satisfaction. Examples are The Kinder Preference Scale,
The Vocational Interest Blank and the Vocation Interest Inventory in Nigeria
(Anne Anastasi, 1996).
Personality and Attitude Tests: Personality tests assess an individuals more
stable and enduring characteristics. Examples are The Cattells 16 P. F.;
Gordons Personality Scale; The Student Problem Inventory and The Study
Habits Inventory. Attitude Tests measure an individual pre-disposition to
respond positively or negatively to people, objects, or peoples ideas in ones
environment. In laymans terms, attitude tests measure ones likes or dislikes in
ones social environment. Attitude Tests are important because they predict ones
behaviour and they are often used to predict ones future response to objects,
places and people with whom one interacts.
Standardized Vs Non-Standardized Tests: Most of the psychological tests in
general use are standardized tests. The term standardized refers to uniform
test items, uniform scoring methods (most of which are objective), uniform
administration conditions, uniform interpretation modes and the availability of a
norm against which testees could be compared. It can be readily seen that such
standard conditions of use are an indispensable prerequisite of tests which would
be in use for widespread comparison purposes. Non-standardized tests such as
teacher made tests do not have the characteristics mentioned above. They are
often used for limited assessment purposes which do not involve major decisions
(Agbakwunu, 2008).
Significance and Functions of Psychological Tests
Psychological tests are of a great significance especially in Guidance and
Counselling. They represent the more scientific aspects of counselling without
which the process becomes largely based on guesswork and intuition.
Psychological tests constitute a systematic method of obtaining information on
which to base important decisions. Many counselling psychologists who do not
use psychological tests in their practice are hardly better and could not be
expected to be more effective than peers or elders who give advice to their
clients. There is considerable evidence that psychological tests would become
more and more central in the counselling process.
13
A look at the major stages of the counselling process, that is, Referral, Diagnosis
Therapy Termination and follow-up, it becomes clear that at every stage,
psychological tests have a major part to play. Similarly a look at the major forms
of counselling that is Educational, Vocational, Personal, Psychological, Pastoral
and Rehabilitation Counselling, one observes the major role that psychological
tests could play in making every stage of the counselling process more effective.
In general it could be seen that psychological tests could be used for selection,
Placement, Prediction, Classification, Counselling and Evaluation.
It seems clear that in Nigerian Secondary School setting, psychological tests have
all these roles to play, especially within the 6-3-3-4 and the New National Policy
on Education. It is generally accepted that well-developed systems of Guidance
and Counselling is an indispensable condition for the success of the new policy.
The effectiveness of Guidance and Counselling within the Nigerian Educational
system in turn depends on the establishment of a sound psychological testing
programme. Psychological Testing would be required for major processes within
the present school system.
These are:
Routine Counselling Programme: In this programme, students vocational
interest, vocational preferences as well as study habits problems, mental ability
and parental problems are tested yearly. Such testing programme not only
provides a picture of the students development as he progresses through the
school, but it would also enable the counselling psychologists to identify
vocational, academic and personal problems as they arise in the student and
assist in their solution. Psychological tests are now available; examples are the
vocational interest inventory; Motivation for Occupational Preference Scale;
Progressive Matrices; Students Habits Inventory; Student Problem Inventory and
Adolescent Personality Data Inventory. Results from such routine
administration of such tests should be recorded in the students cumulative
recorded folders for use in taking future decisions on the students(Adams &
Baker, 2004).
Programme of Classification at the End of the Junior Secondary Schools: A crucial
factor in the new educational policy in Nigeria is classification of students at the
end of the Junior Secondary School. At present the only results of the continuous
assessment are utilized in most schools for such classification. The evaluation
sometimes used is a central achievement oriented examination. It is necessary to
add aptitude tests; mental tests and interest and interviews to enhance the
validity of crucial decisions that are being made at the end of the Junior
Secondary School. Tests which are available in this regard include The
Vocational Interest Inventory; The Motivation for Occupational Preference;
Progressive Matrices and The various Aptitude Tests developed by the TEDRO
14
and the Federal Ministry of Education. Again, results obtained from these tests
should be recorded in The Students Cumulative Record for the purpose of
reference
The Programme of Counselling in Senior Secondary Schools and in the
Vocational/Technical Schools: Tests are also useful in the counselling
programme which is provided for the senior secondary schools or in vocational
schools. Tests which could be used in such counselling programme include the
Student Habits Inventory (SHI) for Routine Academic Counselling. The
Vocational Interest Inventory (VII) and the Motivations for Occupational
Preference (MOPS) for Routine Vocational Counselling and the Student Problem
Inventory (SPI) for Personal Psychological Counselling.
Programme of Counselling at the End of the Secondary School period including
Counselling for Self-Employment: Again at the end of secondary school period
important vocational decisions are made. Student could also be put in various
apprenticeship training schemes. Psychological tests such as the MOPS and the
VII could be very useful in assisting counselling and students in making these
important decisions. Even if these students are to be self-employed these could
indicate in which vocational areas are most likely to be effective and satisfied,
(Adams & Baker, 2004).
Selection, Administration, Scoring and Interpretation of Psychological Tests
Principles of Selecting Psychological Tests: A number of basic principles should
guide the selection of psychological tests within the school setting. First the
particular type of problem being investigated should determine the test to be
selected in investigating the problem. Thus if the problem is a vocational
problem, the vocational tests should be selected, if it is a psychological problem,
then personal psychological tests should be selected and if it is an educational
problem then achievement, aptitude and mental ability tests should be selected.
Second, the age and educational level of the students should determine the
particular tests to be selected. Third, the administrative suitability of the test, its
cost, the time available for its administration and scoring are factors which
should be taken into accounts when selecting a test for use in a school testing
programme.
Administration and Scoring of Psychological Tests: Before administering
psychological test, the Test Manual should be carefully read by the Tester.
Instructions for administration contained in the manual should then be followed
to the letter. First, adequate preparations should be made for the testing session.
This includes obtaining adequate number of the selected test for the testees,
obtaining a well-lighted and well-narrated testing room in which seats are well
spaced to avoid, spying and offering of mutual assistance by testees. Also testing
assistants known as proctors should be obtained at the ratio of about one proctor
15
to thirty testees if large numbers of students are to be tested. After making such
adequate preparations testees are brought into the testing room, seated and are
made comfortable by establishing rapport with them before they are started off
with the appropriate and specified testing instructions. Depending on whether
the tests is timed or not, testees are allowed the specified time and they then
stopped as specified. The completed tests protocols are then collected for scoring.
Scoring of test protocols are done as directed in the test manual. It should be
remembered that scoring of tests could be done manually be computers(Wrenn,
1973).
Interpretation of Psychological Tests: Again the interpretation of psychological
tests should be done as indicated in the Test Manual. First, what the test
measures and the meaning of the test scores should have been indicated in the
test manual, for instance, in some tests the higher the scores, the more the
attribute being measured by the test is possessed by the individual the more
desirable the situation is. This is the case in such tests as the VII and the SPI.
However, in other tests, the higher the scores, the less desirable the situations. An
example of this is in SHI where higher scores mean more personal problems. The
first step in test interpretation therefore is to know what the test measures and
the meaning of the test scores. Second, test interpretation could adapt the Ipsative
Approach where intra-indiviual comparisons are made and seeking to obtain the
individuals strengths and weaknesses in relation to the attribute being
measured. Interpretation could also adopt the Normative Approach in which the
individualis compared with others. In making any of these two comparisons,
the various techniques of profile analysis could be adopted and descriptive as
well as inferential statistics could be used to describe as well as find significant
difference among groups (Terman, 1916). Third, it should be noted that it is
during interpretation that the implications of the test scores, for the major
decisions facing the individual are drawn out. Such decisions could be
educational, vocational, adjustment or marital ones and test scores and their
subsequent analysis are used as basis for making these decisions.
Some Available Psychological Tests: These available tests would just be
mentioned in passing in this article since their test manuals give full descriptions
and details of use and since subsequent practicum sessions would teach how to
administer score and interpret them.
Vocational Interest Inventory: This consists of activities which the tests is rated
according to the degree of liking them. These activities are grouped into (10)
major interest areas. Scores obtained for each interest area are transferred into
an interest profile which provides a graphic illustration of the clients interests,
then preferred interests are explored for their implored occupational patterns
(Ofo, 1994).

16
Motivation for Occupational Preference Scale (MOPS): This scale identifies an

individuals preferred occupation and the reasons for such preferences. These
reasons provide an insight into the individuals occupational values and such
values could form the basis of providing occupational or vocational counselling
to individuals and groups.
Study Habits Inventory (SHI): This inventory assesses the study habits which
could hamper the individual educational progress. Results obtained from this
inventory could also form the basis of educational counselling directed at
improving the educational achievement of the individual.
Student Problem Inventory (SPI): The scale identifies the nature of the personal
problems facing an individual. The assumption here is that such problems exact a
tool on the individuals level of effectiveness and personal satisfaction. As in
other scales, results of the inventory could form the basis of counselling to assist
the individual to cope better with such problems (Bakare, 1977).
Progressive Matrices: These matrices represent the most generally used measure
of overall mental ability in Nigeria at present. It can be used from about the age
of five (5) years throughout the life span. One major advantage of this test is that
being a non-verbal test, it is relatively independent of language proficiency. This
makes it ideal for subjects whose mother tongue is not English. Furthermore, it is
reputed to be relatively culture free and to be tightly loaded, the central factor in
general mental ability performances on this is that it is also known as to be
tightly correlated with performances on technological subjects. It would therefore
be useful for making decisions at the end of the Junior Secondary School
Programme(Johnson, 2002).
Adolescent Personality Data Inventory (APDI): The APDI is essentially a
research instrument with regards to the aspects dealing with the physical
attributes of adolescents. However, the sections dealing with such personal
factors as self - concept would be useful for psychological counselling. In
particular, personal psychological as well as academic counselling in schools
would find some aspects of APDI very useful.
CONCLUSION
These tests form an indispensable aspect of a school counselling programme and
attempts should be made to incorporate them into such programmes. Such a step
would make counselling more scientific and would enhance the effectiveness of
counselling programme in making the individual more useful to himself and to
the Nigerian society at large. However, their uses require adequate training so as
to avoid the well-known pitfalls attendant upon the use of psychological tests.

17
REFERENCES
Adams, C. & Baker, K. (eds) (2004) Perspective on Pupils Assessment. A paper
presented to the CTC Conference New Relationships. Teaching, Learning and
Accountability.
Agbakwunu, C. (2008). Psychological problems and Coping Strategies among the Aged.
Owerri Reliable Publishers.
American Academy for the Advancement of Science (1989).
Anastasi, A. (1926). Psychological Testing. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Bakare, C. G. M. (1977). Psychological Tests: Their Uses in Guidance and
Counselling. University of Ibadan Press.
Carton, C. (2005). Fairness Assessment 31st Annual Conference of International
Association for Education Assessment. Abuja, Nigeria.
Goddon, P. (1920). Intelligence and Society for Restrictive Immigration Laws. India:
Prentice Hall Services.
Johnson, R. S. (2002). Using Data to Dose the Achievement Gap. How to Measure
Equity in our Schools. Thousand Oarks, C. A. Corwin.
Bernard J. (2008). Ethics of Tests in Counselling Psychology. Journal of Counselling
and Development, 91(1) 33-44.
Ofo, J. E. (1994). Research Methods and Statistics in Education and Social Sciences,
Lagos: Joju Educational Research and Publishers Ltd.
Standars, W. (2005). An A-Z of Tests in Counselling Psychology, Lorain
Community College 1605N Abbe Road Elyria 44035.
Terman, L. M. (1916). The Measurement of Intelligence, Boston: Houghton Mufflin.
Wren, G. (1973). The World of Contemporary Counsellors. Boston: Houghton
Mufflin.

18
CHAPTER THREE
FUNCTIONAL AND SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: THE
21ST CENTURY APPROACH
Oghiagbephan, A.D.
Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, P.M.B. 1251, Warri
INTRODUCTION
The developed nations did not attain their levels of development by merely
wishing that their dreams and aspirations were actualized through a well
thought out, planned and executed education system. The giant strides made by
most Asian countries that are fast competing with the developed countries of
Europe and North America had to work on the quality and functional relevance
of their education system to ensure that it met their needs of science and
technology. Nigerias aspiration to become one of the developed countries of the
world can only be actualized through a relevant, functional and quality
education system.
Education is synonymous with the existence of human societies. The education of
any society usually reflects its whole essence. This means that it encapsulates its
philosophy and way of life. The education of any society involves the
transmission of all knowledge that is deemed worthwhile.
Orobosa (2010) in Dienye (2011) defined education as the process by which an
individual acquires the many physical and social capabilities demanded by the
society to which he or she has been born into. The whole essence of education is
to ensure the proper functioning and survival of an individual in his society.
Education enhances an individuals ability to impact positively on and improve
his society.
Education therefore performs a most significant complex social function of the
control of tools for societal development. Recognizing the role of education to the
individual and society at large; Dienye (2011) noted that education involved the
deliberate efforts on the part of the educator in developing the personality of the
child and to prepare him for membership of his society.
According to Ukeje (1986) in Dienye (2011) he described education as being
powerful. It is a process of acquiring knowledge and ideas that shape and
condition mans attitudes, actions and achievements, it is a process of developing
the childs contributions in social reforms, it is the process of mastering the laws
of nature and for utilizing them effectively for the welfare of the individual and
for social reconstruction; it is the art of utilizing knowledge for a complete living.

19
THE CONCEPT QUALITY EDUCATION

The quality of an education system becomes suspicious when its recipients
cannot perform efficiently in society. A quality education should enhance the
capability of its recipients to improve and bring about positive improvement in
their societies. Quality education fulfills the needs and expectations of members
of a society. Inability to fulfill the expectations of a society leads to a suspicion of
the quality of that education system. This could result in looking outside that
system for quality education.
Quality education encompasses teaching and learning of knowledge, proper
product and technical competency. It also focuses on the cultivation of skills,
trades or professions as well as mental, moral and aesthetic development.
Quality education is fundamental to societal development. A society that is
intellectual bankrupt will automatically become socially, economically and
politically bankrupt which means no development.
Quality education is indispensable in a society that needs to break the cycle of
poverty, ignorance and disease. It is an integral part of the social, political,
economic and prosperity of all societies. Societal development can only be
realized if policy makers match their words with positive actions. A society
whose education system is in shamble cannot expect any reasonable level of
development when policy makers pay lip service to issues that border on
improving the education system, development will continue to be a mirage. The
issue of government reluctance to adequately fund the education sector shows
lack of commitment on the part of the government to ensure quality education.
Effective teaching and adequate teacher training at all levels of the education
system is very crucial in the achievement of quality education and development.
The school is an important agency of education that needed to bring about a
positive and desirable modification in behaviour of learners in a more systematic
way. The quality of teaching must be very good to yield desired results. A high
quality education is required to adequately prepare pupils for adult life roles.
What this means is a type of education that is functional in enabling the learner
gain thinking habits and develop the technical means needed for them to
enhance their ability in solving practical problems.
UNESCO/UNICEF (1983) in Maple (2011:370) viewed quality education from
these three perspectives:
i.
Quality of education refers to the extent to which the educational
system meets or tends to respond to the economic needs of the society.
ii.
It refers to the effectiveness with which the educational system promotes
or reinforces among children and young people, the culture and values,
morals and attitudes particular to a given society.
20
iii.
It refers to pupils, performances or standard of attainment in different

school subjects.
Quality education can therefore be said to be a well-planned, systematic
training programme acquired by man to enable him function effectively in
the society which he finds himself.
Concept of Functional Education

Obanya (2003) in Dienye (2011) explained the idea of functional education to
mean that education should inculcate specific skills. These functional skills
acquired from education are to enable learners to understand life situations,
adapting to it and contributing to its development.
He further explained that functional education in basic literacy programme has
to do with the application of reading and writing skills to solve day to day
problems, which includes the improvement of ones living conditions. For
persons with disabilities, a functional education should equip the learner with
the skills that will enable him overcome the disabilities while in vocational
education it should inculcate appropriate skills to function in the labour market.
A functional education should imbue the learner with skills that will lead to the
consolidation of scientific behaviour. In teacher training, a quality education
should be functional to the extent that it equips the teachers with the appropriate
aptitudes and abilities needed to promote learning and bring out the best in
learners. Functional education as an integral part of quality education is focused
on helping learners acquire the skills with which to function meaningfully in
society thereby contributing to societal development. To ensure societal
development, Nigeria has to make a long term investment in education to ensure
quality for a guaranteed future.
Alabi (2003) in Dienye (2011) in his research on enhancing quality education
pointed out that quality education is an essential ingredient for societal
development and the greatest legacy any nation can bequeath to her citizens. He
advocated the need for collaborative efforts among the different groups of
personnel within the education system to achieve quality education.
Education can only result in societal development if it is the type that can
translate theoretical findings into usable forms which will impact on the
development of the communities in which they live. This refers to a pragmatic
type of education which is used for the development of the Nigerian society. It is
only quality education that can guarantee this usefulness to society.
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Holbrook (2009) defined sustained development as the development that meets
ones needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation
21
to meet their own needs. According to Barboza (2000), sustainable development

is regarded as the will to follow the national approach to economic,
administration and the creation of economic policy to manage public matters
efficiently and periodically, to show respect and progress to endure towards
democracy, that full participation of all concerned actors while taking into
account specific local circumstances.
These definitions are not without criticism depending on the meaning attached to
education. However, sustainable development is simply meeting and sustaining
the needs of society in the global competition without sacrificing its resources.
Sustainable development requires the participation of all concern actors
individuals while at the same time taking into consideration and specific local
circumstances.
Holbrook (2009) highlighted what he conserved as the major sustainable
development issues for education as:
Placing a system of values and ethics at the centre of societys concern.
Encouraging the meeting of disciplines, a linking of knowledge and
expertise, and to render our understanding.
Encouraging lifelong learning starting from the beginning of life grounded
in life and based on a passion for a radical transformation in a society that
gears towards functioning and sustainable education.
Ensuring priority is given to fundamental critical question to the methods
as a means of applying tangible verdict by promoting dialogue along the
education sector.
Elevating once again the importance of social subjectivity and of the
qualitative dimension of social life.
Encouraging new alliances between the state and civil society in
promoting citizens emancipation mediated by the practice of democratic
peoples while fully acknowledging the complexity inherent to very human
reality.
As Okebukola (2007) noted in chapter 36 of agenda 21, where he emphasized that
education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving
capacity of the people to address environment and developmental issues. No one
will doubt the fact that education is the driving force for the change needed.
Similarly, there has been a common consensus that peace, health and democracy
are mutually reinforcing prerequisite for sustainable development. In recognition
of the importance of education on enhancing sustainable development the United
Nations General Assembly in its 57th session in December 2002 declared 20052014 as the decade for education for sustainable development. Education is
therefore a life wide and lifelong endeavour which challenges individuals,
institutions and societies to see tomorrow as a day that belongs to all of us or it
belongs to anyone.
22
SOME MAJOR EDUCATION REFORMS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE

DEVELOPMENT
In an attempt to remedy the poor quality of education, Government embarked on
reform of policies in the education sector. Reforms in education are changes
made to improve the existing conditions of education that fail to satisfy the need
of individual member of the society. The Christian missionaries were the first to
build formal schools in Nigeria with grants from the colonial Government. The
aim of education at the time was limited in scope and content for Nigeria as a
country. This was tailored to serve the purpose of the missionaries who needed
interpreters, clerks and preachers to propagate their faith.
From 1899 to the creation of three regions in Nigeria, about eight education
policies were promulgated and tried out. They included the 1903, 1908, 1916,
education codes, phelps-stokes 1925, parliamentary white paper or command.
Others are the 1926 education code, 1930 memorandum on education policy and
the 1948 education ordinance. Nigeria was divided into three regions - East, West
and North in 1951. Education then became a regional responsibility. This marked
the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the Western region in
1955 followed by the Eastern region in 1957. During the period the Northern
region was yet to make an attempt to free education. Higher education was
somehow neglected during the period 1954-1960. However, government setup a
committee in 1959 (Ashby commission) on education. At that time, the only
higher institution was the University College, Ibadan.
In 1960 when Nigeria got her independence, the first education policy was based
on the Ashby Commission report of 1960 which was titled investment in
education. To improve the quality of education, the federal government
assembled a group of experts from various religious bodies, groups, individuals
and government representatives for a National curriculum conference held in
Lagos in 1969 which led to the famous National Policy on Education (NPE) which
was established in 1977, revised 1981, 1998 and 2004. This policy brought about
the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria.
Another major reform was the launching of the UPE scheme in 1976 by the then
military government. The aim was to make Nigeria education free in 1976 and
compulsory in 1979. This attempt did not fully realize its objectives as a result of
so many militating factors (Azikiwe, 2007). Furthermore, the Universal Basic
Education (UBE) programme was launched on the 30th September, 1999 at Sokoto
by the then president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo. This was meant to provide
basic education to children aged between 3 and 4 for 3years. Early children care
Development and Education (ECCDE), 6years primary and 3years junior
secondary education. The reform was meant to realize the two global
development programmes of the United Nations (UN) namely; Education for All
(EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For Nigeria to achieve
23
these goals, it launched the National Economic Empowerment and Development

Strategy (NEEDS) in 2003. The critical pillars of NEEDS are:
i.
Value Reorientation
ii.
Poverty Eradication
iii.
Job Creation
iv.
Wealth Generation
v.
Using education to empower the people (Obioma, 2007). The Federal
Ministry of Education (FME) in April 2009 introduced a new document
known as Roadmap for the Nigerian Education Sector. The main goal of
this reform is to address the identified problems in the educational sector.
It focuses on four priority strategies. These include:
i.
Access and Equality
ii.
Standards and Quality Assurance
iii.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
iv.
Funding, Resource Mobilization and Utilization
This reform intends to involve stakeholders such as; government, organized,
private sectors and international funding partners to transform all Nigerian
schools into producing, from all three subsectors of education namely: basic
education, post basic education and tertiary education. The worrisome issue that
prompted the effort to salvaging the present state of Nigerian schools is the
general poor quality of the products of the sectors.
In spite of the huge expenditure on education at all levels; our education has
failed to produce in school leavers a combination of skills and value system that
could make them self-reliant. The Nigerian educational system has been beset
with a number of ills over the years. These problems arose from the general
malaise that beset the leadership and the society at large. Some of these include
the high incidence of examination malpractices, corruption, bribery, extortion
cultism, sexual harassment and incessant strikes among the various academic
staff unions at all levels of education, as well as problem of data and decay
infrastructure, etc.
There is a great need for quality assurance, functional and sustainable education
in our educational system in order to achieve the national goals and objectives. In
line with the above, quality assurance, functional and sustainable education
should be adhered to. Quality, functionally and sustainability have to do with
such factors as articulated national goals; well-planned curriculum at each level,
assessment procedures and instrument; capacity for processing examination
data; utilization of assessment outcome; and quality of student enrolled.
Factors contributing to poor quality, functional and sustainable education in
Nigeria are the decline in quality, functional and sustainable education in Nigeria
has been a major concern due to the rapid expansion in student numbers without
24
comparable expansion in resources, staff and facilities. This rapid growth has not
been matched by substantial increases in the funding of educational institutions.
Education quality which embraces all functions and activities within and outside
the school system and for this reason, it is actually a difficult task to access
quality. However, a few constraints against total quality education in Nigeria
could be identified even with all the regulatory bodies put in place.
i.
Lack of adequate funding from the government.
ii.
Full accreditation report not always employed.
iii.
Brain Drain: the number of universities in Nigeria in the recent past has
increased tremendously without such a tremendous graduation of dons
and professors. Alarming is the rate at which professors proceed to other
countries without a replacement.
iv.
The issue of examination malpractice.
v.
The level of corruption is at an alarming stage.
vi.
Inadequate educational facilities in our institutions.
vii.
Over population: Almost all the schools in Nigeria are over populated
with students. This most times leaves the teachers in a precarious situation
and thus affects their classroom or lecture rooms managerial ability
negatively.
viii. Inadequate hostel facilities.
ix.
Unpreparedness among student before entry into tertiary institution.
x.
Absenteeism of teachers to lecture hall.
xi.
Political interference appointment to high positions in most tertiary
institutions are sometimes politically motivated.
xii.
Entry qualifications into tertiary institutions.
xiii. Lack of regular supervision.
xiv. Lack of instruction materials.
xv.
Insufficient and qualified guidance counselors in our schools.
xvi. Lack of psychological test materials for the few trained and qualified
guidance counselors in the schools.
Other factors that have had a negative impact on the quality of education are the
low morale of teachers, the poor quality of teachers, and lack of adequate
professional support for teachers in the system. Other militating factors are the
unstable environment due to frequent strikes by students and staff, the quality of
students admitted to programmes, and the quality of the academic recruited.
Functional and sustainable education through counseling in the 21st century
Functional education provides avenues for poverty reduction. It is only through
education and counseling that children can realize their potentials for selffulfillment.
The efficient and effective processing of the child through the educational system
will require Guidance and counseling services. Parents and children will have to
25
be psyched to realize the intrinsic value of education and the latter motivated
adequately to develop their latent intellectual abilities and complete a full cycle
of education. Pupils or student so guided and counseled have a better prospect of
developing their latent abilities leading to self-discovery and the successful
pursuit of studies for self-actualization.
Functional education delivery fused with Guidance and counseling programme
ensures quality teaching and learning outcomes. The scale of enrolment and
participation is improved and pupils/students achievement level is enhanced as
challenge associated thereto are adequately addressed. Interest in schooling and
learning is generated since intellectual abilities are conditioned and used
optimally for self-discovery.
Pre-tertiary Guidance and counseling policy provides the alternatives to
strengthen the existing policies. These children especially in deprived and remote
areas are enrolled and retained in schools to develop their intellectual abilities for
their future careers and to contribute to societal development. These children and
others in school will be guided and counselled to complete a full cycle of
education that will ensure the optimum use of their abilities for self-discovery
and self-actualisation to satisfy the demands of the economy.
The inadequacy of Guidance and counseling services in our schools appears to be
the major cause of the rising wave of crime in the country, increased indiscipline
in schools and drug abuse. The lack of Guidance and counseling in our schools
has been identified as leading to the increase in HIV/AIDs cases, the increasing
number of street children and high dropout rates. It is expected that the effective
implementation of the pre-tertiary Guidance and counseling policy will have a
significant impact on reducing schooling problems and anti-social habits likely to
inhibit quality of teaching and learning outcomes. Pupils/students will be
adequately prepared for the world of work and to meet lifes challenges. It is
expected that delivery of pre-tertiary education by both state and non-state sector
will be directed by the new policy.
For a community or nation like Nigeria to develop, there is the need to provide
relevant quality, functional and sustainable education and making it accessible to
all children irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religion or social status. The
yardstick of rapid socio-economic development of a nation therefore hinges on its
children or citizens taking advantage of existing education opportunities to
realize their potential. The critical factors are teacher supply, accessibility,
relevant educational content, and skills acquisition to satisfy the socio-economic
aspirations of the nation and even guidance and counseling techniques to be
adopted by the counselors themselves. These can facilitate poverty reduction, a
goal which the government is relentlessly pursuing.

26
Various educational researchers have established the fact that educational

processes and development take place in three areas namely, cognitive, effective
and psychomotor domains of an individual. The philosophy of the countrys
educational system dwells on the creation of well-balanced individuals with
requisite knowledge, skills, values and aptitudes for self-actualization and for
socio-economic and political development. Achieving this philosophy involves
intellectual, spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical development of
individuals. It aims at the holistic development of individuals who are expected
to make significant contribution to the economic growth of the nation. This can
be achieved through the functional and sustainable educational process cycle of
enrolment in the rural and riverine areas, knowledge or skill acquisition and
attitudinal change or skill application.
CONCLUSION
Nigeria is a land flowing with milk and honey blessed with rich human and
natural resources. These resources can be harnessed for the provision of adequate
human, financial and material resources for qualitative education. Several steps
to take towards making education functional and sustainable in Nigeria have
been proffered. The development of functional and sustainable skills is crucial to
tackling the skills gap. Functional education is a key to success because it opens
doors to learning, life and work.
Making education functional and sustainable will equip the youths to face the
technical complexities of the physical and social universe and give them the
moral direction to understand themselves. It is high time Nigerians participated
in the promotion of functional education in their various capacities so that they
can make Nigeria a better place to live in (Enaibe, 2001:264).
THE WAY FORWARD
There is great need for functional and sustainable education in Nigeria. Though
there is malfunctioning of the educational system, the ideal situation can still be
attained. Education can be made functional and sustainable in Nigeria by the
following ways:
1.
There should be practical war against greed and corruption in the
educational sector. In short there should be reinforcement of culture of
examination ethics.
2.
To operate a rational and functional education system, there is need to
decolonize the mentality of the Nigerian educated elites who hold power
and authority.
3.
The government should be de-emphasizing paper qualification as the only
criterion for entry into higher schools and for employment.
4.
Trained counselors should be posted to all schools at all levels for
counseling.
5.
A total overhaul of all the systems in education is very crucial.
27
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
There is need to review the philosophy and goals of the nation in order to
incorporate workable national education goals.
Moral and religious values should be emphasized in the school
curriculum. They should be made core courses at all levels of the
educational system.
The government local, state and federal should increase the budget
allocation to education to at least 35%. Moreover, infrastructure provision
and rehabilitation of existing buildings, supply of equipment, materials
and psychological tests should be done by the government.
Learners should be guided to improve their levels of functional and
sustainable education even ICT to support their needs to have a workforce
that is enterprising, productive and equipped to compete in business. This
will enable them to work confidently, effectively and independently in life.
Education needs to be qualitative for the recipients in order to empower
them socially, economically, politically, technically and scientifically.
The curriculum should be made relevant to the lives of the recipients. That
is, it should be geared towards meeting the emerging socio-economic
demands of the 21st century through skills acquisition and computer
literacy.
Conferences, workshops and in-service-training programmes should be
organized for reliable and qualified officers on how to implement policies
and programmes. These people will detect gaps between theory and
practice and proffer solutions from time to time.
Only qualified teachers, guidance counselors, psychologists should be
retained. It is easy to know the qualified one if only we can shun
corruption and godfatherism or long-leg in our society.
REFERENCES
Azikiwe, U. (2007). Reforms in education and the future of Nigeria: sociological
perspective. Keynote address presented at the maiden conference of the National
Association of Sociologists of Education (NASE) held at Pankshin, Plateau State,
October, 16th-19th, 2007.
Dienye, V.U. (2011) Education and society: The quality Imperative. African
Journal of Education and Technology, Vol. 1 (3), PP. 15-24.
Enaibe, P.U. (2011). Making Education Functional in the 21st century: state of
Affairs of the Nigerian situation in Egbule, P; Tabotndip, J.E and Aboho, D.A.
(Eds). Refocusing Education in Nigeria in the 21st century. Onitsha: West and
Solomon
Gyang, T.S. (2011). Human Resources Development in Nigeria: The Roadmap for
vision 20:2020. International Journal of Economic Development Research and
Investment, Vol. 2 (1).
28
Holbrook, J. (2009). Meeting challenges to sustainable development in Africa

through science and technology education. Conference concept paper at ICASE
(International Council of Association for Science Education) African Regional
Conference. Sheraton Hotel, Abuja May 24th-29th.
Maple, E.E. (2011). Quality Promotion in Nigerian Education System. In
Olubadewo, S., Onwuka, E.C. and Ajaegbo, D.I. Issues and challenges in Nigerian
Education in the 21st century. Vol. 2, Onitsha: West and Solomon Publishing Co.
Ltd. PP. 378-385.
Obioma, G. (2007) Attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
Nigerias experience in education reforms Keynote address presented at the
national conference of the faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
August, 6ht-9th, 2007.
Okebukola, P. (2000). Trends in tertiary education in the state of education in
Nigeria. UNESCO, Abuja office, Nigeria.
Okebukola, P.A. (2005). Quality Assurance in teacher education in Nigeria. The
role of faculties of education. A paper presented to Committee of Deans of
Education in Nigerian Universities Meeting. Ilorin.
Wasagu, M.A. (2009). Meeting the challenges of Education as Means of
Achieving Sustainable Development in Nigeria. Being a Lead paper at the 2009
Annual National Conference organized by Shehu Shagari College of Education,
Sokoto. From 27th-29th July 2009.

29
CHAPTER FOUR
COUNSELLING FOR EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AMONG EKITI STATE SECONDARY
SCHOOL STUDENTS, NIGERIA.
E. O. Osakinle
Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effective utilization of information and
communication technology in counselling among Ekiti State Secondary
School Students in Nigeria. The importance of guidance and
counselling programme in secondary schools is to assist students in
having an increased understanding of the educational, vocational and
social information needed to make wise choices. In our society there are
many influencing forces responsible for the gradual recognition of
formal guidance among young people in various educational levels. The
essence of incorporating guidance and counselling into the school
system was to eliminate overwhelming ignorance of many young people
on their choices of career prospects and personality maladjustment
among school children. The role of ICT in guidance can be seen as a
tool, as an alternative, or as an agent of change. The paper recommends
that principals should make provision for guidance and counselling on
the school time table. Most importantly secondary school ICT adoption
should be encouraged by the ministry of education.
KEYWORDS: Counselling, Effective Utilization of ICT
INTRODUCTION
Counselling is a process where the client and counsellor work together to come
up with different ways of resolving various challenges. Counselling is an
opportunity to talk about what troubles you and to be listened to in a way which
assists you to understand yourself better, including your thoughts, feelings and
behaviour. The process that occurs when a client and counsellor set aside time in
order to explore difficulties which they want to discuss may include the stressful
or emotional feelings of the client. The act of helping the client to see things more
clearly, possibly from a different view-point can enable the client to focus on
feelings, experiences or behaviour with a view of facilitating positive change. A
relationship of trust and confidentiality is paramount to successful counselling.
Counsellors will usually explain their policy on confidentiality, they may,
however, be required by law to disclose information if they believe that there is a
risk to life. Counselling can help you to explore difficult feelings and work out

30
some ways of living your life more positively or constructively and by this the
client is satisfied and happy within himself.
Counselling provides a form of education, which the students receive from their
counsellors. In the National Policy of Education (2004, 4th edition) the 6-3-3-4
system demand for guidance and counselling is apparently made clear. There
was agreement also, with a very negligible deviation that the school time-table
does not make provisions for guidance and counselling activities. The essence of
incorporating guidance and counselling into the school system was to eliminate
overwhelming ignorance of many young people on their choices of career
prospects and personality maladjustment among school children. The role of ICT
in guidance can be seen in three ways: as a tool, as an alternative, or as an agent
of change. The growth of websites and help lines as forms of technically
mediated service delivery means that the potential of ICT as an agent of change is
now greater than ever before. The telephone, websites and e-mail, alongside faceto-face facilities, could be alternative services; or they could be portals into a
wide, flexible and well-harmonized network of services. The importance of
guidance and counselling programme in secondary schools, include assisting the
students to have an increased understanding of the educational, vocational and
social information needed to make wise choices. In our society there are many
influencing force responsible for the gradual recognition of formal guidance to
young people in various educational levels. This review paper focuses on the role
of ICT on guidance and counselling in secondary schools. However principals
have false impression that a school can function effectively and profitably
without a guidance counsellor. The paper recommends that principals should
make provision for guidance and counselling on the school time table. Most
importantly secondary school ICT adoption should be encouraged by the
ministry of education.
Information Communication and Technology (ICT) can be utilized effectively in
the following ways:
1. Engage and enthuse learners,
2. Raise achievement
3. Enable better understanding
4. Foster improved communication
5. Have a positive impact on workload
ICT (information and communications technology or technologies) is an
umbrella term that includes any communication device or application,
encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network
hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various
services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and
distance learning. ICTs are often spoken of in a particular context, such as ICTs in

31
education, health care, or libraries. The term may be more common in the United
States.
According to the European Commission, the importance of ICTs lies less in the
technology itself than in its ability to create greater access to information and
communication in underserved populations. Many countries around the world
have established organizations for the promotion of ICTs, because it is feared that
unless less technologically advanced areas have a chance to meet up, the
increasing technological advances in developed nations will only serve to
exacerbate the already-existing economic gap between technological "have" and
"have not" areas. Internationally, the United Nations actively promotes ICTs for
Development as a means of bridging the communication gap.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become common issues
in all aspects of life. In the past twenty years the use of ICT has fundamentally
changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavour within
business and governance. Education is a very socially oriented activity and
quality education has traditionally been associated with counsellors having high
degrees of personal contact with learners. The use of ICT in education lends
credence to more student- learning centres. But with the world moving rapidly
into digital media and information, the role of ICT in education is becoming more
and more important and this importance will continue to grow and develop in
the 21st century. In this paper, a literature review regarding the use of ICT in
education was provided in the following areas: Effective use of ICT for
Education, along with ICT use in the teaching learning process; quality and
accessibility of education; learning motivation, Learning environment and an
overview of the ICT and scholastic performance.
According to Daniels (2002), ICTs have become within a very short time, one of
the basic building blocks of modern society. Many countries now regard the
understanding of ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part
of the core of education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy. However,
there appears to be a misconception that ICTs generally refers to computers and
computing related activities. This is fortunately not the case, although computers
and their application play a significant role in modern information management,
other technologies and systems that also comprise of the phenomenon that is
commonly regarded as ICTs. Pelgrum and Law (2003) state that near the end of
the 1980s, the term computers was replaced by IT (information technology)
signifying a shift of focus from computing technology to the capacity to store and
retrieve information. This was followed by the introduction of the term ICT
(information and communication technology) around 1992, when e-mail started
to become available to the general public (Pelgrum & Law, 2003). According to a
United Nations report (1999), ICTs cover Internet service provision,
telecommunications equipment and services, information technology equipment
32
and services, media and broadcasting, libraries and documentation centres,

commercial information providers, network-based information services, and
other related information and communication activities.
According to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) (2002), information and communication technology (ICT) may be
regarded as the combination of Informatics technology with other related
technology, specifically communication technology. The various kinds of ICT
products available and having relevance to education, such as teleconferencing,
email, audio conferencing, television lessons, radio broadcasts, interactive radio
counselling, interactive voice response system, audiocassettes, CD ROMs, etc
have been used in education for different purposes (Sharma, 2003; Sanyal, 2001;
Bhattacharya & Sharma, 2007).
The field of education has been affected by ICTs, which have undoubtedly affected
teaching, learning, and research (Osakinle et al., 2009). A great deal of research has
proven the benefits to the quality of education (Al-Ansari, 2006). ICTs have the potential
to innovate, accelerate, enrich, and deepen skills, to motivate and engage students, to
help relate school experience to work practices, create economic viability for tomorrow's
workers, as well as strengthening teaching and helping schools change. Davis and Tearle
(1999), states that much has been said and reported about the impact of technology,
especially computers, in education. Initially computers were used to teach computer
programming but the development of the microprocessor in the early 1970s saw the
introduction of affordable microcomputers into schools at a rapid rate. Computers and
applications of technology became more pervasive in society which led to a concern
about the need for computing skills in everyday life. Hepp, Hinostroza, Laval and
Rehbein (2004) claim in their paper titled Technology in Schools: Education, ICT and
the Knowledge Society that ICTs have been utilized in education ever since their
inception, but they have not always been massively present. Although at that time
computers have not been fully integrated in the learning of traditional subject matter, the
commonly accepted rhetoric that education systems would need to prepare citizens for
lifelong learning in an information society boosted interest in ICTs (Pelgrum & Law,
2003).
The 1990s was the decade of computer communications and information access,
particularly with the popularity and accessibility of internet-based services such
as electronic mail and the World Wide Web (WWW). At the same time the CDROM became the standard for distributing packaged software (replacing the
floppy disk). As a result, educators became more focused on the use of the
technology to improve student learning as a rationale for investment. Any
discussion about the use of computer systems in schools is built upon an
understanding of the link between schools, learning and computer technology.
33
When the potential use of computers in schools was first mooted, the
predominant conception was that students would be taught by computers
(Pelgrum & Law, (2003). In a sense it was considered that the computer would
take over the teachers job in much the same way as a robot computer may take
over a welders job. Collis (1989) refers to this as a rather grim image where a
small child sits alone with a computer. However, the use of information and
communication technologies in the educative process has been divided into two
broad categories: ICTs for Education and ICTs in Education. ICTs for education
refers to the development of information and communications technology
specifically for teaching and learning purposes, while the ICTs in education
involves the adoption of general components of information and communication
technologies in the teaching learning process.
In Ekiti State the Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi made sure that every student in
all the senior secondary schools in Ekiti State as well as their teachers were given
laptops to enhance effective teaching and learning in the schools among the
students. However, a few of the students used the laptop contrary to what they
are met for. For example, a few of them used it to watch pornography films,
playing music on it, making of yahoo yahoo (using the laptop to dupe innocent
foreigners). This is the evident in the cases of raids carried out by police men in
Ekiti State. A few of the cases are in court not only in Ekiti State but in other
parts of the country. Furthermore, there are a few students that use the laptops
positively to browse for assignment given as well as becoming proficient for
typing projects for their undergraduates relations.
CONCLUSIONS
Globalization and information revolution is increasingly changing the learning
process in higher education in Europe and America. Globalization has challenged
higher institutions in Nigeria and in particular South East Universities to face
new type of learning involving the use of ICT facilities to improve counselling
which is expected in Ekiti State as well. It has been observed that there is a lack of
ICT infrastructure in schools. It is recommended that attention must be given to
the availability of ICT facilities in schools. According to Osakinle, Adegoroye and
Olajubutu (2009), the internet is the core of computer mediated communication.
The internet system is worldwide and connects millions of computer networks,
providing an incredible array of information adolescents can access. And because
of these capacities, the internet has more up-to-date information than books.
Youths throughout the world are increasingly using the internet, despite
substantial variation in use in different countries around the world and in
socioeconomic groups. The question is: what do adolescents do when they are
online? E-mail is the most frequent activity they engage in and more than 70
percent of the adolescents who go online connect with a chat room. Furthermore;
the internet holds a great deal of potential for increasing adolescents education.
However, the internet also has limitations on viewing and adolescent behaviour.
34
The internet is a technology that needs guide, the societies as well as parents
need to monitor and regulate adolescents use of it.
RECOMMENDATIONS
From the review of the effective utilization of ICT among Ekiti State Secondary
School Students, it is discovered that the availability of Internet services in
schools will help the counsellors and students. Therefore, the researcher
recommends that:
1. Government should provide ICT facilities for students, counsellors and
lecturers in higher institutions.
2. Electricity is very essential and should be provided in Universities so that
counsellors, teachers and students will participate in the information and
communication technology age.
3. The schools should have counselling labs provided with air conditioners as
well as standing generating sets to preserve the facilities and counter the
effect of persistent power outage.
4. Counsellors should give their students assignment that requires e- learning.
5. School counsellors should improve their use of the Internet for counselling.
They need to use the Internet as a tool for e-learning to gain more professional
knowledge and help students in their learning.
REFERENCE
Arnett, J.J. (1999). Heavy metal music and Reckless Handbook of Children and
the Media. Thousand behaviour among adolescents. Adolescents, 20: 572-592.
Calvert, S., (1999). Childrens journeys through the Education and the mind in the
information age. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Daniels, J.S. (2002). Foreword in Information and Communication Technology
in EducationA Curriculum for Schools and Programme for Teacher Development.
Paris: UNESCO.
Davis, N.E., & Tearle, P. (Eds.), (1999). A core curriculum for telematics in teacher
training. Available: www.ex.ac.uk/telematics.T3/corecurr/tteach98.htm
Duffy, T., & Cunningham, D. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the design
and delivery of instruction, Handbook of research for educational telecommunications
and technology (Pp. 170-198). New York: MacMillan.
European Commission, (2013). Survey of School: ICT in Education, Published on
Digital Agenda for Europe (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda).

35
Fister, K. R., & McCarthy, M. L. (2008).Mathematics instruction and the tablet

PC. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology. 39
(3), 285-292.
Flecknoe, M. (2002). How can ICT help us to improve education? Innovations in
Education & Teaching International, 39, (4) 271-280.
Fuchs T & Woessman, L. (2004). Computers and Student Learning: Bivariate
and Multivariate Evidence on the Availability and Use of Computers at Home
and at School, CESifo Working Paper. No. 1321 November. Munich.
Girasoli, A. J. & Hannafin, R. D. (2008). Using asynchronous AV communication
tools to increase academic self-efficacy. Computers & Education, 51 (4), 1676- 1682.
Hannafin, M. J., Hall, C., Land, S., & Hill, J. (1994). Learning in open-ended
environments: assumptions, methods and implications. Educational Technology,
34 (8), 4855.
Harris, S. (2002). Innovative pedagogical practices using ICT in schools in
England. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 449-458.
Hepp, K. P., Hinostroza, S.E., Laval, M.E., & Rehbein, L. F. (2004). Technology in
Schools: Education, ICT and the Knowledge Society OECD. Available:
www1.worldbank.org/education/pdf/ICT_report_oct04a.pdf.
Huston, A.C., Siegle J. & Brenner M., (1983). Family environment television use
by pre-school children. Paper presented at the biennial meeting for the society for
Research in Child Development, Detroit.
Osakinle, E.O., (1997). Maladaptive behaviour of in-school adolescents in Ekiti
State.Unpublished M.Ed Thesis in the Department of Guidance.
Osakinle, E.O., Adegoroye, B.S. & Olajubutu, F.T. (2009). The Roles of Media and
Technology in Adolescents Development in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Middle-East
Journal of Scientific Research 4 (4): 307-309
Pelgrum, W. J. & Law, N. (2003). "ICT in Education around the World: Trends,
Problems and Prospects"UNESCO-International Institute for Educational Planning.
Available:www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/02d077080fcf3210a19afeb4da09e526.ht
ml.
Strasburger, V.C. & Wilson B.J., (2002). Children, adolescents and the media. How
young people use the internet for health. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

36
Roberts, D.F., Henricksen L. & Foehr U.G., (2004). Adolescents and the Media. In
R. Lerner and L. Steinberg (Eds), Handbook of Adolescent Psychology 2nd Ed. New
York: Wiley.
Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things. Adolescent-parent relationship in
retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 1-19.

37
CHAPTER FIVE
CRIMINAL GANGS IN URBAN AREAS: A THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC
GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA
Beetseh, Kwaghga
Library Department, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Criminal gangs have been the major issue that confronts democratic
governance. These gangs have been considered as a source of violence
and insecurity at the urban areas and the society at large. For any
meaningful development to take place, the society must be crime free.
This will pave way for development. Many urban cities are turned into
cities of criminal gangs where people are afraid of carrying out their
legitimate functions based on the activities of these hoodlums. The
insecurity posed by these groups of people make the urban cities unsafe,
as their activities have reached unprecedented levels in many cities in
the developing world. Today more than 50% of the world population
lives in the cities, and developing countries account for over 90%. This
research work has adopted role theory as its theoretical framework in
addressing this issue.
KEYWORDS: Criminal gangs, Democratic governance
INTRODUCTION
Cities provide diverse opportunities for social mobility as they become centers of
socio-economic activities. Yet, they serve as arena of violence, which can be
attributed to the crisis of governance, especially in developing countries with
many years of political instability and poor leadership. Most political decisions
are taken in urban areas, and as a result of this practice, general reactions to the
quality of governance largely occur there. The syndrome of urban violence has
come to limelight with the rapid increase in the rate of urbanization worldwide.
The proportion of the worlds population living in urban areas has increased
from less than five percent in 1800 to 48 percent in 2002, and it is expected to
reach 65 percent in 2030, while more than 90 percent of future population growth
will be concentrated in cities in developing countries, and a large percentage of
this population will be poor (UNICEF, 2002; United Nations, 2002 & United
Nations, 1991). The present rate of urbanization in Africa- 40 percent- is
projected to reach 54 percent by 2025 when 60 percent of the worlds population
would be living in cities, and developing countries would constitute most of the
larger urban agglomerations (Massey, 2002). In 1900, the five largest cities were
London, New York, Paris, Berlin and Chicago, while in 2015 they will be Tokyo,
Bombay, Lagos, Dakar and Sao Paolo (Massey, 2002 & United Nations, 1999).
38
Urbanization usually reflects the patterns of social change in a society, and cities
are often described as cradles of civilization and sources of cultural and economic
renaissance (UNICEF, 2002). In their discourse on the trends of urbanization in
Africa, Annez, Buckley & Kalarickal (2010: 222) noted that: Urbanization in
Africa is flight, reflecting choices made under duress, rather than migration to
unduly attractive cities. This observation is however incomplete as urbanization
could be based on natural growth in human population and voluntary or
involuntary migration.
Estimates on the rate of urbanization in Nigeria showed that the proportion of
the Nigerian populations living in urban areas increased from 11 percent in 1952
to 31 percent in 1985 and 46 percent in 2002, respectively (Ogun, 2010). It can be
deduced from the abovementioned estimates that the crisis of urban violence
could affect over 50 percent of the Nigerian populations. As shown in a report
from the World Bank (2011), Nigerias population has increased from 140 million
people in 2006 to 154.7 million people in 2011 but its major problems include
inadequate infrastructure, corruption and policy instability. Virtually all the six
geo-political zones in Nigeria have experienced rapid urbanization due to high
rate of population growth in the country. Lacey (1985) recognized the rapid
urbanization across different Nigerias regions, including Aba, Benin, Enugu,
Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Sapele and Warri in south-eastern Nigeria; Jos, Kaduna,
Kano and Zaria in northern Nigeria; and Ibadan and Lagos in south-western
Nigeria.
In the light of the foregoing, the socio-economic and political situations in
Nigeria are addressed in the present paper through an examination of the crisis
of governance and urban violence in the country. Nigeria is one of the countries
with accelerating rate of urbanization, and its emergence in the context of
colonialism by the British government has generated several crises that are yet to
be satisfactorily resolved. The crisis of governance remains central to other crises
in the country since the colonial era. The major fallout of the Nigerian crisis of
governance is the proliferation of urban violence of various dimensions such as
ethno-religious violence, electoral violence, youth militancy and civil unrest.
There are several studies in this area of research, especially from Western
perspectives (Goldmann et al, 2011; Grubesic, Mack & Kaylen, 2011; Moran, 2011;
Simpson & Arinde, 2011; Spano & Bolland, 2011; Steenbeck & Hipp, 2011; Warner
& Burchfield, 2011; Harrnoff-Tavel, 2010; Malesevic, 2010; Warner, Beck &
Ohmer, 2010; Cockburn, 2008 & Kennedy, 2008). Three cases of urban violence
were cited by Harroff-Tavel (2010). The first case is the 2005 French experience of
a wave of violent disturbances which beset the Paris suburbs; it eventually
spread to 200 cities in France. The second case is the 2008 experience of armed
violence among different gangs in Cape Town, South Africa. The third case is the
2010 Brazilian experience of armed violence between drug gangs and police in
39
Rio de Janeiro. Consistent with the Brazilian experience of urban violence,

Penglase (2011) mentioned the July 2010 case of Wesley de Andrade, an 11 yearold boy killed by a stray bullet while at school. The death of Andrade led to
protests by students on the downtown beach of Copacabana as well as several
days of primetime television coverage and the dismissal of the commander of the
local police battalion.
Similarly, Mark Duggan, a 29 year-old Black man was killed in August 2011 by a
stray bullet from a British police in Tottenham in North London (Simpson &
Arinde, 2011). Like the case of Andrade in Brazil, the death of Duggan in Britain
resulted in mass unrest and riots by youth in major cities including Manchester,
Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham. In the report by Simpson &
Arinde (2011), it was shown that 16,000 police officers were deployed to quell the
riots in the affected areas of the United Kingdom. Memories of previous cases of
urban violence in the UK can be recalled. In the summer of 2001, for example,
civil disturbances took place in several northern English towns (Cockburn, 2008).
Another example is the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, which resulted in serious
tension between the Black community and the UK police.
There are many instances of urban violence across the world but some instances
of urban violence may follow a different trajectory in each country. Thus, the
increasing waves of urban violence in the Nigerian cities suggest the need for
further studies that will focus on contemporary issues in governance and
urbanization. The present paper therefore examines crisis of governance and
urban violence in Nigeria. The discourse is organized into five major sections as
follows: crisis of governance in Nigeria, dimensions of urban violence in Nigeria,
consequences of urban violence, theoretical bases to urban violence and peacemaking processes. The study concludes with recommendations based on a
synthesis of different ideas across the sections of democratic governance.
CONCEPTUAL EXPLICATION
Criminal gang, also called street gang or youth gang, a group of persons, usually
youths, who share a common identity and who generally engage in criminal
behaviour. In contrast to the criminal behaviour of other youths, the activities of
gangs are characterized by some level of organization and continuity over time.
There is no consensus on the exact definition of a gang, however, and scholars
have debated whether the definition should expressly include involvement in
crime. Some gangs, but not all, have strong leadership, formalized rules, and
extensive use of common identifying symbols. Many gangs associate themselves
with a particular geographic area or type of crime, and some use graffiti as a
form of nonverbal communication.
Exactly how a criminal gang or street gang is defined has not found a consensus
among the most prudent researchers on the topic. For research purposes, a gang
40
definition is extremely important to define, for operational uses, for cross

disciplinary work and for comparative analysis. Cities, states and countries all
have differing views on what a gang is, and for the prosecution of gang
members, the state of California derived the definition below in 1988.
A criminal street gang is defined as any organization, association or group of
three or more persons, whether formal or informal, which (1) has continuity of
purpose, (2) seeks a group identity, and (3) has members who individually or
collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal activity (Reference
section 186.22(f) of the California Penal Code).
What's unique about the definition above is that it is NOT defining the term
"gang" or "street gang" but rather the State is defining "criminal street gang" and
then using the same term "criminal" in the definition. The definition is
awkwardly written, vague and redundant; and offers an extremely simplified
view of a gang. Because of this, any youth who participates in a gang can be
labeled as a "criminal" regardless of their individual activity or role. Prosecutors
have been able to use the flaw in the definition to their benefit by applying gangrelated "enhancements" that can transform a simple misdemeanor offense into a
felony which carry heavier penalties, including prison time.
In California court, gangs are always called "criminal street gangs" because of the
statutory definition and young people who have brief, temporary experiences
with gangs, can get the unfortunate situation of getting arrested for an offense
that then gets enhance to a gang related offense, regardless of whether or not
gangs played any role in the offense. Its extremely prejudicial for a prosecutor to
tell a jury that "Johnny" is part of a "criminal street gangs," and it becomes
virtually impossible for a gang member to receive a fair trial. One of the first
gang definitions was published in Frederic Thrasher's 1927 study of gangs in
Chicago in The Gang and in it he defined a gang as:
The gang is an interstitial group originally formed spontaneous, and then
integrated through conflict. It is characterized by the following types of behavior:
meeting face to face, milling, movement through space as a unit, conflict, and
planning. The result of this collective behavior is the development of tradition,
unreflective internal structure, esprit de corps, solidarity, morale, group
awareness, and attachment to a local territory (Thrasher, 1927: 57).
who act in concert to achieve a specific purpose or purposes which generally
include the conduct of illegal activity or control over a particular territory or type
of enterprise (Spano, 2011).
an organization of young people usually between their early teens and early
twenties, which has a group name, claims a territory or neighborhood as its own,
41
meets with its members on a regular basis, and has recognizable leadership (UN,
1999).
group of associating individuals which has an identifiable leadership and
organizational structure, either claims a territory in the community, or exercises
control over an illegal enterprise; and engages collectively or as individuals in
acts of violence or serious criminal behavior (Penglase, 2011).
Group whose members meet together with some regularity, over time, on
the basis of group-defined criteria of membership and group-determined
organizational structure, usually with some sense of territoriality (Jim Short
1990), ...group of individuals with a common ethnic and/or geographic identity
that collectively and/or individually regularly engage in a variety of activities,
legal or illegal that claim to be the dominant group in their locale, exercising
territoriality either fixed or fluid and that engage in at least one rivalry and/or
competition with another organization (Alonso, 1999).
A gang is a group of people who make money from criminal enterprises, and
South King County has its share of gang activity. Common crimes associated
with gang activity include auto theft, burglaries, drugs and prostitution. Gang
wars also lead to gun violence in public settings. A trend among gang-related
activity is that most offenders live outside of the communities where the youth
commit their crimes.
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
The culture of a democratic governance moves beyond the mere procedures of
democracy and the establishment of democratic institutions. It involves
promoting the sustainability of democracy which includes an enduring capacity
for: the separation of powers and independence of the branches of government;
the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law; the respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms; and, the transparency and accountability of a
responsible civil service, functioning at both the national and local levels.
A state which identifies with the culture of democratic governance is one which
welcomes a wide scope of political participation embracing a pluralistic system of
political parties, a vibrant civil society and media. Further, strong democratic
institutions promote and integrate women and minorities in all levels of the
government and society as a whole. Also, a state which embodies the culture of
democratic governance is one which protects the rights and dignity of children.
Therefore, the promotion of the culture of democratic governance involves an
integrated approach to sustainable governance for and by all people.

42
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The major attempt to understand the cause of criminal gang in urban areas has
been a major problem faced by scholars over time. Criminal gang in urban area
by its nature is naturally beyond any causation. In this research work, we
considered the role theory as it framework of analysis
The theoretical perspective that best addresses behavior of this type is role theory
(Biddle, 1979, 1986; Heiss, 1981 & Turner, 1990). Role theory holds that a
substantial proportion of observable, day-to-day social behavior is simply
persons carrying out their roles, much as actors carry out their roles on the stage
or ballplayers perform theirs on the field.
Propositions in role theory: The following propositions are central to the role
theory perspective;
1. People spend much of their lives participating as members of groups and
organizations.
2. Within these groups, people occupy distinct positions (fullback,
advertising executive, police sergeant and the like).
3. Each of these positions entails a role, which is a set of functions performed
by the person for the group. A persons role is defined by expectations
(held by other group members) that specify how he or she should
perform.
4. Groups often formalize these expectations as norms, which are rules
specifying how a person should behave, what rewards will result for
performance and what punishment will result for non-performance.
5. Individuals usually carry out their roles and perform in accordance with
the prevailing norms. In other words, people are primarily conformists;
they try to meet expectations held by others.
6. Group members check each individuals performance to determine
whether it conforms to the groups norms. If an individual meets the role
expectations held by others, then he or she will receive rewards in some
form (acceptance, approval, money and so on). If he or she fails to perform
as expected, however, then group members may embarrass, punish or
even expel that individual from the group. The anticipation that others
will apply sanctions ensures performance as expected.
IMPACT OF ROLE THEORY
Role theory implies that if we (as analysts) have information about the role
expectations for a specified position, we can then predict a significant portion of
the behavior of the person occupying that position. According to role theory, to
change a persons behavior, it is necessary to change or redefine his or her role.
This might be done by changing the roles expectations held by others with
respect to that person or by shifting that person into an entirely different role
(Allen &Van de Vliert, 1982). For example, if the football coach shifted Craig from
43
fullback to tight end, Craigs behavior would change to match the role demands
of his new position. Craig himself may experience some strain while adjusting to
the new role, but hi behavior will change.
Role theory maintains that a persons role determines not only behavior but also
beliefs and attitudes. In other words, individuals bring their attitudes into
congruence with the expectations that defines their roles. A change in role should
lead to a change in attitude. One illustration of this effect appears in classic study
of factory workers by Lieberman (1965). In the initial stage of this study,
researchers measured the attitudes of workers toward union and management
policies in a Midwestern home appliance factory. During the following year, a
number of these workers changed roles. Some were promoted to the position of
foreman, a managerial role; others were elected to the position of shop steward, a
union role.
About a year after the initial measurement, the workers attitudes were
reassessed. The attitudes of workers who had become foremen or shop stewards
were compared to those of the workers who had not changed roles. The recently
promoted foremen expressed more positive attitudes than the non-changers
towards the companys management and the companys incentive system, which
paid workers in proportion to what they produced. In contrast, the recently
elected shop stewards expressed more positive attitudes than the non-changers
towards the union and favoured incentive system based on seniority, not
productivity. The most efficient explanation of these results is that the workers
attitudes shifted to fit their new roles, as predicted by them. In general, the roles
that people occupy not only channel their behavior but also shape their attitudes.
Roles can influence the values that people hold and affect the direction of their
personal growth and development.
Limitations of Role Theory
Despite its usefulness, role theory has difficulty explaining certain kinds of social
behavior. Foremost among these is deviant behavior, which is any behavior that
violates or contravenes the norms defining a given role. Most forms of deviant
behavior, whether simply a refusal to perform as expected or something more
serious like the commission of a crime, disrupt interpersonal relations. Deviant
behavior poses a challenge to role theory because it contradicts the assumption
that people are essentially conformist deviant behavior violates the demands of
roles. Of course, a certain amount of deviant behavior can be explained by the
fact that people are sometimes ignorant of norms. Deviance may also result
whenever people face conflicting or incompatible expectations from several other
people (Mile, 1977). In general, however, deviant behavior is an unexplained and
problematic exception from the standpoint of role theory. Even critics of the role
theory acknowledge that a substantial portion of all social behavior can be
explained as conformity to established role expectations. But role theory does not
44
and cannot explain how role expectations came to be what they are in the first
place. Nor does it explain when and how role expectations change. Without
accomplishing these tasks, role theory can provide only a partial explanation of
social behavior.
Dimensions of Urban Violence in Nigeria
It is widely acceptable that an urban area is a relatively large and dense
permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous peoples (Perchonock, 1994). This
description shows some features with far-reaching implications for urban
violence and its escalation. In his description of violence and humanitarian
actions in urban areas, Harroff-Tavel (2010) distinguished urban violence from
violence that is purely criminal. He mentioned different forms of urban violence
including social and political uprising, hunger riots, identity-based violence
among ethnic or religious groups, clashes between territorial gangs, terrorism
and acts of xenophobic violence directed against migrants. However, urban
violence has intertwined with different forms of violence in urban areas. This
situation was described by Harroff-Tavel (2010: 347): Armed urban violence
between groups that are generally considered as criminal (drug dealers,
territorial gangs, mafia-type groups, etc.), or between those groups and
government forces or private militias, raises some complex legal (and political)
problems. This is particularly the case when that fighting is between groups
engaged in a collective confrontation of major intensity, which testifies to a high
degree of organization.
As conceptualized in the present paper, all forms of violence in urban areas
constitute a serious social problem irrespective of their nomenclatures. Any form
of violence that constitutes a threat to security of lives and property of a large
number of people in an urban area is considered an urban violence, as used in the
present paper. This conceptualization is based on recognition of the fact that
urban violence can be more devastating compared to violence in a rural setting.
In a recent study by Aliyu, Kasim and Martin (2011), urban violence was
expressed in terms of ethnic and religious conflicts. Also, Penglase (2011) argued
that representations of urban violence are often centered upon concerns with
transgression. Such representations always reinforce anxiety and fear among
members of the public.
Different waves of urban violence have occurred in Nigeria since the advent of
colonialism by the British government. Resistance to colonialism in the Nigerian
cities constitutes the bedrock of urban violence exemplified with different records
of mass unrest and riots including the 1929 riots in Aba, the 1945 general strike
by the Nigerian labour and the 1953 riots in Kano. The trends of urban violence
continued in the Nigerian cities even after the 1st October 1960 celebration of the
Nigerian political independence from the British government. Cases of urban
violence were recorded in the Nigerian cities in the 1960s and beyond. Such cases
45
include the riots that erupted from political party conflicts in the 1964 general
election and the civil war that extended across the Nigerian rural and urban areas
between 6th July 1967 and 7th January 1970. Historians have shown that the
Nigerian civil war led to the death of many people and damage to property
worth billions of pound measured in term of the Nigerian official currency,
which was established in 1958 and used till 1973 when the Nigerian pound was
changed to the Nigerian naira (Falola & Genova, 2009).
The major causes of the war include ethnic rivalry, corruption, political instability
and agitation for resource control. The end of the war laid the foundation for the
emergence of a new social class who made huge profits from supplying arms and
ammunition to warriors in violence-prone areas (Bamgbose, 2009; Odoemene,
2008; Erinosho, 2007; Obi, 2006 & Adejumobi, 2005). Some vicissitudes of urban
violence in Nigeria between 1960 and 1998 have been summarized by Falola
(1998). His views are highlighted as follows: When the country won its
independence in 1960, the most destabilizing factor was ethnicity [] the 1993
election of a civilian president was complicated by conflicts between Muslim and
Christian candidates [] But the most notable crisis occurred in 1978 in Zaria
[] In 1980, the Maitatsine crisis claimed thousands of lives [] On the last day
of October 1982, eight large churches were burned in the prominent city of
Kano[] A major riot in Kaduna that same year claimed at least four hundred
lives. In 1984, violence sparked by Muslims in Yola and Jimeta killed
approximately seven hundred people (including policemen) and left nearly six
thousand people homeless [] At Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state, Palm Sunday
turned disastrous as Christians clashed with Muslims, leading to the destruction
of three churches. In the south, at the University of Ibadan, Muslims set fire to a
sculpture of Jesus in front of the Chapel of Resurrection []. In 1991, the
religious crisis in Bauchi State reached the breaking point, leading to numerous
deaths and massive destruction. In the same year, Kano and Katsina witnessed a
series of riots. In 1992, large-scale violence returned to Kaduna state, with severe
clashes in Zangon-Kataf, Kaduna, and Zaria []. In May and June 1995, a new
crisis erupted in Kano []. In May 1996, eight people lost their lives when the
police clashed with a group of Muslim students (Falola, 1998: 2-4).
About 50 episodes of urban violence, which culminated in the death of over
10,000 persons and internal displacement of over 300, 000 people, were recorded
in Nigeria between 1999 and 2003 (USAID, 2005). Over 51,000 people were
displaced during the 2006 religious violence in northern Nigeria (IRIN News,
2006). Estimates on the 2007 violence in northern Nigeria showed that 29 persons
died; 12 churches were destroyed; 90 people were injured, and 3,500 people were
displaced (US Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2008). More
recently, violent clashes involving various militant groups and the Nigerian
governments Joint Task Force (JTF) escalated between 2004 and 2009. It was
reported that militant activities resulted in over 92 attacks on oil companies in
46
2008, and as a result, over 1,000 people were killed, and crude oil exports
declined to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in March 2009, down from 2.6
million bpd in 2006 (International Crisis Group, 2009). The Movement for the
Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) declared an oil war which led to
repeated attacks on oil companies and death of several people in the Niger Delta
cities including Warri, Yenagoa and Port Harcourt. The MEND later declared a
unilateral ceasefire but revoked it on 30 January 2009, following the JTFs attack
on the camps of some militants. In reprisal, militants attacked a civilian
helicopter in the Niger Delta on 25 February 2009 through a General Purpose
Machine Gun (GPMG), which seriously wounded at least one passenger and
forced the local Aero Contractor-operated Sikorsky to make an emergency
landing (International Crisis Group, 2009). Another fresh violent conflict erupted
in Jos from 28 to 29 November 2008; this resulted in the death of over 700 persons
and destruction of properties worth millions of naira. In July 2009, over 600
deaths were recorded in a series of attacks associated with Boko Haram
violence in Bauchi and its environs (Adinoyi, 2009; Balogun, 2009 & Eya, 2009).
Most of the cases of urban violence in Nigeria can be attributed to crisis of
governance, given different perspectives on the issue. Urban violence has become
pronounced in different cities in each of the six geo political zones in Nigeria.
Specific instances of urban violence in northern Nigeria include ethno-religious
violence in Kano, Kaduna, Zaria and Maiduguri. The instances of urban violence
in northern Nigeria were buttressed by Adesoji (2010: 97) with the following
examples: These include the Kano metropolitan riot of October 1982, the Ilorin
riot of March 1986 [] the Kafanchan/Kaduna/Zaria/ Funtua religious riots of
March 1987, the Kaduna Polytechnic riot of March 1988, the acrimonious,
nationwide debate on Sharia (Islamic law) at the Constituent Assembly in
October/November 1988, the Bayero University crisis of 1989, the
Bauchi/Katsina riots of March/April 1991, the Kano riot of October 1991, the
Zangon-Kataf riot of May 1992, the Kano civil disturbance of December 1991.
Focusing on the waves of urban violence in central Nigeria, Kendhammer (2010)
observed that Jos has become the site of repeated deadly ethnic riots since the
democratic transition in 1999. The riots in Jos resulted in the deaths of 3000
people between 2001, 2004 and even 2013; such riots have been described as
religious, ethnic, or between settlers and indigenous populations. Several
instances of urban violence equally occurred in eastern Nigeria in the fourth
republic, especially through the activities of the Bakassi Boys in Aba, Anambra,
Enugu, Imo and Onitsha. Similarly, the OPC has contributed to waves of urban
violence in western Nigeria, particularly in Lagos and Ibadan. In southern
Nigeria, several cases of urban violence were recorded in Warri and Port
Harcourt during militant attacks on multinational companies in the area.
The Nigerian experience of urban violence resonates with Malesevics (2010)
discourse on the continuity of the trauma of war. Citing the intellectual
47
contributions of classical sociologists such as Marx, Durkheim, Weber &

Malesevic (2010) mentioned the major reflections of the collective violence in the
19th and 20th centuries. Additional cases of urban violence in the Nigerian cities
show some instances of urban violence associated with political party conflicts,
which have characterized the Nigerian fourth republic since 1999, a period that
marked the beginning of the fourth republic. It is noteworthy that the third
republic, which would have commenced on 1st October 1993, was aborted by
General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. The second republic was terminated on
31st December 1983 via a military coup led by Major General Muhammadu
Buhari, whereas the first republic lasted for five years (1st October 1960 15th
January 1966) due to military coups. It can be observed that both the military and
democratic rulers in Nigeria have been accused of arbitrary governance by
different groups of people in the Nigerian cities. Those groups have promoted
different forms of urban violence as a counterforce against arbitrary governance
in Nigeria. Thus, the discourse on urban violence in Nigeria can be extended
beyond the cases of political party conflicts.
A review of the socio political situation in Nigeria by Kendhammer (2010)
suggests that the effect of party politics on ethnicity has been paradoxical,
indicating the fact that policies designed to end ethnic outbidding and the
ethnicization of party politics have resulted in higher levels of ethnic violence. An
implication of a practice among members of the PDP was highlighted in a way by
Kendhammer (2010: 48). The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) succeeds as a
multi-ethnic coalition on the basis of informal bargains and accommodations. The
practice of zoning, which distributes the spoils of office according to an ethnic
formula, produces incentives for local elites to embark upon ethnic violence or
ethnic mobilisation as a way of advancing the interests of their local
constituencies. The proliferation of urban violence in the Niger Delta region of
Nigeria has also been traced to the Nigerian crisis of governance: Violent conflicts
have persisted in the Niger Delta communities of Nigeria despite efforts by
successive governments and international organisations to broker peace in the
region []. One of the major factors contributing to the lack of peace in the
region is the pervasive perception by local communities of the Nigerian
governments inability to satisfy their basic human needs. As an example,
approximately 96 per cent of all government revenue comes from the Niger Delta
region. However, many of these communities are still poor and do not feel they
are receiving a fair share of the resources in their territory (Akinwale, 2008: 8).
Some other factors contributing to violence in the region include collusion
between foreign investors and local elites; poverty and ignorance; the rise in
youth militancy; structural barriers, and divergent interests of state elites and
local leaders. The Nigerian experience of violence is analogous to situations in
many African societies where: Violent conflicts continue to undermine human
security; they pose a major threat in many parts of the continent. Analysis of civil
48
strife in countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of

Congo, Sudan, Cte dIvoire, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi, reveals that war
and violent conflict have retarded development; conflict has had pernicious
societal effects, including extensive damage and loss of human life, infrastructure
and natural resources. (Institute for Security Studies, 2008: iv)
CRIMINAL GANGS IN URBAN AREAS: A THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC
GOVERNANCE IN THE NIGERIAN SCENE
The above mentioned consequences of urban violence require further elaboration
since the issues raised thereon can be situated within the ambit of experience of
different groups in the Nigerian cities. The Nigerian crisis of governance has
been aggravated by urban violence, before, during and after elections. Nigeria
has not been able to recover from the damage to the 12th June 1993 presidential
election, given the abrogation of the third republic and the riots that erupted
from it. Elections conducted in the fourth republic were tainted by acrimony and
confrontations over alleged malpractices such as rigging of elections. Falola &
Genova (2009) argued that the 19th April 2007 presidential election was blatantly
dysfunctional, given the violence and voting irregularities that characterised it.
The 2007 and 2011 presidential election in Nigeria has actually brought more
urban violence as the activities of boko haram has drastically increase. The recent
killing of police personnel at Lakyo village in Nasarawa state, 9th July2013 River
State house Assemble political crisis which should be seen as a state of anarchy,
Factions of Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), past killings in the northern part
of country and the Monday 29th July, 2013 bombing in Kano State where 45
persons were reported dead, has seriously poses a threat to our democracy.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The causes of urban violence in Nigeria are a combination of poverty and
persistent inequality in wealth distribution together with the establishment of
liberal democracy that saw all hopes of modifying and narrowing the gap
between rich and poor frustrated. While in previous decades the majority of
those politically excluded were workers fighting to be granted the status of
citizens, nowadays, the majority of the socially excluded are the unemployed or
those employed in precarious jobs who concentrate their energies on trying to
survive (Jerome, 2004). The political equality which democracy established has
not led to an end of economic inequality.
The authoritarian legacies that survive after the arrival of democracy, such as the
working practices, habits and uses of the security forces and the institutional
weakness of the state, accentuate the inability of governments to resolve conflicts
and prevent violence. Yet this incapacity to provide citizens with security does
not mean that Nigerian state is a failed state, nor does it call into question its
essence as a state, not even in those examples where the homicide rate is very
high or where organized crime like urban violence pose particular threats. While
49
it may be true that the state does not guarantee security, it can be considered as a
state where the rule of law is discontinuous, where part of the territory or the
functions of the state are threatened with a certain degree of success by armed
groups. But the other capacities of the state remain intact and in working order
and the national territory are free from the threat of violence; thus the state
continues to function internally and internationally as state.
This is the case of Nigeria. It has demonstrated that state can survive historic
processes like these and that ultimately a state can only be strengthened by the
reconstruction of its institutions. Violence can form part of a historical process of
state formation; however, urban violence and the cases presented here are not
clearly related to the formation of states since violence is not accompanied by
successfully articulated political, economic or social demands. In other words, if
the main cause of urban violence is the combination of poverty and an unequal
distribution of wealth, it could be said that, ultimately, violence is a demand for
the transformation of social relations, the social contract and the state. However,
in practice this type of violence weakens the state since it does not intend to
transform and transcend an inefficient state, but instead is a weapon used for
short term gain and to guarantee survival. In the case of organized crime and
drug trafficking, both produce sufficient violence to weaken the state. Not even
when they play an administrative role by providing help in the shanty towns or
poor neighborhoods can they be considered to have replaced the state, because
their ultimate objective is the illegal reproduction of wealth.
Despite these considerations, nobody can fail to recognize those illegal groups,
the street gangs, often help to integrate young people, creating an identity for
them which neither the state nor their families have been able to provide. The
social exclusion, drugs, police persecution, widespread discrimination and
wealth which surround these young people leave them without any sense of
value for their own lives, a disregard widely shared by the rest of society and the
state towards them. Institutional strengthening is crucial: not only the
strengthening and the democratization of the states repressive apparatus, but
also of those institutions which form part of the lives of these marginalized
populations through education, training and prevention programmes. As
institutional strengthening programmes are costly and lengthy; in the short term
local initiatives should be promoted. Regional organizations, donor governments,
the European Union and international bodies should include the fight against
violence in their agendas, identifying it as a key factor in aiding the strengthening
of institutions. The vicious circle of social exclusion poverty disenfranchisement
and violence, which weakens the state and holds back development, can be
broken in this way.
The key to resolving urban violence is to reintegrate young people by
strengthening institutions, creating consensus and increasing the resources
50
dedicated to Education, training, prevention and security. As has been

highlighted here, local programmes can be successful. Local governments have to
reach cross party consensus in relation to prevention and security policies in
order to ensure that changes in the electoral fortunes of one party do not lead to a
wider negative effect for the issue of urban violence. Two types of programmes
would seem to be the most appropriate: those which restrict the carrying of
weapons and alcohol consumption, and training and prevention programmes
backed up by help in accessing the labor Market through job centers, trade
apprenticeships, improvement of neighborhoods and communities. Adapting the
education system to the skills demanded by the labor market is also worth
serious consideration. Another kind of programme aimed at the wider
population should emphasize the causes and consequences of social differences
and seek to decriminalize poverty and build a consensus on the need to modify
social structures for the benefit of all. For all the self-exclusion the higher earners
in society try to bring about, the poverty, marginalization and fear that form part
of the landscape beyond the locked gates of their private neighborhoods do not
change. One of the threats which the normalization of violence brings is that it
inevitably leads to an increase in authoritarianism and the abuse of power by the
security forces, affecting the quality of life of all in the long term (Chizea & Iyare,
2006).
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54
CHAPTER SIX
CURRICULUM AND VOCATIONAL COUNSELLING: IMPLICATION FOR
EDUCATIONAL REFORMS AND MANAGEMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT
AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTH
Olagunju, Mukaila K. O. and Adeyemi, Shade Vivian
School of Education, Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Noforija
Epe, Lagos State.
ABSTRACT
Misinformation or the lack of it has been a major harbinger of the
problem of mismatched vocational choices and unemployment faced by
most Nigerian youth. This misinformation has increased the problem of
inadequate self-identity among students, lack of social roles have
influenced the inability of some youth to critically analyse vocational
interests and opportunities while choosing a vocation. It is in view of
this, that this paper examines curriculum and vocational counseling as
implication for educational reforms and management of unemployment
among Nigerian youth. The paper advocates that curriculum and
vocational counselling are effective means through which curriculum
development and policies can be appropriately utilised to combat career
disinterest, unemployment among the active population and improve a
countrys socio-economic status and standing in the world. The new
curriculum designed for Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria, the
concept and theories of vocational counselling, and recommendations
for developing and utilizing appropriate and effective counseling
services are presented in this paper.
KEYWORDS: Educational Reforms, Curriculum,
Unemployment, Vocational Counselling.
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria has witnessed different issues of unemployment and socio-economic
instability over the years owing to varying reasons. However, two main reasons
which may have facilitated these challenges are low academic performance of
students in examinations (Secondary and the Tertiary level) and lack of effective
vocational skills among a large number of Nigerians. The latter having resulted
from the unfortunate misconception owned by most Nigerians that schooling
and graduation is to facilitate employment rather than create employment
through the training and skills the academic and vocational environment had
offered. The end result of this misconception is that Nigeria has a nation consume
more goods and services than what it is willing to produce. A situation that is
observable in the high rate of job-seekers and the limited numbers of local

55
employers and entrepreneurs available in Nigeria. This in itself is bad for the
economy and it does not enhance a sense of autonomy and self-efficacy in
people.
The term unemployment can be defined as a state in which an individual willing
to work or take up a job in order to be rewarded with a daily or monthly wage or
salary finds it difficult to secure such regardless of his/her efforts. The
International Labor Organization (2012) defines unemployment as an economic
indicator that refers to the number or proportion of people in an economy who
are willing and able to work, but are unable to get a job. Unemployment is a
grave issue in Nigeria and the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (2012) in
computing the unemployment rate, divides the total population into labour force
(currently active) and non-labour force (not currently active). In this division, the
labour force which could also be referred to as the employable Nigerians are
persons aged 15-64years covers 56.3% of the total population. This statistics
reveals that the labour force makes up more than half of the total population of
the populace showing the risk a society is exposed to socio-economically when
the active populace is faced with likely redundancy. Below is a statistical
illustration of unemployment in Nigeria from 2009 2011:
YEAR
2009
2010
2011
PERCENTAGE (%)
19.7%
21.1%
23.9%
Source: Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (2012)

The above results show the gradual increase (19.7%, 21.1% and 23.9%) in the rate
of unemployment in Nigeria out of the 56.3% that makes up the active
employable group. Till date little difference can be assumed to have been
achieved since the clamour for more youth empowerment programmes which
stipends are inadequate for the benefactor to live on still exists. A major reason
for the limited success recorded in the so many youth empowerment
programmes is that majority of the benefactors perceive it as a salary paying job
rather than a training scheme designed to equip them for vocational and
entrepreneurial roles. In addition to this, most of the bodies which equip these
individuals with training skills do not provide essential facilities for them to start
off as entrepreneurs and engage in little follow-ups once the programme ends.
Effects of Unemployment
Unemployment is a reflection of inadequacy, either on the part of the jobseeker
or the nation. It is debilitating for the growth and socioeconomic stability of a
nation. This means that unemployment impoverish both the unemployed and the
nation at large as finances would be diverted to combat the unemployment crisis
56
rather than used for other germane developmental programmes. Aside this,
unemployment negatively affects an individuals self-worth, identity, selfefficacy and stretches resilience to the extreme. This may then lead to sociopsychological problems of aggression and violence, isolation, hate, and
depression. The affected individual may perceive others around him or the
society as a whole as responsible for his/her plight and this could lead him/her
to commit crime and other antisocial behaviours. To him/her this could seem the
only way out of his/her problems. Moreover, it may be assumed that the fear of
unemployment sometimes trigger criminal behavior (frauds, blackmail and
embezzlement) among the working class as a means of saving for the raining
day.
Thus, the prevalence and associated negative effects of unemployment have
influenced governments at all levels and in various countries to continually strive
to curb and manage the rate and the likely increase of unemployment among the
active group in their countries. The various management strategies, policies and
programmes embarked on include youth empowerment schemes, curriculum
review at all level of the educational grade (primary, secondary and tertiary) and
so on. However, as much as these programmes were designed with the good
intent of resolving the problem of unemployment, little or limited attention were
given to counseling programmes which would serve as bedrock of assuring the
success of the other programme. What this portends is that most of the policies
and programmes thus designed became crash solutions which could not
effectively meet the affected individuals needs, improve his/her self-belief and
values and appropriately curb and manage the problem of career disinterest and
unemployment among Nigerian youth. The aim of the paper is to create the
awareness in people and the government at every level that vocational
counseling is an essential tool germane to providing balance in developing a
quality, qualified and autonomous individuals among Nigerian youth. The paper
examines the existing psychologically synchronization existing between an
individuals state of mind, interest and vocation and the exhibited behavior and
achievement that is associated with such. It further highlights theories on
vocational counseling and considers the psychological and emotional disunity
likely to result when school subjects are wrongly chosen or matched, limited
vocational information and counseling are given to students, and the negative
effect of selecting vocational choice based on availability and financial worth.
Vocational Misconceptions
Vocational choice may be enforced on students by parents owing to perceived
associated high label or socio-economic status of professionals in the discipline.
The parents affected by this misconception do not encourage children to become
fine artists, teachers, cobblers, fabric makers or ceramic or glass designers but
place emphasis on disciplines such as accountancy, medicine, pharmacy,
engineering or some others. The underlying problem with such familial influence
57
is that students are not given the freewill to explore their self, values and
interests. Moreover, many of these students do not make the requirement
necessary to gain admission for admission for further training in these
professional courses and when they do perceive it as something done to please
the parents. End result is that some of the students who fail to make the
necessary requirements for further training are forced to re-sit their examinations
or left in confusion as to what to do next. For the others who may actually have
been successful to go through the training, they may be lacking in interpersonal
relationship as they are not personally motivated to give more than what could
satisfy their parents and not self. In addition, the qualifications they therefore
gain are to make them amenable to professional instructions and not to give
instructions.
Aside parents, many students have been misled in their secondary schools by
peers and teachers owing to their intelligence. It is an assumed norm in Nigeria
that students who are in the 80 and above percentile should be considered most
eligible for the field of science and technology while students vast in language
are placed in the arts. This unfortunate belief has placed a lot of students into the
corner and has forced them to embrace professions which they would not have
chosen if the proper vocational counseling and placement was done. Thus, it is
important for people, especially the significant individuals in a students life to
understand that vocational choice should not be defined based on academic
performance but on a students interests, values and self-efficacy belief.
Vocational Counselling
In Nigeria, adequate emphasis on the importance of counselling services and the
utilization of the professional counselling assistance is yet to be achieved.
Unfortunately, a lot of crisis exist in Nigeria that appropriate counseling
programmes could have helped prevent. For instance, development of selfconcepts in people, relationship and anger management skills and vocational
counselling are just a few out of the intervention programmes that counselling
proffers to people and which could have prevented some of the sociopsychological and emotional problems experienced in Nigeria. However, with
the introduction of the new Senior Secondary school curriculum and the overall
awareness that there is a major socio-economic crisis in Nigeria it is believed that
vocational counselling would be given relevant recognition it deserves.
Vocational counselling is the drive that would make the new curriculum survive
since it is the professional responsibility of the vocational counselor to provide
orientation, identification of career interests and self-efficacy of students as well
as vocational placements.
The Curriculum
In the last few decades, the secondary schools have been called upon to do much
more than teach the basics. The need to develop the mindsets of students to
58
understand that vocational aspiration goes beyond employability but equally

encompasses creating and providing jobs for others has become essential. In a bid
to achieve this, the present Nigerian senior secondary schools curriculum have
been classified into four area; science and mathematics, humanities, business
studies and technology. These classifications may have been adopted because it
caters for the link needed in all vocation a student may engage in. Moreover, the
curriculum would guide students vocational decisions or instill in them
vocational skills. Thus, the new curriculum encompasses the following vocational
subjects as indicated by Orji (2012):
1. Auto body repair and spray painting
2. Auto electrical work
3. Auto mechanical work
4. Auto parts merchandising
5. Air conditioning refrigerator
6. Welding and fabrication engineering craft practice
7. Electrical installation and maintenance work
8. Radio, TV and electrical work
9. Block laying, brick Laying and concrete work
10. Painting and decoration
11. Plumbing and pipe fitting
12. Machine woodworking
13. Carpentry and joinery
14. Furniture making
15. Upholstery
16. Catering and craft practice
17. Garment making
18. Textile trade
19. Dying and bleaching
20. Printing craft practice
21. Cosmetology
22. Leather goods manufacturing and repair
23. Keyboarding
24. Data processing
25. Store keeping
26. Book keeping
27. GSM maintenance
28. Photography
29. Tourism
30. Mining
31. Animal husbandry
32. Fisheries
33. Marketing
34. Salesmanship

59
The aim of the vocational subjects is to expose and equip students with the
needed psychological sense of autonomy, self-reliance, self-efficacy, resilience,
motivation and interest germane in making appropriate career choices and
decisions. A worthy policy one may say in combating unemployment, however,
there is need for another cogent programme to be in place on which the
curriculum implementation can ride on to ensure the programme success. A
cogent programme that would provide this important role is curriculum and
vocational counseling, the teachers and trainers need to understand why
particular sets of students are assigned to them for teaching and training and the
students also need to understand why they are best suited to a particular training
or vocation rather than another. The answer to these questions are not gained in
the classroom but are the sole responsibility of the vocational counselor in order
to ensure a smooth and effective running of programmes in the schools.
Vocational counselling is a blend of self-development, learning and assimilation
of vocation, in which educational and labour market information are provided to
individuals. Below is an illustration demonstrating the interaction between the
student, vocational counselling and vocation.

60
Interaction between the student, vocational counselling and vocation

Student
Career Counselling
Business studies
Humanities
-Auto
-Painting
parts
and
merchandising
decoration
-Store keeping
-Keyboarding
-Book keeping
- Photography
-Tourism
-Catering and craft
-Marketing
practice
-Salesmanship
- Garment making
-Textile trade
-Dying and bleaching

-Printing
practice
-Cosmetology
craft
Science & Mathematics
Technology
-Data processing
-Auto body repair and spray
-GSM maintenance
painting
-Mining
-Air conditioning refrigerator
-Animal husbandry
repair
-Fisheries
-Welding
-Auto electrical work
engineering craft practice
-Auto mechanical work
-Block laying, brick Laying
-Electrical installation
and
maintenance work
and
fabrication
and concrete work

-Plumbing and pipe fitting
-Machine woodworking
-Radio, TV and electrical
-Carpentry and joinery
work
-Furniture making
-Upholstery

61
Theories on Vocational Counselling

Vocational counselling is a process of helping individuals make career-related
decisions, effectively manage careers over the life course and develop the
emotional resilience to cope with the challenges that arise as their working lives
progress (Kidd, 2006). It is the professional assistance given to students to help
them fully realize their talents and potentials and be adequately guided into
organizing this for future vocational sustainability. Thus, vocational counseling
can be regarded as a fluid solidified yet systematic process of helping students
explore both themselves and their possibilities and to decide, with awareness,
what they want to do at different stages of their life.
There is no way the term vocational counselling can be considered without
reflecting on the threefold framework associated with vocational development.
The threefold framework is vocational decision making, vocational management,
and vocational resilience (Kidd, 2006). The frameworks given by Kidd (2006)
illustrate the whole essence of vocational counselling. Moreover, it easily gives an
idea of the role a vocational counselor would play in career development. Some
of this role includes assisting people of all ages at different stages in their careers
resolve vocational concerns such as frustrations of redundancy and
unemployment; assist people and students decide on study or work, and find
ways to balance life and job roles.
The European Union (2008) report refers to vocational guidance and counseling
as an instrument useful in effectively combating social exclusion and increase
citizens' employability. Also, it is referred to as a trend which is relevant and
responsive to the times and to the individuals who are its consumers (UNESCO,
2002). Savickas (2005) views vocational counseling as an effective process in these
changing times. In profiling vocational counselling, Herr (1997) made five
observations. These are that:
The principal content in vocational counselling is the perceptions,
anxieties, information deficits, work personalities, competencies, and
motives that persons experience in their interactions with their external
environment;
Vocational counselling is not a singular process, but a term used to
summarize a range of interventions that deal with emotional or behavioral
disorders that accompany or confound the career problem;
Vocational counselling is no longer conceived as a process principally
focused on ensuring that adolescents make a wise choice of an initial job;
The Person-Environment-Fit Theory of Vocational Counselling
Vocational counseling is a unique discipline built on a foundation of vocational
theory and counselling theory (Patton & McMahon, 2006). These theories have
been broadened and new theories have been proposed, and the world of work
has undergone dramatic and irreversible change (Brown, 2002 & Patton &
62
McMahon, 1999). However, this paper examines the person-environment-fit

theory of vocational counselling.
The person-environment-fit theory emphasizes diagnosis and assessment.
Hollands (1997) proposes that people seek occupations that are congruent with
their occupational interests (preferences for particular work activities). His theory
states that people and occupational environments can be categorized into six
interest types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and
conventional. It is considered that occupational choice is the result of attempts to
achieve congruence between interests and environments while congruence
results in job satisfaction and career stability. Hollands main proposition, that
individuals choose occupations that are congruent with their interests may not
fully hold through for most people choosing a vocation in Nigeria especially
when vocational counselling is not sought in vocational decision making. Most
vocational choices in Nigeria are influenced by familys name, tradition and
pedigree as well as the financial benefits associated with the vocation. This means
that people tend to think more specifically about the job status and financial
benefits that would ease their acceptance among friends and significant others in
their lives rather than what vocation would suit them. To cite Arnold (2004),
socio-economic status of most people has made occupational titles inadequate
descriptors of work environments and work effectiveness. A situation that has
contributed and lend credence to emotional dissonance associated with many
professionals on the job.
Thus, the theory of person-fit-environment theory has seen in this paper explains
individual vocational interest and choice, especially as a motivator for career
aspiration resilience in the face of academic or vocational training challenges.
Moreover, the person-fit theory is a theory counselors would find useful in
developing counseling strategies effective in enhancing autonomy among
students and youth, useful in expanding their interests and in developing the
appropriate skills necessary in making them employable and employers.
Role of the Vocational Counsellor
It can be assumed that the main role of vocational counselling is to proffer
essential assistance, support and guidance to people in the management of
vocational and socio-psychological challenges. Aside this, the vocational
counselling is effective in assisting people to develop:
Self-concepts and self-understanding.
Develop students occupational concepts, getting to know about the world
of work and identifying how to choose among career alternatives.
Develop students occupational self-concepts, deciding what you want
from work and establishing career goals.

63
Develop students extra-occupational concepts, deciding what you want

from life beyond the work place through being able to identify road blocks
and solving problems.
Provide psychometric testing useful in making in-depth psychological
profiles to assess personality and intellectual levels.
The Processes in Vocational Counselling

Kidds (2003; 2006) views the vocational counseling process as comprising four
stages with associated tasks. These stages have been explained as thus:
Stage 1: Building the Relationship
The image of the career counsellor as a professional, offering advice and
recommendations on suitable jobs is an enduring one. Many students expect
vocational counseling to consist mainly of information about occupations but it is
important to help students understand that vocational counseling is a
collaborative venture and that they need to be active participants throughout the
process. Agreeing on a client-counsellor contract at an early stage is seen as
crucial. This contract may cover issues of confidentiality; the number, length, and
frequency of meetings; and, the nature of the vocational counseling process.
Stage 2: Enabling Students Understanding
The task here is helping students gain a deeper understanding of their situation
and the issues that concerns them. Vocational counselling would help many
students gain important insights about self and vocational development. To do
this, structured assessment techniques and tools are used. These assessment tools
are useful for client self-understanding and exploration rather than in making
predictions or recommendations. In addition, the information produced from
assessment is something to be shared, and students may be encouraged to
express their feelings about its accuracy and usefulness. Two categories of
assessment tools used are informal (graphic or written portrayals, such as lifelines, or written answers to questions, checklists, card sorts, and rating scales)
and formal (psychometric tests and inventories)
Stage 3: Exploring New Perspectives
Students who are challenging may have stereotypes and inaccurate beliefs about
some vocations. Some of these inaccurate beliefs may have been influenced by
culture, religion or gender stereotypes and this situation poses as key tasks for
counsellors undertaking the vocational counselling.
In addition, vocational counselors should view themselves as general
practitioners with respect to knowledge of occupational and educational
opportunities (Nathan & Hill, 2006). This stems from the fact that different clients
groups will need different types of labour market information. Niles and HarrisBowlsbey (2002) outline three responsibilities in career information; these include
64
using only high-quality printed materials, computer-based systems, and web

sites.
Stage 4: Forming Strategies and Plans
Reviewing vocational counseling progress and contract may be assumed to be an
integral part of the career-counselling process at various stages. Setting time
aside for a review is also seen as useful in assessing the progress made. Thus goal
setting is important. It involves effective goals, which are clear and behaviorally
specific, measurable, achievable, owned by the goal setter, congruent with the
clients values, and appropriately time-scaled (Miller, Crute & Hargie, 1992).
Moreover, the vocational counselling process has been referred to as goal setting
in research (Egan, 2004).
Goals of Vocational Counselling
The goals of vocational counselling refer to the aims and objectives of the
discipline. The following has been stated as thus:
Understand the importance of values, work, friends, family, income and
self-fulfillment to personal and career development.
Develop self-control over life and work, explore abilities, potentials, needs,
aspirations, self-monitoring, self-defeating behaviours, self-help skills and
use of resources.
Strengthen orientation for post-secondary school opportunities and
identify steps to be taken, anticipate opportunities and barriers (influence
of class, sex, disability and race).
Examine a variety of occupations; learn about the education and training,
licensing, certification or registration, working conditions and work-life
style of the occupations.
Learn decision-making and apply it to career decisions including setting
specific goals
Examine self and analyse past experience, including what one has and has
not accomplished and the reasons for successes and disappointments
Develop transition skills of continuously developing competencies in the
face of adversity and opportunity; obtain information on the
transferability of ones skills to new opportunities and of engaging in
continuous learning.
Importance of Career Counselling
A lot of benefits would accrue when vocational counseling is adequately
inculcated into schools curriculum and some of these benefits include assisting
students to:
Choose a life rather than simply living
Identify job interests that will shape their present and future life styles
and persons.

65
Make appropriate subjects combinations which would be useful in

vocational interest and choice, and enhance entrepreneurial skills.
Become employable and entrepreneurs
Develop social skills, anger/self-management skills useful in
maintaining a positive and stable emotional and socio-psychological
wellbeing.
Develop self-efficacy belief; resilience and self-identity essential in
transiting successfully into the world of work aside the scholastic
preparation for working roles they are exposed to in the classroom.
Moreover, vocational counseling would assist people develop a sense of selfworth and an understanding of the various opportunities they could choose from
in developing a sustainable career and socio-economic wellbeing. This would
therefore reduce the rate of crime and violence experienced in Nigeria owing to
joblessness and a state of financial incapacitation. In addition to this, it would
build the nation to a much better standing among other countries owing to high
rate of autonomous individuals existing in its various communities and who are
entrepreneurs with adequate self-beliefs system and would also increase the
gross domestic earnings of the country.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This paper focused on curriculum and vocational counseling as implication for
educational reforms and management of unemployment among Nigerian youth.
It has given a comprehensive view of the relevance and importance of vocational
counselling in curriculum implementation and management of unemployment
among Nigerian youth. Moreover, the paper examined the new senior secondary
school curriculum and the person-fit theories of vocational counseling. In
addition, it highlights the role of the vocational counselor and the likely
implication when counseling services and programmes are not made part of
government policies to address the problem of career choice and unemployment
among Nigerian youth.
In order to put things in shape and encourage effective implementation of
policies designed to prevent unemployment, the following recommendations are
given:
Government should support vocational counseling at all levels by establishing an
office with responsibility to prepare the vocational counseling curriculum, fund
its programmes and services and provide training and continuing education for
vocational counsellors and teachers. The vocational counseling centers should be
in schools and local government offices which are easily accessible to students
and other individuals needing the vocational counseling services.

66
In addition to this, they should encourage research and development for

identifying and creating new techniques of conducting educational and
vocational counselling. Moreover, teaching and learning should be designed to
be fun and not a chore as this would help in increasing the retention of learners at
school and reduce the numbers of dropouts from schools. This is because
illiteracy is equally a problem facilitating unemployment among some Nigerian
youth. Also, the government should authorize the collection, classification and
publishing of labour market information that is useful to economic development
efforts, vocational training programme and educational and vocational
counselling.
The schools and other educational bodies should equally assist the government
in providing a functional counseling centre where the professional counsellor is
given a free hand to practice the profession without hitch or barrier. This would
encourage students and people needing the service to visit. Also, students should
be encouraged to receive curriculum-based counselling which has a relationship
with their choice of academic subjects and would motivate them into
improvement in their academic performance. Moreover, individual counselling
for satisfactory achievement should be made available for both students and staff
while the counselling service should be given its due respect as a specialized
function possessing the required competencies.
Moreover, counselling associations and bodies existing in Nigeria should engage
in campaign drives to enlighten people as to their importance and relevance in all
aspects of the society. In addition, counselling practitioners should engage in
continuing education both internationally and locally to update their knowledge
and training as professionals.
Moreover, individuals should not shy away and deny themselves the
opportunities of enjoying the benefits associated with engaging in a professional
vocational counselling service with a qualified practitioner. A lot of times, simple
mistakes that have much greater effects on our lifestyles in future have been
made owing to lack of proper counselling. Most people would like to give
individual counsels but what makes a professional counselor stands out is the
objectivity involved. Aside this, counselling as a profession has the sole aim of
making an individual a better person through scientific research and guiding
principles.
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Connecting theory and practice. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
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Savickas, M. (2005).The theory and practice of career construction. In S. D. Brown

& R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counselling: Putting research and theory
to work,4270. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Super, D. E. (1957).The psychology of careers. New York: Harper & Row.
Super, D. E., Thompson, A. S., Lindeman, R. H., Myers, R. A., & Jordaan, J. P.
(1988). Adult career concerns inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists
Press.
UNESCO (2002).Handbook of career counselling. Paris: Author.

69
CHAPTER SEVEN
GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING NEEDS IN THE EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAMME
Edna Abibetu Abidde
Department of Psychology/Guidance & Counselling, College of Education
Warri, Delta State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Guidance and counselling service is an integral part of an overall well
planned programme with specific process guided with its aims and
objectives based on the need programme for students, process, product
and the ability to understand and solve their problems by themselves
and make appropriate adjustment to their environment. Major
guidance programme include students appraisal, information giving,
placement and follow up with ten criteria used in evaluation. This
paper focus on the need of guidance and counselling services and its
relevance providing students and other individuals with potentials from
a well-planned guidance and counselling programme to achieve the
desired goals of services rendered.
KEYWORDS: Educational Programme, Needs, Guidance and
counselling.
INTRODUCTION
The Guidance and counselling Programme, like any other educational
programme, requires careful and consistent research and development. This
ensures that the programme respond to the unique needs of its clients. It
provides benefits to students and other individuals by addressing their
intellectual, emotional, social, personal and psychological needs. For any
guidance and counselling programme to meet successfully the needs of all
individual or students as the case may be, it must be developmental, preventive
and remedial rather than crisis-oriented.
Further, a comprehensive and developmental guidance and counselling
programme is not only preventive but also pro-active in preventive orientation.
Consequently it must be well-planned, goal-oriented and accountable. It is an
integral part of the school programme, and complements other school activities.
It is important for todays guidance and counselling programme to be
developmental, so that it assists students who are growing up in a complex
world. It should help them to develop into full human beings, capable of
maximizing their potential in all personal, educational, social or career-related
respects.
70
A comprehensive guidance programme should be balanced, and encompass all

the four fundamental areas of guidance, viz.: psychological, educational, social
and vocational. It should provide students with the assistance necessary for their
maximum development. The programme should also decide what services to
offer, such as information, consultation, referral, counselling, placement, career
follow-up and evaluation services. The programme should use all staff members
and determine their roles in it. It, therefore, demands consultation, co-operation
and co-ordination. A programme should define the role of the guidance
personnel, who should be fully informed about the programme. It should create
a teamwork approach, in which every member of staff is considered responsible
for contributing to the success of the programme.
For a guidance programme to be comprehensive, it should also be relevant for
the clients, and not merely maintain a status quo. It must be purposeful, and
designed to meet the priority needs of the clients. These needs should be met in
an efficient and effective manner. It should be stable and unaffected by the loss of
personnel, as this determines the extent to which it meets the desired goals and
objectives.
Each programme must be specifically designed for the clients it serves. There is,
therefore, a possibility for both similarities and differences in programmes.
Effective programmes are flexible, since this allows for adaptation to future
growth and effectiveness. Programme development not only calls for needs
assessment but reflects other characteristics of the clients, such as age, location or
environment, religious belief, cultural background, sex and economic status.
Any service as comprehensive as guidance and counselling must be carefully
planned if it is to meet the desired goal. When the programme is well organized,
there is no doubt that all involved will participate to the fullest extent. The
teachers should see it as their own, rather than the headmasters or the guidance
counselling programme. Their involvement is crucial right from the start.
Education function as an opportunities to provide to students to enable them
reach full potentials in the areas of educational, vocational, personal, social, and
emotional development.
Guidance and counselling as an integral part of education is centered directly to
function and prepare individuals to assume increasing responsibility for their
own decisions, responsible for their ability to develop their own ability to make
intelligent choices (Gibson, 2008 & Kauchak 2011). Guidance and counselling
draws upon the past of an individual and brings it to bear on the present of the
same individual in order to fashion a future that ensures self-realization and selfactualization of such individual.

71
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING IN SCHOOL

PROGRAMMES.
The aims and objectives of guidance and counselling services are similar to the
purposes of educational programs. The major aim is to facilitate the personal
development of students. The purpose of guidance and counselling provide
emphasis on the value of the educational programs in relationship to the
vocational, psychological, social, economic activities to educational programs.
Ipaye (1983:11) suggested the following as the objectives of guidance and
counselling in Nigeria secondary schools
1.
To help students develop the skills of self- study, self-analysis and selfunderstanding.
2. To help students develop an awareness of opportunities in their personalsocial and vocational areas by providing them with appropriate useful and
usable information.
3.
To help students acquire skills of collecting and collating by synthesizing
appropriate information.
4.
To assist students in making appropriate and satisfactory personal-social,
educational, vocational and recreational choices.
5.
To help students develop positive attitudes towards self, others and to
appropriate national issues to work and to learn
6.
To help students use their potentials to the maximum.
7.
To help students acquire as early as possible in their life a positive image of
self through self-understanding and self-direction.
8.
To assist students in the process of developing and acquiring skills in
problem-solving and decision-making.
9.
To help student build up or sharpen the perception of reality, develop a
sense of autonomy and to whip up the motivation for creativity and
productivity.
10. To help the student learn to work co-operatively with significant others in
his life.
11. To help route the nations human resources into appropriate, useful and
beneficial channels, thus preventing unnecessary economic bottlenecks.
12. To help identify and nurture human potentialities in various fields of study
or human endeavours, thereby ensuring adequate manpower in the various
sectors of Nigerian economy.
13. To help build in the individual positive attitude towards others and a sense
of total commitment to the unity of the nation.
Objectives of Guidance and Counselling in the 6-3-3-4 System of Education
Some of the objectives of guidance and counselling in the 6-3-3-4 system of
education, according to Oladele (1991:10) who cited Williamson are as follows:
(a) To help individual direct his experience
(b) To help the individual have define goals
(c) To help him appreciate his values
72
The breakdown of these aims by Oladele (1991: 10-12) shows that guidance in
school programme can assist students, teachers, parents, counsellors and
government in the following categories:
Assist Students:
i.
Progress towards a productive and rewarding career through making
appropriate and satisfying personal-social and vocational choices.
ii. Enter school, Select school courses and pre-vocation subjects that will enable
pupils to acquire further knowledge and develop their skills.
iii. Effect smooth transition from primary to junior secondary school and from
junior to senior secondary or to vocational schools and from there to
institutions of higher learning.
iv. Develop learning skills and values
v. Remove barriers that might inhibit learning.
vi. Participate meaningfully in the opportunities provided by the school
curricular and co-curricular activities.
vii. Develop positive image of self through self-understanding, self-direction
and through acquisition of skills in problem solving and decision making.
viii. Develop interpersonal relationships with other human beings for healthy
growth and development.
A school guidance programme aid teachers to:
i. Understand and utilize the service of the guidance programme.
ii. Participate in helping the students attain the guidance objectives.
iii. Understand and utilize the service of the guidance programme.
iv. Develop a flexible curriculum to provide a meaningful education for each
student.
v. Plan programmes of educational and vocational training consistent with
their goals.
Oladele (1989) further outlined how a school guidance and counselling
programme would assist parents, counsellors and the government for
effective teaching and learning.
Assistance to parents:
a. For understanding their childrens educational progress and develop a
realistic perception in relationship to their potentials.
b. For understanding of the information about educational and occupational
opportunities and requirement available to them and their children and to
utilize the services made available.
c. To participate in helping their children attain guidance objectives.

73
To counsellors, the programme will assist them as follows:

a. To understand the educational programme for the benefit of the students
for whom they are responsible.
b. To participate in helping in the attainment of the guidance objectives.
Assists the government to:
Understand the characteristics of schools/students population, and the
conditions under which learning takes place and to assist in attaining in set aims
and objectives of the programme.
In the citation of Makinde (1978), Durojaiye (1972) and others, Makinde (1988)
said that for guidance to be meaningful, its services to individuals in developing
countries as Nigeria should be focused largely on:
a.
Decision-making skills
b. Interpersonal skills
c.
Educational skills
d. Vocational and life planning skills
e.
Counselling and placement skills
f.
Enhancement of teacher and parent effectiveness
g. Value identifications.
h. psychological skills.
Makinson & Jones (1975) suggested that school based career-guidance should
involve teachers, counsellors, administrative workers and be organized around
the following career development themes:
a. Problem solving.
b. Understanding of self and others.
c. Understanding the world around and the nation at large.
d. Obtaining skills and experiences.
e. Achieving identity-self-social and functional identity.
Relevance of Guidance and Counselling in Educational Programme
The benefits of Guidance and Counselling Programme development cannot be
over emphasized; it is a systematic process that requires following series of steps.
A developmental and comprehensive school guidance and counselling
programme not only benefits the students, but also the parents, teachers,
administrators and the business community. The benefits to the various groups
are as follows:
Students
- Increases self-knowledge and how to relate effectively to others.
- Broadens knowledge about the changing environment in helping to reach full
academic potential.
74
- Provides opportunities for career exploration, planning and decision-making

- Provides an opportunity for networking with services and thus establishes an
effective support system to teach responsibility to behaviour.
Parents
- Provides parents with support for their childs educational and personal
development.
- Increases opportunities for parental involvement in the education of the child
and equip parents with the necessary skills to support their ward.
Teachers
- Enables students to master effectively their subjects with an understanding of
the importance of each one.
- Provides an opportunity to work in collaboration with other teachers and
parents.
Administrators
- Enhances the image of the school in the community and improves the general
appearance of the school.
- Allows for systematic evaluation and provides structure which can be
monitored easily.
Business, Industry and the Labour Market
- It provides the potential for a well-informed workforce, with positive attitudes
and the necessary skills.
- It provides an opportunity for collaboration with teachers in preparing students
for the World of work through participation in career programme and other
career guidance activities
COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME:
In other to achieve the goal of guidance and counselling programme there are
skills and techniques to follow. Counselling techniques are those skills applied in
counseling to achieve a desired goal in a therapy class. Three steps to have an
effective counseling as follows;
Establishing relationship
Having knowledge of symptoms or causes
Knowing when to terminate therapy
Further guide in the selection of strategies by counsellors are as follows;
1 Recognizing and taking advantage of teachable moments. People learn
new behaviour everyday.
2 Establish a positive and friendly rapport, first impression matters in a
counselling relationship. This is the bases in which a successful
counselling session can hold.
75
3 Some people learn to function more effectively by becoming aware of

certain characteristics about themselves and their environment.
4 By allowing people to take decision for themselves and by themselves
5 Having the attitude to listen very well and having good and effective
communication skills
6 The contingents of reinforcement in a persons environment is likely to
influence the way the person behave and it is expected to influence
change in behavior, such attitude needs to be watched out for
Evaluation of Guidance and Counselling Programms
Evaluation consists of making systematic judgments of the relative effectiveness
with which goals are attained in relation to specified standards. In evaluating a
function like guidance and counselling services, there are attempts to determine
to what extent the objectives of the service have been attained. The major
objectives of guidance are to assist individuals to develop the ability to
understand themselves, to solve their own problems, and to make appropriate
adjustments to their environment as the situation dictates (Gibson, 2008).
Evaluation is the means by which school personnel can better judge the extent to
which these objectives are being met (Popham, 2010). Cobia, 2007; Dimmitt,
Carey & Hatch, 2007 & Gybsers 2006, gave the following ten characteristics
ascriteria for evaluating the effectiveness of a school's guidance and counselling
services:
Students Needs
Effective guidance programs are based on students needs. Some needs are
typical among given age; others are specific to certain individuals in particular
regions or schools. In effective guidance programs, teachers, counsellors, and
administrators listen carefully to what students say, because they know they are
expressing either personal or situational inadequacies.
Cooperation
The staff of effective guidance and counselling programme works cooperatively.
Cooperation is exhibited in the degree of active interest, mutual help, and
collaboration among teachers, counsellors, and administrators.
Process and Product
Effective guidance programs are concerned with both process and product. The
questions "How well is the program operating?" and "What are the outcomes?"
guide the focus in effective guidance programs. The most important outcome of a
guidance program is desirable change in the behavior of students, such as
improved school attendance, better study habits, and better scholastic
achievement, fewer scholastic failures, lower dropout rate, better educational
planning, and better home-school relations.

76
Balance
Effective guidance and counselling programs balance corrective, preventive, and
developmental functions. Personnel in such programs know when to extricate
students from potentially harmful situations, when to anticipate student
difficulties, and when to provide assistance necessary to a student's maximum
development.
Stability
The ability to adjust to loss of personnel without loss of effectiveness is associated
with program quality. Stability requires that the system is able to fill vacant
positions quickly and satisfactorily.
Flexibility
Effective guidance and counselling programs manifest flexibility. Flexibility
enables the program to expand or contract as the situation demands without
significant loss of effectiveness.
Qualified Counselors
Counsellors hold a graduate degree in counselling and are fully certified by the
state in which they practice.
Adequate Counsellor-Student Ratio
Most accrediting agencies for example require a counsellor-student ratio of one
full-time counsellor for 250 to 300 students. A caseload of this magnitude is
satisfactory if counselors are to have adequate time to counsel students
individually and in small groups, as well as consult with faculty, administrators,
and parents.
Physical Facilities
Are the facilities for guidance work sufficient for an effective program? Physical
facilities that are well planned and provide for adequate space, privacy,
accessibility, and the like are characteristic of quality guidance programs.
Record keeping
Appropriate records are maintained on each student including achievement test
scores, information supplied by teachers, administrators, parents, employers, and
other professional personnel.
Although many of the aforementioned ten characteristics are useful, they should
not be accepted unquestioningly. To some extent each guidance programme is
unique to its particular setting and consequently would either add other
characteristics.

77
CONCLUSION
Guidance and counselling services play an integral part in the overall student
services department of any secondary school. The aims of guidance and
counselling programs in schools are to assist individuals to develop the ability to
understand themselves, to solve their own problems, and to make appropriate
adjustments to their environment. Major guidance services include student
appraisal, information giving, placement and follow-up, and counselling. Ten
criteria are used in evaluating guidance and counselling programs: student
needs, cooperation, process and product, balance, stability, flexibility, quality
counsellors, adequate counsellor-student ratio, adequate physical facilities, and
appropriate record keeping.
REFERENCES
Dimmitt, C., Carey, J. C., & Hatch, T. (2007). Evidence-based school counselling:
Making a difference with data-driven practices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Durojaiye, M. O. A. (1986). Psychological guidance of the child. Ibadan: Evans
Brothers Ltd.
Gibson, R. L. (2008). Introduction to guidance and counselling. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall.
Gysbers, N. C. (2006). Developing and managing your school guidance programme.
Washington. DC: American Counselling Association.
Ipaye, T. (1982). Guidance and counselling practices. Ile-ife University of Ife Press.
Makinde, F. W (1989). Indigenous African counselling therapy in theories of
counselling and psychotherapy. Ibadan: Practice Continental Press.
Makinde, F. W (1988). Foundation of guidance and counselling. London. Macmillan
Publisher.
Neukrug, R. C. (2011). Counselling theory and practice. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Oladele, J. O. (1989). Fundamentals of psychological foundations of education. Lagos.
Johns Lad Publishing. Limited, 34d edited.
Kauchak. D. P. (2011). Introduction to teaching: Becoming a professional. Upper
Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall.

78
CHAPTER EIGHT
COUNSELLING FOR UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Anigala A.
College of Education Demonstration Secondary School, Warri, Delta State.
Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This paper was fashioned to establish the applicability of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) in guidance and counseling.
The research was carried out in Delta State of Nigeria. One hundred
and twenty (120) professional counselors were drawn from a
population of 320 counselors in Delta State Secondary Schools through
stratified random sampling technique. The design was descriptive
survey. The instrument for data collection was a researcher designed
questionnaire. Statistical mean was used in answering the only
research question. The findings established the relevance of ICT in
facilitating guidance and counseling services. Therefore it calls for
improved guidance and counseling services and the provision of ICT in
our secondary schools.
KEYWORDS:
Counselling
Communication
Technology,
Information,
INTRODUCTION
Information in its general sense is knowledge communicated or received
concerning a particular fact or circumstance (Alan, 2004). Although information
cannot be predicted it resolves uncertainty. The uncertainty of an event is
measured by its probability of occurrence and is inversely proportional to it. The
more uncertain an event is the more information is required to resolve that
uncertainty. This is because the individual needs adequate, appropriate and
useable information in decision making and in any meaningful interaction. The
people who are able to gain control over their lives are those who can make
intelligent decisions (Okere, 2005).
Furthermore, Luciano (2010) posits that the concept of information is closely
related to notions of constraints, communication, control and data which help in
decision making. Educational decisions are unavoidable. They must be made by
students or for the students. Information is needed not only in relation to courses
and careers to which the individual must adapt but also in relation to self (Ipaye
1983). It is difficult to choose what one does not know.

79
Neither can one make firm decisions on assumptions. The quality of information
is usually assessed among other parameters by its timeliness, accuracy, brevity
and understandability. Obsolete or unreliable information is useless in decision
making. Over the years, various sources and technologies have emerged in the
mode and technique of gathering and managing information. Among these,
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) take precedence over others.
Communication means the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or
information by speech and writing of signs. For the purpose of this study,
communication refers to the transfer of information from the sender to the
receiver with the information being understood by the receiver. A Management
Information System (MIS) provides information that organizations require to
manage themselves efficiently and effectively. Management Information Systems
are typically computer systems used for managing five primary components
namely hardware, software, data (information for decision making) procedures
(design, development and documentation) and people (individuals, groups or
organizations). Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the study of
how individuals, counselors, groups and organizations or schools evaluate,
design, implement, manage and utilize systems to generate information to
improve efficiency and effectiveness of decision making. This is what is
encompassed by Information Technology (IT).
Furthermore, Information Technology (IT) is the application of computers and
tele-communications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data
(Daintith, 2009). On the other hand, communication technology (CT) involves
telegraph, telephone, radio and television. Since both IT and CT are
interrelated, a more generic term for the comprehensive description of the
generation, storage and dissemination of information is Information and
Communication Technology (Ivowi, 2005).
ICT can therefore be defined as the acquisition and dissemination of information
by a micro-electronic based combination of computing and telecommunication.
Simply put, it is the study of the technology used to handle information and aid
communication. Information and communication technology today usually
means computer based management of data or ideas. In a broader sense,
communication and information technologies are the foothold on which mankind
distinguished itself from other animals. The vast difference between todays
information and communication technologies and mankinds first simple and
shared concepts hints on what these now mean to our world.
The human Development Report of the United Nations Development
Programme UNDP (2001) states that ICT is a pervasive input to almost all
human activities. It breaks barriers to human development in at least three ways:
by breaking barriers to knowledge, by breaking barriers to participation and by
breaking barriers to economic opportunity. Even in the daily lives of teachers
80
and guidance counselors, the rapid advances in ICT can create new things such
as storing information, retrieving information, handling, distributing and
utilizing information.
The advancement of ICT according to Ocampo, (2002) is intertwined with
globalization and together creates a new paradigm called the net work age. The
scenario above tends to create the same ripples in the area of school counseling
and more specifically on the Job of the guidance counselor in trying to perform
her role in the changing environments of the schools today.
In Nigeria and other countries school counselors are increasingly recognizing the
benefits of using computer technology to increase their efficiency, to assist in the
supervision of counseling interns, to aid in delivering developmental guidance
lessons and to facilitate individual counseling. Counsellors in the 21st century
need to be conversant with its applications for proper utilization of the
components.
Studies abound in the area of utilization of ICT in counseling. Anyamene,
Nwokolo and Anyachebelu (2012) carried out a study on the availability and use
of ICT resources for counseling in the South East States. Their study comprised of
10,800 respondents. They observed that counselors utilized ICT for counseling in
Nigerian tertiary and secondary schools but the availability was low. Also,
Research findings from Chun-chun (2001) and Phrema, (2006) reported
significant positive impact of ICT on counseling. On the other hand, (Green and
Yallow, 2002 and Chun-Chun (2001) observed that ICT has generated high level
of enthusiasm and commitment during the counseling process as well as
increased reasoning ability of learners, increased attention and concentration.
The problem of this study therefore was to establish ways of utilizing the ICT in
guidance and counseling. The study will be of immense benefit to counselors
and their clients as they will become better equipped with skills for practicing in
todays environment. This study was carried out in Delta State of Nigeria.
Research Question
One research question guided the study. To what extent can Information
Communication Technology (ICT) be utilized in guidance and counseling?
METHODOLOGY
This study used a descriptive survey research design. The sample comprised of
120 professional guidance counselors purposely drawn from 320 guidance
counselors in Delta State Secondary Schools, through stratified random sampling
technique. The instrument for data collection was a researcher designed
questionnaire for guidance counselor. It is a four point Likert type scale

81
comprising 16 items that sought information on the extent of applicability of ICT

in guidance and counseling. The scale is graduated as follows:
4 Very High Applicability (VHA)
3 High Applicability (HA)
2 Low Applicability (LA)
1 Non Applicable (NA)
The face validity of the questionnaire was established by two experts in guidance
and counseling of the Delta State University Abraka. A test of internal
consistency using the Cronbach Alpha yielded an alpha of 0.72. This ensures the
reliability of the instrument.
Data Collection
Copies of the questionnaire were administered to the respondents with the aid of
five trained assistant. The copies of the questionnaire were collected on the spot
after responding to the instruments.
Data Analysis
Data were analysed using quantitative procedures. The researcher made use of
mean scores to answer the research question. Any item with a mean score of less
than 2.5 was regarded as Low and therefore was rejected. But items with mean
scores of 2.5 and above were accepted as applicable.
RESULTS
The results of this study are presented in the table below based on the research
question raised in the study.
APPLYING ICT IN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

S/NO
ITEMS
1.
Group counseling can be done on many sites at a time
2.
Client inter-personal problem can be guided through the use of
e-mail, GSM
3.
Courses and occupations data bases can be navigated on
website
4.
Guidance services can be assessed easily saving time and space
with ICT application
5.
Clients can use MENU of search criteria to find data relevant to
their needs
6.
Vast amount of clients data can be stored in computer
7.
Clients data can be retrieved very fast
8.
The use of office files in storing information about clients is of
no use anymore
MEAN
SCORE
3.22
3.60
2.95
3.03
2.86
3.50
3.58
2.40

82
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
The one to one counseling interviews may be overtaken by the

development of ICT
Non-verbal behaviour may suffer with the use of the internet in
counseling
The use of cumulative record folder can be overtaken
Web-based recruitment agencies can offer guidance on careers
Career concerns of clients can receive counseling from
counselors across the globe.
Assessment of skills, interests can be diagnosed using ICT
Web-based recruitment agencies can offer guidance on careers
A client can sit by his computer and exchange information with
a counselor elsewhere in the world
2.28
3.86
2.85
2.70
3.20
2.61
2.70
3.08
Table 1 shows that out of the 16 items on the applicability of ICT to guidance and
counseling services 14 had mean scores above 2.5 showing the acceptance of the
respondents of the items. The respondents accepted that the one to one
counseling interviews will be overtaken by the development and use of ICT
(2.28). Similarly the respondents believe that the non-verbal behaviour may
suffer with outright use of the internet in counseling (3.86). The respondents
equally did not accept that the use of office files in storing information is of no
use anymore (2.40).
DISCUSSION
The result of this study reveals that the Professional Counsellors have the
awareness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in carrying out
their responsibilities but the problem is probably in its application. It is worthy
of note that appropriate use of ICT requires access to relevant technological
training, application and strategic planning.
For our counselors to embrace these technological developments, there is the
need to upgrade the curricula of the programme for the training of our students.
It is also necessary to re-train Guidance Counselors on the application of ICT so
that they will be conversant with current practices and required skills (Nwamara,
2005).
The result of this study corroborates the findings of Chun-Chun (2001) and
Phrena (2006). Furthermore, the study by Nwamara (2005) also confirms the
results of this study in the sense that in guidance counseling ICT has the potential
to significantly increase access to guidance service and free it from the constraints
of time and space. Based on the findings on items 8, 9, and 10, the researcher
noted that the one on one interview in counseling cannot be completely wiped
out neither will office files cease to exist. ICT will complement and improve on
the traditional counseling methods.

83
CONCLUSION
This paper began by defining information and communication technology.
Information is pivotal in decision making and planning. The paper stressed
that the student needs adequate and reliable information for educational,
occupational and socio-personal purposes. The paper also establishes the
relevance of ICT in facilitating guidance and counseling services. Therefore,
every school needs to establish a standard internet link and guidance counseling
resource center. Schools can seek external support for this.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.
All institutions of learning especially secondary schools should be
equipped with ICT facilities.
2.
In line with the ICT driven age, the Federal Ministry of Education in
conjunction with states should review the national curricula for education
to include computer courses and intensify ICT training skills to make our
students acquire skills for todays world.
3.
The government should also engage technical support staff at all levels of
our institutions of learning
4.
Counsellors should be encouraged in all schools to adopt ICT in their
guidance and counseling services.
REFERENCES
Alan, L. (2004). The laws of cool: knowledge work and the culture of information,
University of Chicago.
Chun-Chun, (2001). Students perception of ICT related support in counseling
placements. Journal of Psychological Studies P 2, 147-151
Daintith, John, ed, (2009). A Dictionary of Physics, Oxford University Press,
retrieved 25th June 2013
Green R & Yallow, R. (2002). Technology and its impact in classroom (2nd ed)
New York; Cambridge University Press (Chapter 15).
Ipaye, T. (1983). Guidance and Counseling practices Ife: University of Ife Press,
Ile Ife, Nigeria.
Ivowi, U.M.O. (2005). Utilizing the dynamics of information in counseling and
care-giving, keynote address presented at the Annual Conference of the
Counseling Unit, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Luciano, F. (2005). Semantic Conceptions of Information, The Standard
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed)

84
Nwamara, G.M. (2005). The role of Information and Communication Technology

in guidance and counseling presented at the Annual Conference of the
Counseling Unit, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Nwokolo, C.N & Anyachebelu, F.E. (2010). Information technology as a gateway
for effective counseling. A paper presented at annual conference of the Faculty of
Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, 30th August 3rd September,
2010.
Ocampo, P.D.S, (2002). Enhancing Phillipine Science and Technology through
ICT preface. Transactions of the National Academy of Science and Technology,
24 V-VI
Okere, A.U. (2005). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and
learning environment being a paper presented at CUDIMAC workshop,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Phrema, K (2006). Integrating ICT in the classroom, (3rd ed). Cambridge MN:
Harvard Business School Press.
UNDP, (2001). Human Development Report making new Technologies work for
Human Development Technology report UNDP, New York.

85
CHAPTER NINE
EVALUATION OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT PRACTICE BY
SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS: COUNSELLING IMPLICATIONS FOR
FUNCTIONAL AND SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION.
Alordiah Caroline Ochuko and Agbajor, T. Helena
Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, Warri, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
In order to promote effective counselling in schools, the counsellor
needs good records of the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain
from the teacher. This calls for a proper practice of continuous
assessment in schools. This study investigated the evaluation of the
practice of continuous assessment of secondary school teachers. The
study was an ex-post-facto type by design. A sample of 229 teachers
was purposefully selected from the public and private schools in six
local government area of Delta State in Nigeria. The instrument used
was a 21 items structured questionnaire. Percentage, mean, standard
deviation, Z-test and one-way analysis of variance statistical tools were
used to analysis the data. The findings revealed that the characteristics
of continuous assessment, cumulative and systematic is well
implemented but that of comprehension and guidance/diagnostic is
poorly implemented. There was a significant difference in the
continuous assessment practice of public and private secondary school
teachers with the later doing better than the former. Also, years of
experience of teachers do not significantly influence teachers
continuous assessment practice. It was therefore recommended that
teachers should be exposed to more seminars and workshops on
continuous assessment procedure.
KEYWORDS: Counselling, functional education, sustainable
education, continuous assessment.
INTRODUCTION
Counselling is an integral part of education and if well practiced it will promote
good conduct in our students and make them to be more focused in their
academic pursuit. This will in turn produce a functional and sustainable
education for Nigeria. Functional education is the education given to an
individual to develop life skills that will make him to become practical,
serviceable and useful in addressing his environment. While sustainable
education is education that meets the needs of the present without impairing the
ability of future generation to meet their own needs. Functional and sustainable

86
education aimed at providing learning, training and practical experience that

would foster personal development and community development.
Guidance and counselling is a caring and helping discipline. It sets out to assist
the individual who has voluntarily submitted him/herself for help, to redirect
his/her goals in life, with the aim of having a more fulfilled and satisfied life
(Egharevba, 2012). A student with a fulfilled and satisfied life after schooling is a
person that is serviceable and useful to his environment. It is the duty of the
counsellors to render counselling services and guide students to become useful to
their society. To achieve this Gidado (2003) stated some of the objectives of
counselling services in the educational sector as:
1. To effect a positive change in the behaviour of children.
2. To diagnose cases of mal-adjustment and arrive at remedial treatment of
the client.
3. To prevent and alter mal-adjustment behaviour I learners.
4. To make learners aware of their own strengths, weaknesses and possible
limitations.
5. To acquaint learners with educational and vocational opportunities.
6. To provide learners with skills and tools that will enable them to confront
social inadequacies.
7. To assist students to move in the direction of fulfilling their potentials or
achieve an integration of conflicting elements within themselves.
8. To involve all stakeholders such as parents, teachers, administrators, social
workers and psychologists in the total growth and development of the
child within the school/learning environment.
9. To facilitate creative abilities among the learners and the teachers.
10. To develop a positive interpersonal relationship among the learners.
11. To achieve these laudable objectives, the counsellors need a lot of records
from the school. Some of such major records are the records provided by
continuous assessment procedure. The counsellors need records in the
cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains to be able to achieve these
objectives. Such records will serve as spring board on which the
counsellors can counsel and guide the students towards taking useful
decisions. If the records from continuous assessment (CA) are
inappropriate, inadequate, substandard or fictitious, it can affect the
counsellors usage of such records. This is so because; the information
from such records will misguide the counsellors in the course of
counselling the students.
Continuous assessment is a method of finding out what the students have gained
from learning activities in terms of knowledge, thinking and reasoning, character
development and industry (Osokaya and Odinka, 2005). According to the Federal
Ministry of Education Handbook on continuous assessment (1985), continuous
assessment provides a more valid and reliable assessment of the learners overall
87
ability and performance. It provides a basis for monitoring a childs for effective
guidance. It gives teachers greater involvement in the assessment of his/her
students. It reduces examination malpractice. The following features characterize
continuous assessment; it is systematic (the type of assessment tools to be used
and when assessment will take place), comprehensive (takes into account the
cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains and many instruments are used in
determining the performance of the students. The use of table of specifications is
indispensable.), cumulative (the scores of the students at a particular time takes
into account the previous scores of the student), diagnostic (monitoring of
students progress in order to identify each childs strengths and weaknesses and
help the students to overcome the weaknesses) and guidance oriented(the
performance of a student in a particular test is used to guide the student towards
improving his performance in subsequent test and in guiding the students to
make appropriate educational and career decisions). Continuous assessment
(CA) assesses learning in the three domains namely cognitive (measures our
intellectual abilities), affective (measure our feelings), and psychomotor
(measures our manipulative dexterity).
If continuous assessment is properly implemented in secondary schools, it will
go a long way to provide standard records that will be of help to the counsellors.
The assessment of the three domains will be valuable to the counselors, the
intellectual, emotional and manipulative dexterity are important tools for
counseling. The major actor in the continuous assessment procedure is the
teachers themselves. The success of the implementation of continuous assessment
all things been equal is depended on the teachers wiliness to carry it out
properly. This is in line with what Hargreaves (1994) said,It is what teachers
think, what teachers believes and what teachers do that eventually determine the
kind of learning that young people receive. The implementation of continuous
assessment is supposed to be very effective by now for the fact that it has been in
operation for more than two decades now. However it is feared that many
teachers in the secondary schools may not be implementing continuous
assessment as expected of them. It is against such background that the
researchers conceived the idea to assess the current assessment practices in our
secondary schools in Delta State, Nigeria.
The theoretical model for this study is the decision making model of evaluationDiscrepancy evaluation model. It was developed in 1969 by MalcomProvus to
provide information for programme assessment and programme improvement
(Steinmetz, 2002). This is a procedure where by differences between a standard of
performance and the performance are found and corrected. The researchers are
interested in determining whether the present practice of continuous assessment
among secondary school teachers are in conformity with the actual way
continuous assessment should be practice.

88
Statement of the Problem

The counselor needs continuous assessment records as tools that will help him to
counsel students towards the right direction that will help to achieve functional
and sustainable education. There is need to find out if CA is practice by
secondary school teachers the way it should. Hence the statement of the problem
of this study is put in question form as: Is the current practice of CA by
secondary school teachers in line with the actual way CA should be practice?
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study is to evaluate CA practices by secondary school
teachers in Delta Stat. The specific objectives are to:
1. Find out the qualification of secondary school teachers.
2. Determine the current view of CA among secondary school teachers.
3. Determine the extent of implementation of CA with respect to the
characteristics of CA.
4. Assess the difference between CA practices of public and private secondary
school teachers.
5. Assess the influence of teachers years of experience on CA practice.
Research Questions
1.
What is the qualification of secondary school teachers?
2.
What is the current/general view of Continuous assessment among
secondary school teachers?
3.
What is the extent of implementation of continuous assessment with
respect to the
Characteristics of continuous assessment?
. Comprehensive, . Cumulative, . Systemati, v. Guidance/diagnostic
Hypotheses
1.
There is no significant difference between the continuous assessment
practice of public and private secondary school teachers.
2.
Years of experience of teachers do not significantly influence CA practice
of the teachers.
Significance of the Study
The study intends to make all stakeholders associated with the practice of CA in
secondary schools to know the current way teachers are implementing CA in the
secondary schools. Such stakeholders include counselors, parents, teachers,
educational administrators and government. The findings of the study will
necessitate the stakeholders to advice on how best teachers can improve their
level of implementation of CA in the secondary school system.
Scope of the Study
The study was delimited to types of school, years of experience of teachers and
the current implementation of CA in secondary schools.
89
Design of the Study

The design for this study was an ex-post-facto design which focused on school
type, teachers years of experience and evaluation of the practice of continuous
assessment (CA) among teachers in secondary schools in Delta state of Nigeria.
The population for the study comprises of all secondary school teachers in Delta
state. However, focus was mainly on secondary schools teachers in Delta North
Senatorial District which is made up of six local government areas (LGA)
comprises of Ika South, Ika North East, Oshimili North, Oshimili South, Aniocha
North and Aniocha South. The sample consisted of 229 teachers that were
purposively selected from the six local government areas in the senatorial
district.
Instrument
The questionnaire used to collect the required data is Evaluation of the practice of
continuous assessment questionnaire (EPCAQ). The instrument was constructed
by the researchers based on the information from related literature and input
from the teachers. The EPCAQ has two sections A and B. Section A provided
general information about the schools and the teachers. Section B contains 21
statements which were used to elicit information about the practice of continuous
assessment by the teachers. The response format of section B was the five-point
likert type responses of strongly agreed (SA), Agreed (A), Neutral (N), Disagreed
(D), and strongly disagreed (SD) with scoring point of 5,4,3,2 and 1 respectively.
The acceptance point for the item was 3.0. The items with mean values of 3.0 and
above were regarded as being positive while those with values less than 3.0 were
regarded as being negative. However there were some negative items in the
instruments which were converted. The face and content validity of the
instrument EPCAQ was determined by measurement and evaluation expert and
secondary school teachers. The instrument showed reliability co-efficient of .76
using Cronbach alpha reliability method. This shows evidence of internal and
external consistency of the instruments.
The researchers with the aid of assistance administered the instruments on the
subjects. About 250 questionnaires were administered. However, only about 229
were returned back. The retuned rate was about 91.6%. The responses from the
respondents were analyzed using percentage, mean and standard deviation for
the research questions while Z-test and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
was used to verify the hypotheses formulated.

90
RESULTS
Research Question one: What is the qualification of secondary school teachers?
Table 1: Frequency count of Teachers Qualification
QUALIFICATION FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
SSCE
2
.9
NCE
57
24.8
B.SC/B.A
66
28.8
B.ED
76
33.2
OND/HND
21
9.2
M.ED
5
2.2
PHD
2
.9
TOTAL
229
100
Table 1 shows that there are 140 (61.1%) qualified teachers and 89(38.9%)
unqualified teachers among the teachers sampled out for the study.
Research Question two: What is the current/general view of continuous
assessment among secondary school teachers?
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of current view of CA among secondary school
Teachers
S/N ITEM
MEAN SD
1
CA is a good way of evaluating students periodically.
4.66
.66
2
CA is the best way to evaluate students.
4.15
.97
3
CA is not difficult to implement
2.79
1.28
4
I prefer giving examination at the end of term to the 2.52
1.28
practice of CA
5
The work load involve in CA is comparable to the salary
3.25
1.31
paid to teachers
6
The practice of CA is not stressful
2.88
1.27
7
Total
20.25
6.77
Average
3.38
1.13
Table 2 shows that the mean of the current/general view of CA among secondary
school teacher is 3.38 which is slightly above the acceptable mean of 3.0. This
indicate that the current/general view of CA among secondary school teachers is
slightly above average
Research Question Three: What is the extent of implementation of CA with
respect to the characteristics of CA.
. Comprehensive . Cumulative
. Systematic
v. Guidance/diagnostic

91
. Comprehensive
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of implementation of CA- Comprehensive
S/N ITEM
MEAN SD
1
I regularly assess the affective domain.
1.53
.88
2
I regularly asses the psychomotor domain
1.94
1.08
3
I regularly assess the cognitive domain.
3.90
1.04
4
I use table of specification to prepare my test and 1.29
.68
examination questions
Total
8.66
3.68
Average
2.165
0.92
Table 3 revealed that the mean of teachers regularly assessing the affective
domain is 1.53 which is below the acceptable mean of 3.0. This revealed that
teachers do not regularly assess the affective domain. The table shows that the
mean of teachers regularly assessing the psychomotor domain is 1.94 which is
below the acceptable mean of 3.0. This revealed that teachers do not regularly
assess the psychomotor domain. The table also showed that the mean of teachers
regularly assessing the cognitive domain is 3.90 which is above the acceptable
mean of 3.0. This revealed that teachers regularly assess the cognitive domain.
The table further revealed that the mean of teachers regular use of table of
specifications to prepare test and examination question is 1.29 which is below the
acceptable mean of 3.0. This revealed that teachers do not regularly make use of
table of specifications to prepare their test and examination questions. Generally
the table revealed that the implementation of CA with respect to the
characteristics-comprehension is poor because the mean 2.165 is less than the
acceptable mean of 3.0. The table clearly showed that the standard deviation
ranged from 0.68 -1.08 which was less than 1.96. This indicated that the
respondents were not too far from the mean. This adds further validity to the
mean.
. Cumulative
Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of implementation of CA- Cumulative
S/N ITEM
MEAN
1
The final scores of the students takes into account the 3.85
previous scores of the students.
2
I have a mark book showing the scores of the students 4.18
from the beginning of the term to the end of the session.
Total
8.03
Average
4.02
1.08
1.05
2.13
1.07
Table 4 revealed that the mean score of teachers implementation of CA with

respect to the characteristics- cumulative is 4.02 which is above the acceptable

92
mean of 3.0. This shows that the implementation of CA with respect to the
characteristics- cumulative is good. The standard deviation ranged from 1.051.08 which was less than 1.96. This indicated that the respondents response were
not too far from the mean. This adds further validity to the mean
. Systematic
Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of Implementation of CA- Systematic
S/N ITEM
MEAN
1
I tell students the number of assessment that will be 3.42
carried out in a term
2
Students need to know the topics each assessment will 3.11
cover.
3
Students are told the type of assessment instrument that 4.0
would be used.
Total
10.82
Average
3.61
SD
1.24
1.36
1.01
3.61
1.20
Table 5 revealed that the mean score of the teachers implementation of CA with
respect to the characteristics- systematic is 3.61 which is above the acceptable
mean of 3.0. This shows that the implementation of CA with respect to the
characteristics- systematic is good. The standard deviation ranged from 1.01-1.36
which was less than 1.96. This indicated that the respondents responses were not
too far from the mean. This adds further validity to the mean.
iv. Guidance/Diagnostic
Table 6: Descriptive Statistics of Implementation of CA- Guidance/Diagnostic
S/N ITEM
MEAN SD
1
The number of assessment in a term does not makes it 1.77
.94
difficult for the teacher to mark students scripts
promptly
2
There is enough time for the teacher to use the students 1.74
.95
test scores as a guide to improve their weaknesses.
3
I answer the test questions generally in the class
3.70
1.34
4
I use CA to find out the leaning problems of students.
4.14
.94
Total
11.35
4.22
Average
2.84
1.05
Table 6 shows that the mean scores of teachers implementation of CA with
respect to the characteristics- guidance/diagnostic is 2.84 which is below the
acceptable mean of 3.0.This shows that the implementation of CA with respect to
the characteristics- guidance/diagnostic is poor. The standard deviation ranged
from 0.94 1.34 which was less than 1.96. This indicated that the respondents
responses were not too far from the mean.

93
Hypothesis one: There is no significant difference between the continuous

assessment practice of public and private secondary school teachers.
Table 7: Summary of Z-test statistics on CA practice of Public/Private secondary
school
Teachers
Decision
School N
Mean SD Df Zcal Ztable Sig. MD 95% CI
Lower
Type
Upper
Private 115 72.94
6.76
227 2.65 1.96
Public
114 70.59
.009 2.35 1.18

3.53
significant
6.69
N=229, MD=mean difference, CI=confidence interval, P0.05 level of significance

As shown in table 7, the computed z-value of 2.65 was found to be significant at
df=227, P0.05. That is, the P value of 0.009 for 2-tailed test is less than the chosen
alpha of 0.05, the null hypothesis under consideration is therefore rejected.
Hence, there is significant difference between the CA practice by public and
private secondary school teachers. The mean difference (MD) of 2.35, P0.05
alpha level that lies between the upper limits bound and lower limits bound was
found to be statistically significant at the 95% confidence interval (CI). The
conclusion is drawn that the effect of 2.35 which was in the favour of private
secondary school teachers indicates that they practice CA better than the public
school teachers.
Hypothesis two: Years of experience of teachers do not significantly influence
teachers CA practice.
Table 8: ANOVA on influence of years of experience of Teachers on CA practice
Source
Sum of Square
Df
F
Sig.
Decision
Between
169.59
84.79
1.84 0.16
Not significant
Within Group 10420.06
46.11
Total
10589.65
The computed F is 1.84, which is significant at 0.16 but not significant at 0.05.
Therefore the hypothesis that years of experience do not significantly affect
teachers CA practice is accepted. F (2, 224) = 1.84, P> 0.05. In other words, there is
no significant difference between the CA practice of teachers who have less than
5 years experience, between 5 to 10 years experience and more than 10 years
experience.

94
DISCUSSION
The result obtained in this study shows that 61.1% of the teachers sampled have
the minimum qualification as stipulated in the Nigerian National Policy on
Education. This implies that the teachers have the prerequisite professional
training to teach in secondary schools. It is believed that professional teachers
should be able to understand what CA entails. However there is need for the
other unqualified teachers to upgrade their educational qualification. Table 2
revealed that the current/general view of CA among secondary school teachers is
slightly above average. This is not good enough since CA has been in practice for
more than two decade. Table 3 indicated that the extent of implementation of CA
with respect to the characteristics with regard to cumulative and systematic is
good but with regard to comprehensive and guidance/diagnostic is poor. The
teachers regularly assess the cognitive domain but they do not regularly assess
the affective and psychomotor domain. This is in line with the claim of Mgbor
and Mgbor (2005) that Nigeria secondary schools especially in Edo and Delta
state give test that only measure the cognitive domain even though the result
sheets for students still have columns for affective and psychomotor domain. It
would seem that the schools are now going back to one shot final examination.
The result of the study also indicated that teachers do not use table of
specification to prepare their test and examination questions. This is alarming
because according to Harbor-Peters (2003) "Unless a table of specifications is used
as a guide in test items construction, there is the tendency to over load the test
with items that cover only a limited content area or limited levels of objective.
The use of such a device prevents the construction of tests that are biased.
From table 6 it can be deduce that teachers do not mark students scripts
promptly and they do not use students test scores as a guide to improve the
students weaknesses. This is in line with the study carried out by Alordiah
(2010). The exposure of students to guidance, that is, by using their performance
in test to find out the weaknesses and strengths of the students as well as using it
to improve students performance in subsequent test is a sure way of improving
the general performance of a child. The study also showed in table 7 that there is
significant difference between the CA practice of public and private secondary
school teachers. The private school teachers practice CA better than the public
secondary school teachers. This is in agreement with Kojigili (2011) who also
found out that the private school teachers implemented CA better than the public
school teachers. Table 8 also showed that years of experience of the teachers do
not significantly affect teachers CA practice. This is alarming because it is
expected that the experienced teachers should practice CA better.
CONCLUSION
Continuous assessment is a vital aspect of the teaching and learning process
which helps to provide important records for the counselors to perform their
duties. Sequel to the findings of this study, the level at which CA is being practice
95
by secondary school teachers should be improved upon. If CA is properly

implemented at the secondary school level it will help to improve the
performance of school counselors in giving out counseling services.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made
1. Teachers should be regularly exposed to seminar and workshops on
continuous assessment.
2. Teachers should assess the three domains (cognitive, affective, and
psychomotor).
3. Test scripts should be marked, returned to the students and should be used to
identify and find solution to students weaknesses.
4. A continuous assessment committee should be set up in all secondary schools
to help monitor the implementation of continuous assessment in schools. The
counsellor of the school should be a member of this committee.
5. School counsellor should counsel the teachers on the importance of the
records gotten form the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain, to the
school counsellors in handling issues pertaining to students.
REFERENCES
Alordiah, C. O (2010).Relative effectiveness of two assessment procedure on junior
secondary School students achievement in mathematics in Agbor, Delta
state.Unpublished masters thesis, Delta State University, Abraka.
Egharevba, A. O. (2012). The Counsellors Role in Educational Resource
Management and its relationship to Teachers Education: Implications for
National Development. In R. O. Olubor, S. O. Okotete & F. Adeyanju (Eds.), Book
of Readings: Resource Management in Education and National Development, (pp. 330 347). Benin City: Institute of Education, University of Benin.
Federal Ministry of Education (1985). A handbook on continuous assessment.
Lagos:Federal Ministry of Education.
Gidado, J. F. (2003). Handbook on Guidance and Counselling for Universal Basic
Education. Lagos: Megavans.
Harbor-Peters, V.F. (2003). Introduction to continuous assessment in B.G.
Nworgu (Ed), Educational Measurement and Evaluation. (pp 30-40). Nsukka:
Hallman Publishers.
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times: Teachers work and culture
in the post modern age. Toronto: University of Toronto press.

96
Kojigili, S.T. (2011). An assessment of the implementation of CA system in

primary school mathematics in Adamawa state: Implications on basic education.
ABACUS (mathematics - education series), 36(1), 45-55.
Mgbor, M.O & Mgbor, M.A.(2005).Continuous assessment in Edo & Delta states.
Afemikhe & G.T. Adewal(Eds), Issues in educational measurement and evaluation in
Nigeria in honour of Wole Falayajo (pp460-473). Ibadan, Nigeria.
Osakaya, M.M &Odinka, M.N (2005). The practice of continuous assessment in
primary schools in E.E. Adenike & C.V. Abe (Eds), Evaluation in Theory and
Practice, (pp140-154). Ibadan: Penservices.
Steinmetz, A. (2002). The Discrepancy Evaluation Model. Evaluation in Education
and Human Services, 49, 127-143.

97
CHAPTER TEN
THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY, SELF-CONCEPT AND TRUANCY ON
CHILDREN WITH OFF-TASK BEHAVIOUR IN WARRI METROPOLIS
Asamaigo, E. E.
Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, Warri, Delta
State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the influence of self-concept, anxiety and
truancy on children with Off-Task behaviour in Warri Metropolis
Delta State, Nigeria. Using the correlation research design, one
research question and three hypotheses were generated; data collected
from three hundred (300) randomly selected adolescents from ten junior
secondary schools in Warri were analyzed. The instrument used for the
study was self-constructed and validated questionnaire. The reliability
co-efficient of 0.78 was obtained for the questionnaire using Kuder
Richardson formula (KR-21). The Multiple Regression Analysis and
Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistical tools were
utilized in testing the three null hypotheses generated for the study at
0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there
were relationships between self-concept, anxiety and truancy with offtask behaviour among school children. The implications of these were
discussed in the study.
KEYWORDS: Self-concept, Anxiety, Truancy, Off-task behaviour.
INTRODUCTION
Students who have chronic difficulties paying attention in class face the risk of
poor grades and even school failure. Inattention may be a symptom of an
underlying condition such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. One of
the most common reasons for referral to school support personnel is off-task
behaviour students who are inattentive, distractible and; or fail to complete
assignments. For example, off-task behaviour might serve the purpose of gaining
adult or peer attention or access to more preferred activities, such as talking with
peers or playing with materials; or the off task behaviour might serve the
purpose of escaping or avoiding undesirable activities such as writing or reading.
Off-task behaviors may also serve more internal functions as might be the case
for students with a neuro-behavioural disorder such as Tourettes Syndrome or
Attention Deficit Disorder. However, teachers should not overlook other possible
explanations for student off-task behaviour. It may be, for example, that a
student who does not seem to be paying attention is actually mismatched to
instruction (the work is too hard or too easy) or preoccupied by anxious

98
thoughts. Or the student may be off-task because the teacher's lesson was poorly
planned or presented in a disorganized manner. It is also important to remember
that even children with ADHD are influenced by factors in their classroom
setting and that these students' level of attention is at least partly determined by
the learning environment. Teachers who focus on making their instruction
orderly, predictable, and highly motivating find that they can generally hold the
attention of most of their students most of the time. Here are some ideas to
consider in boosting rates of student attention and improve on-task behaviour:
Capture Students' Attention Before Giving Directions (Ford, Olmi, Edwards, &
Tingstrom, 2001; Martens & Kelly, 1993): Gain the student's attention before
giving directions and use other strategies to ensure the student's full
understanding of them. When giving directions to an individual student, call the
student by name and establish eye contact before providing the directions. When
giving directions to the whole class, use group alerting cues such as 'Eyes and
ears on me' to gain the class attention. Wait until all students are looking at you
and ready to listen before giving directions. When you have finished giving
directions to the entire class, privately approach any students who appear to
need assistance. Quietly restate the directions to them and have them repeat the
directions back to you as a check for understanding.
Class Participation: Keep Students Guessing (Heward, 1994): Students attain
better during large-group presentations if they cannot predict when they will be
required to actively participate. Randomly call on students, occasionally selecting
the same student twice in a row or within a short time span. Or pose a question
to the class, give students 'wait time' to formulate an answer, and then randomly
call on a student.
Employ Proximity Control (Ford, Olmi, Edwards, & Tingstrom, 2001;
Gettinger& Seibert, 2002 and U.S. Department of Education, 2004): Students
typically increase their attention to task and show improved compliance when
the teacher is in close physical proximity. During whole-group activities,
circulate around the room to keep students focused. To hold an individual
student's attention, stand or sit near the student before giving directions or
engaging in discussion.
Give Clear Directions (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002; Gettinger, 1988): Students will
better understand directions when those directions are delivered in a clear
manner, expressed in language the student understands, given at a pace that
does not overwhelm the student, and posted for later review. When giving multistep directions orally, write those directions on the board or give to students as a
handout to consult as needed. State multi-step directions one direction at a time
and confirm that the student is able to comply with each step before giving the
next direction.

99
Give Opportunities for Choice (Martens & Kelly, 1993). Allowing students to
exercise some degree of choice in their instructional activities can boost attention
span and increase academic engagement. Make a list of 'choice' options that you
are comfortable offering students during typical learning activities. During
independent seatwork, for example, you might routinely let students choose
where they sit, allow them to work alone or in small groups, or give them 2 or 3
different choices of assignment selected to be roughly equivalent in difficulty and
learning objectives.
Instruct at a Brisk Pace (Carnine, 1976; Gettinger & Seibert, 2002): When
students are appropriately matched to instruction, they are likely to show
improvement on-task behaviour when they are taught at a brisk pace rather than
a slow one. To achieve a brisk pace of instruction, make sure that you are fully
prepared prior to the lesson and that you minimize the time spent on
housekeeping items such as collecting homework or on transitions from one
learning activity to another.
Make the Activity Stimulating (U.S. Department of Education, 2004): Students
require less conscious effort to remain on-task when they are engaged in highinterest activities. Make instruction more interesting by choosing a specific lesson
topic that you know will appeal to students (e.g., sports, fashion). Or help
students to see a valuable 'real-word' pay-off for learning the material being
taught. Another tactic is to make your method of instruction more stimulating.
Students who don't learn well in traditional lecture format may show higher
rates of engagement when interacting with peers (cooperative learning) or when
allowed the autonomy and self-pacing of computer-delivered instruction.
Pay Attention to the On-Task Student (DuPaul& Ervin, 1996; Martens &Meller,
1990): Teachers who selectively give students praise and attention only when
those students are on-task are likely to find that these students show improved
attention in class as a result. When you have a student who is often off-task,
make an effort to identify those infrequent times when the student is
appropriately focused on the lesson and immediately give the student positive
attention. Examples of teacher attention that students will probably find positive
include verbal praise and encouragement, approaching the student to check on
how he or she is doing on the assignment and friendly eye contact.
Provide a Quiet Work Area (U.S. Department of Education, 2004): Distractible
students benefit from a quiet place in the classroom where they can go when they
have more difficult assignments to complete. A desk or study carrel in the corner
of the room can serve as an appropriate workspace. When introducing these
workspaces to students, stress that the quiet locations are intended to help
students to concentrate. Never use areas designated for quiet work as punitive
'time-out' spaces, as students will then tend to avoid them.
100
Provide Attention Breaks (DuPaul& Ervin, 1996; Martens &Meller, 1990): If

students find it challenging to stay focused on independent work for long
periods, allow them brief 'attention breaks'. Enter a contract with students to give
them short breaksto engage in a preferred activity each time they finisheda
certain amount of work. For example, a student may be allowed to look at a
favorite comic book for 2 minutes each time that he has completed five problems
on a mathematic worksheet and checked his answers. Attention breaks can
refresh the student and also make the learning task more reinforcing.
Reduce Length of Assignments (DuPaul& Ervin, 1996; U.S. Department of
Education, 2004): Students' attention may drift when completing overly long
assignments. For new material, trim assignments to the minimum length that you
judge will ensure student understanding. When having students practice skills or
review previously taught material, break that review into a series of short
assignments rather than one long assignment to help to sustain interest and
engagement.
Schedule Challenging Tasks for Peak Attention Times (Brock, 1998): Many
students with limited attention can focus better in the morning, when they are
fresh. Schedule those subjects or tasks that the student finds most difficult early
in the day and save easier subjects or tasks for later in the day, when the student's
attention may start to wane.
Select Activities That Require Active Student Responding (Gettinger &
Seibert, 2002; Heward, 1994): When students are actively engaged in an activity,
they are more likely to be on-task. Avoid long stretches of instructional time in
which students sit passively listening to a speaker. Instead, programme your
instructional activities so that students must frequently 'show what they know'
through some kind of active [visible] response. For example, you might first
demonstrate a learning strategy to students and then divide the class into pairs
and have students demonstrate the strategy to each other while you observe and
evaluate.
Transition Quickly (Gettinger&Seibert, 2002; Gettinger, 1988): When students
transit quickly between educational activities and avoid instructional 'dead time',
their attention is less likely to wander. Train students to transit appropriately by
demonstrating how they should prepare for common academic activities, such as
group lecture and independent seatwork. Have them practice these transitions,
praising the group for timely and correct performance. Provide additional
'coaching' to individual students as needed. During daily instruction, verbally
alert students several minutes before a transition to another activity is to occur.
Use Advance Organizers (U.S. Department of Education, 2004): One strategy to
improve on-task behaviour is to give students a quick overview of the activities
101
planned for the instructional period or day. This 'advance organizer' provides
students with a mental schedule of the learning activities, how those activities
interrelate, important materials needed for specific activities, and the amount of
time set aside for each activity. All students benefit when the teacher uses
advance organizers. However inattentive students especially benefit from this
overview of learning activities, as the advance organizer can prompt, mentally
prepare, and focus these students on learning right when they most need it.
Use Preferential Seating (U.S. Department of Education, 2004): Seating the
student near the teacher is one tried-and-true method to increase on-task
behaviour. Preferential seating simply means that you seat the student in a
location where he or she is most likely to stay focused on what you are teaching.
Remember that all teachers have an 'action zone', a part of the room where they
tend to focus most of their instruction. Once you have analyzed your 'action
zone' as a teacher, place the student's seat somewhere within that zone. Of
course, the ideal seating location for any particular student will vary, depending
on the unique qualities of the target student and of your classroom. When
selecting preferential seating, consider whether the student might be selfconscious about sitting right next to the teacher. Also, try to select a seat location
that avoids other distractions. For example, you may want to avoid seating the
student by a window or next to a talkative classmate. However when some of
these strategies are not put in place, there will be the tendency of increased
anxiety, low self-concept and truancy among students and invariably accelerated
rate of off-task behaviour among students.
Theoretical framework
This study is based on the assumption that the phenomenon of off-task
behaviour among children and adolescents alike is increasing at an extraordinary
rate. Several theoretical models suggest that factors such as anxiety, low selfconcept, truancy etc, could impact negatively on the incidence of off-task
behaviour among children and adolescents in school. For instance, the theory of
reasoned action and cognitive theory of depression emphasizes the role of social
norms in guiding teens' intentions and motivations regarding cognitive
behaviours. This indicates that for most individuals with a healthy social support
network, major stressors in life can be more easily handled. However, for
individuals with dormant social network, or those with a negatively reinforcing
social network, these major life events can cause greater harm to the individual
because of a lack of support that most individuals have. A dormant social
network cannot handle the pressure of an individual looking for support, and a
negatively framed social network cannot reinforce thoughts of hopelessness,
failure, and a feeling of worthlessness. Without this support, it is more likely for
the individual to develop symptoms of depression. Base on this context, this
study examined the impact of factors such as anxiety, self-concept, and truancy

102
on children with off-task behaviour in Warri Metropolis. Based on the above

premise, the following research question and hypotheses are formulated:
Research Question
1.
To what extent could all the independent variables (anxiety, self-concept,
and truancy) predict the dependent variable (off-task behaviour) among
children?
Hypotheses
1.
There is no significant relationship between self-concept and children with
off-task behaviour
2.
There is no significant relationship between anxiety and children with offtask behaviour
3.
There is no significant relationship between truancy and children with offtask behaviour
METHOD
This study adopted a (ex-post facto) research method. The participants for the
study were all junior secondary school students (JSS1) (between ages 11-13yrs)
(mean age: 12 years) in Warri Metropolis Delta, State Nigeria.
Population
The population of the study consists of all junior secondary school students in
Warri Metropolis Delta, State Nigeria.
Sample
The sample for the study consisted of three hundred junior secondary school
students in Warri Metropolis Delta State Nigeria.
Sampling technique
The participants for the study were all junior secondary school students (between
ages 11-13yrs) in Warri Metropolis Delta State Nigeria who were randomly
selected from ten (10) secondary schools in the designated area of study. A total
of 300 participants were used for the study. This number comprises of thirty (30)
students male and female randomly selected from each of the ten (10) schools (by
balloting) amounting to a total of three hundred (300) students selected for the
study.
Instrument
The instrument used for this study is a research designed questionnaire. The
questionnaire which was specifically designed by the researcher was the
principal instrument used for this research work. It adopted the modified Likerts
type of scale for self-rating. Responses were rated on a 4-point Likert scale

103
ranging from 1 to 4 where: 4=Strongly Agreed, 3=Agreed, 2=Strongly Disagreed,

and 1=Disagree.
The items in the questionnaire were divided into sections A, B, C, D and E.
Section A is on personal information such as students sex, age, class, family type,
mothers and fathers occupation etc. Other sections are in scale-like format with
varied items. Section B contains 12 items on Self-concept. Section C contains 10
items on Anxiety. Section D contains 8 items on Truancy while Section E contains
8 items on issues of off-task behaviour. These sections of the instrument have
simple straightforward positively and negatively worded items.
The reliability of the instrument was calculated using a (test-re-test) method by
administering the questionnaire twice (within a two-week interval). The
Coefficient Alpha for each of the scaled items were; section B (self-concept)
0.8398, section C (anxiety) 0.8870, section D (truancy) 0.7998 and section E (offtask behaviour) 0.8217. This shows that the instrument is very reliable.
Administration of the instrument
The researcher personally distributed and collected the completed questionnaire
from the students. Permission was obtained from significant authorities to
facilitate the process. The school principals, counsellors and form teachers
cooperation were solicited for, to aid the process. Participants were adequately
informed of the adherence to confidentiality and the need to be precise and
truthful in filling the questionnaire. Three hundred questionnaires were
administered (300) and successfully collected back by the researcher.
Data analysis
The data were analyzed with Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and
multiple regression analysis statistical tools. Multiple Regressions was used to
find out the combined and relative contributions of the three independent
variables (self-concept, anxiety and truancy) on children with off-task behaviour.
PPMC was used to determine if the level of relationship between the variables
was statistically significant to warrant rejection or acceptance of the hypotheses.
RESULTS
The influence of self-concept, anxiety and truancy on children with learning
disabilities is presented as thus:
Research Question 1: To what extent could all the independent variables (selfconcept, anxiety and truancy) predict the dependent variable (off-task behaviour)
among children?

104
Table 1: Measured influence of self-concept, anxiety and truancy on children with

Off-task Behaviour Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Matrix of Relationship
between variables
Variables
N
Mean StdDev 1
2
3
4
Off-task Behaviuor
300
62.41 10.449 1.000
Self-concept
300
30.03 6.103
.543
1.000
Anxiety
300
63.88 12.066 .679
.524
1.000
Truancy
300
62.38 12.73
.496
.441
.595 1.000
Table 1 gives description of measures of association between the variables
identified in this study. The scores indicate significant relationship between the
variables (self-concept, anxiety and truancy). The table shows that anxiety has the
highest correlation on children with off-task behaviour (r=.679, p<0.05).
Table 2: Regression summary table showing
variables on children with off-task behaviour
Source
Sum Squares (ss)
Df
Regression
16798.118
3
Residual
15846.452
296
Total
32644.570
299
R=.717
R2=515
Ajd R2=.510
Std Error=7.317
the joint effect of the independent

Mean Square
55999.37
53.54
F-Ratio
10384.75
Sig
.000
Based on the result presented in Table 2, the three independent variables made a
joint contribution of 51% to the total prediction on children with off-task
behaviour. The composite effect of the independent variables as jointly
contributive on children with off-task behaviour are revealed as thus, r = .717,
R2= .515, Adj. R2= .510 and Std. error of estimate 7.317. The result of the multiple
regression analysis produced an F-ratio (3.296) = 10384.75 which was significant
at p<0.05 alpha level.
Ho1: There will be no significant relationship between self-concept and off-task
behaviour
Table 3: PPMC summary table showing relationship between self-concept and
off-task behaviour
Variables
N
Mean
SD
R
df P
Off-task Behaviour
Self-concept
300
300
62.41
30.03
10.449
6.103
.543
298 Sig

105
Table 3 shows that the variable self-concept significantly correlates with off-task
behaviour. r (298) = .543, p<.05. The mean and standard deviation for selfconcept is 30.03 and 6.103 respectively. With this result the Ho1: is thus, rejected.
This implies that self-concept has a significant impact on school children
expressed level of off-task behaviour.
Table 4: PPMC summary table showing relationship between anxiety and off
task behaviour
Variables
N
Mean SD
R
df
P
Off-task Behaviour
Anxiety
300
300
62.41
63.88
10.449
12.066
.679
298
Sig
Table 4 shows that the variable, anxiety positively and significantly correlates
with off-task behaviour. r (298) = .679, p<.05. The mean and standard deviation
for social support is 63.88 and 12.066 respectively. With this result the Ho: is thus,
rejected. This implies that anxiety has great influence on school children
expressed level of off-task behaviour.
Table 5: PPMC summary table showing relationship between truancy and off
task behaviour.
Variables
N
Mean
SD
R
df
P
Off Behaviour
300
62.41
10.449 .496
298
Sig
Trauncy
300
62.38
12.723
Table 5 shows that the variable truancy correlates significantly with off-task
behaviour. r (298) = .496, p<.05. The mean and standard deviation of truancy is
62.38 and 12.723 respectively. With this result the Ho: is thus, rejected. This
implies that truancy could enhance the development of off-task behaviour in
school children.
DISCUSSION
Research Question One
To what extent could all the independent variables (self-concept, anxiety and
truancy) predict the dependent variable (off-task behaviour) among children?
The study indicates that the independent variables (self-concept, anxiety and
truancy) have significant predictive influence on off-task behaviour among
children. The reason for this can be projected along the expressed views of
Gerald (2012) who reported that millions of children expressing off-task
behaviour in Europe, U.S, the Caribbean and Africa (Nigeria inclusive), have
trouble in learning. Most of these children may not be able to read at all, while
many might be considered slow readers. Besides being a slow reader, many
children in Africa lack the basic reading and writing skills associated with
learning in schools. Giving credence to this assertion, Boyle, Decoufle and

106
Yeargin-Allsopp (1994) affirmed that off-task behaviour are a group of disorders

which are characterized by difficulty in learning, paying attention, and storing
information which could affect individuals with average or above average
intelligence. This implies that off-task behaviour has to do with inattention, short
attention span and high level of distractibility. Therefore, off-task behaviour
could make academic task and attainment very difficult for children.
Hypothesis one: There will be no significant relationship between self-concept
and off-task behaviour. The result of the study shows that self-concept
significantly correlates with off-task behaviour among children, R (298) = .543,
p<.05 thus, the hypothesis is rejected. The reason for this development can be
adduced to the fact that most children with off-task behaviour develop low selfconcept, emotional deprivation, resulting from societal stigma and rejection,
negative attitude to school, etc. These issues in no small measure affect the
functional ability of most children expressing off-task behaviour. Thus, there is a
general consensus that most children with off-task behaviour tend to have low
self-concept and self-esteem levels than those without off-task behaviour
(Elbaum & Vaughn, 2001). Also, for a variety of reasons their academic
achievement is generally lower (although this does, of course, depend on the
nature of the difficulty and the child in question), which in itself is a possible
source of lowered self-perceptions. Also, they are less likely to be accepted by
their peer group and are sometimes bullied (Eaude, 1999).
Hypothesis Two: There will be no significant relationship between anxiety and
off-task behaviour. The result reveals that anxiety positively and significantly
correlates with off-task behaviour among school children, r (298) = .679, p<.05
thus, the hypothesis is rejected. The reason for this can be attributed to the fact
that anxiety disorders have been reported as one of the most common forms of
psychological distress for people with off-task behaviour and for children with
off-task behaviour, research evidence available suggests high levels of anxiety
disorders in children vary from 8.7% (Dekker & Koot 2003) to 21%. Therefore, it
could be implied that in children with off-task behaviour, anxiety disorders are
well recognised though it may be underreported and under diagnosed.
Hypothesis 3: There will be no significant relationship between truancy and offtask behaviour. The study reveals that truancy correlates significantly with offtask behaviour among children, r= (298) = .496, p<.05 thus, the hypothesis is
rejected. The reason could be aligned to the fact that the reasons students fail to
attend school are multifaceted and complex. Causes could occur at the
individual, family, school and community levels. For example, students may skip
school because of school phobia, off-task behaviour, learning disabilities or
difficulty getting along with other students or teachers. Families may have
chaotic living situations or parents may have poor parenting skills that affect
their ability to monitor and encourage their childs school attendance and
107
commitment to their school task. Likewise, school factors affecting truancy rates
include problems with bullying and teaching methods perceived as boring by
students. This finding has thus demonstrated that self-concept, anxiety and
truancy have significant effect on children with off-task behaviour. It therefore
implies that conscious efforts should be made by school counsellors to initiate
intervention programmes that would enhance students positive adjustment to
teaching and learning experience in school.
Implication of the findings
Children expressing off-task behaviour often have problems that go far beyond
those experienced in reading, writing, mathematics, memory, or organization.
For many, strong feelings of frustration, anger, sadness, or shame can lead to
psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem, as well
as behavioural problems such as substance abuse or juvenile delinquency. Their
academic struggles and failures are often met with disapproval by teachers,
peers, and parents. Such disapproval can take the form of negative labelling of a
child as "slow," "lazy," or "dumb." Rather than developing a sense of pride in
their accomplishments, children expressing off-task behaviour may end up in a
quagmire of frustration and shame. Such feelings only serve to erode the
development of a positive self-concept. In fact, as a result of constant struggle
and failure, a negative self-image may develop even when others offer support
and encouragement.
Therefore, the result of the study makes it imperative for us to initiate a measure
that will enable us review the factors related to an increased risk of learning
among children with off-task behaviour as to aid in the development of more
effective preventive programmes.
CONCLUSION
The findings of this study have enabled us to have an insight of the situation
experienced by children with off-task behaviour in school. Thus, it is imperative
that parents, special educationist, counsellors, psychologists, school
administrators and significant others understand the developmental trend of
children with off-task behaviour in school as to be able to appreciate their
challenges, needs, expectations in order to give them sense of belonging and
relate with them unconditionally.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The family, society and significant others should take time to appreciate and
understand the developmental task of children with off-task behaviour so as to
device appropriate measure on how best to understand, relate, maintain and
sustain pleasant social relationship with them as to facilitate permissible
environment where they can express themselves freely.

108
Children with learning disabilities should be helped to overcome their challenges

through appropriate intervention programmes.
Parents should ensure they develop the right attitude and interest in the
education of their children with off-task behaviour as to give them the necessary
support to overcome their academic challenge.
REFERENCES
Boyle, C.A., Decoufle, P. & Yeargin-Allsopp, M., (1994): Prevalence and health
impact of developmental disabilities in US children. Pediatrics. 9, 399-403.
Developmental Disabilities Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta, GA.
Brock, S.E.(1998, February). Helping the student with ADHD in the classroom
Strategies for teachers. Communiqu, 26 (5), 18-20.
Carnine, D.W. (1976). Effects of two teacher presentation rates on off-task
behavior, answering correctly, and participation. Journal of Applied Behavior
Analysis, 9, 199-206.
Dekker, M.C, & Koot H.M. (2003): DSM-IV disorders in children with borderline
to moderate intellectual disability I: Prevalence and impact. J. Am. Acad. Child
Adolesc. Psychiatry; 42: 915-22.
DuPaul, G.J., & Ervin, R.A. (1996). Functional assessment of behaviors related to
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Linking assessment to intervention
design. Behavior Therapy, 27, 601-622.
Eaude, T. (1999): Learning Difficulties: Dyslexia, Bullying and Other Issues, London,
Letts Educational.
Elbaum, B., & Vaughn, S. (2001): School-based interventions to enhance the selfconcept of students with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis. The
Elementary School Journal, 101, 303-329.
Ford, A. D., Olmi, D. J., Edwards, R. P., & Tingstrom, D. H. (2001). The sequential
introduction of compliance training components with elementary-aged children
in general education classroom settings. School Psychology Quarterly, 16, 142-157.
Gerald, .O. (2012): Children and adolescents with learning disabilities: its impact
on
school,
family
and
society:http://www.codewit.com/familyadvice/parenting-relationships/1707- children-and-adolescents-with-learningdisabilities-its-impact-on-school-family-and- society: Accessed online on
28/05/2012.
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Gettinger, M. (1988). Methods of proactive classroom management. School

Psychology Review, 17, 227-242.
Gettinger, M., & Seibert, J.K. (2002). Best practices in increasing academic
learning time. In A. Thomas (Ed.), Best practices in school psychology IV: Volume I
(4th ed., pp. 773-787).
Bethesda, MD: National Association of School
Psychologists.
Heward, W.L. (1994). Three 'low-tech' strategies for increasing the frequency of
active student response during group instruction. In R. Gardner III, D.M. Sainato,
J.O. Cooper, T.E. Heron, W.L. Heward, J. Eshleman, & T.A. Grossi (Eds.),
Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp. 283-320).
Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Martens, B.K. & Kelly, S.Q. (1993).A behavioral analysis of effective teaching.
School Psychology Quarterly, 8, 10-26.
Martens, B.K., & Meller, P.J. (1990).The application of behavioral principles to
educational settings. In T.B. Gutkin & C.R. Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school
psychology
(2nd ed.) (pp. 612-634). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Powell, S., & Nelson, B. (1997). Effects of choosing academic assignments on a
student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Applied Behavior
Analysis, 30, 181-183.
U.S. Department of Education (2004). Teaching children with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder: Instructional strategies and practices. Retrieved August
20th, 2005, from http://www.ed.gov/teachers/needs/speced/adhd/adhdresource-pt2.doc

110
ABOUT THE EDITORS
The Editor
Editor-In-Chief, Dr. (MRS)
MRS) AGBAJOR, HELENA TSANINOMI had
her education at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, University of
Benin, Edo State and Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria in
Education, Guidance and Counselling. She is a counselling consultant
and a seasoned lecturer who lectures Education, Psychology and
Counselling courses. She has published research articles in reputable
indexed National and International Journals. She served in the capacity
of Editor
Editor-In-Chief and Member Editor to National and International
bodies. She is also a member of Delta State Counselling Association,
Associate Editor, Dr. (MRS) ANINO ANIGALA is a staff of the
College of Education, Warri, Nigeria. She hold
holdss a PhD in Guidance
and Counselling from the Delta State, University, Abraka, Nigeria.
She is happily married to Prof. E. A. Anigala. She is blessed with
four Children. She is also a member of various professional bodies.
Associate Editor, Dr. (MRS) ASAMAIGO ESE ELIZABETH is a

Lecturer and Head of Department of Early Childhood Care and
Education, School of Education, College of Education, Warri,
Nigeria. She has many publications in both local and international
reputable journals. She bagged her Mast
Masters
ers and PhD certificates at
the Premier University (University of Ibadan). Dr. Asamaigo hails
from Ododegho in Ughelli North Local Government. She is
happily married with three children
children.
.
Our Vision
To become a centre of excellence recognized worldwide in skill development and
research
Our Mission
To be a role model of academic excellence in science and education

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COUNSELLING FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND

Edited by Agbajor, Asamaigo and Anigala

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, NIGERIA

COUNSELLING FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND SUSTAINABILITY:

Dr. (Mrs) Helena T. Agbajor, (Editor-in-Chief)

Dr. (Mrs) E.E. Asamaigo (Associate Editor)

Dr. (Mrs) A. Anigala (Associate Editor)

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, NIGERIA

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be

This first edition published 2014 by

ISBN: 978 978 52231 4 - 9

Abulude, F.O. (Nigeria) - President/CEO

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