Educational Guidance and Counselling

Educational Guidance and Counselling involves amongst other things, course planning and solution of numerous problems that students would come across during the course of their studies. It aims at maximising the intellectual potential of the student so that they may live up to all their abilities as persons as well as learners of subject matter”.

It implies that in the schools there are a lot of problems facing the child and these include the choice of subjects, how to study anxiety on whether to pass or fail examinations, choice of schools to attend, how to combine subject so as to pursue any area of study, disillusionment with chosen subjects, problem of coping with a course of study, lack of interest and lack of motivation.

Educational guidance and counselling has been defined by Peters and Farewell (1967) as “the assistance given to pupils individually and through group techniques to help them function more effectively in their school programme”. They explained further that “it includes assistance given to the pupil in adjusting to the school setting, curriculum and extra-curricular offerings of the school, and planning preparing and carrying through an appropriate educational plan of development.

In the process of education, the home/family, the community and the school (the society as a whole) can be said to be involved in the moulding of the individual by subjecting him to certain selected and controlled situations to help him in the attainment of social competence and optimum individual development. Most people, however, view education in terms of schooling in the academic environment and going by the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) (1967)’s definition of guidance as “an organised effort of a school to help the individual child develop his/ her maximum potentials”, the students would need Educational guidance to make the best use of the available opportunities.

Right from the Nursery/Primary school level, the school counsellor should endeavour to find out the special talented children, the gifted ones as well as the handicapped and the emotionally disturbed ones, with a view to evolving an appropriate plan for their educational progress.

Such educational progress should be effectively monitored by the school counsellor to ensure a smooth transition into the secondary school system. At the junior secondary level, the individual student should be guided in identifying his/her educational opportunities based on his/her academic potentialities. Guidance in the choice of subject at the end of the first three academic sessions in the secondary school is a basic necessity. Through academic guidance, the students are helped to identify their vocational interest, capabilities and opportunities and their choice of school subjects are based on these considerations. In the absence of professional guidance.

Parental influence, peer group pressure, financial constraints, identification with siblings and significant others, are some of the major problems which students may have battle with in the course of their choice of subjects. The school guidance counsellor provides the necessary information.

Academic Educational Guidance and Counselling

There are various types of Educational Information and the following are some of them.

1. Information about the school rules and regulations.
2. Information regarding the different departments in the schools and the various subject being taught.
3. The school time table and schedule of activities, both curricular and co-curricular for each team.
4. The various clubs and societies in the school, what they stand for and the time of their meetings.
5. Information about the various post-secondary schools available in the locality and in other places.
6. Information about the minimum requirements and the subjects required for each course of study in the universities and other tertiary institutions.
7. Information regarding the various types of occupation and the training/qualification required before entry into such occupation.
8. h. Information regarding scholarships, bursaries, students’ loans and other sponsorship opportunities.
9. The type of correspondence school, available, their addresses and school fees. Opportunities for on-the-job training, short courses available locally and abroad, long vacation courses, extra courses, extra moral/evening lessons and apprenticeship opportunities for those students who are terminating their formal education at the grade 9 level and those who would not go beyond secondary level.

The information collected by the school counsellor could be made available to the student and others members of staff through.

(i) The use of various education technology such as:- films, video slides, handbills,
(ii) posters, banners and so on.
(iii) Group guidance Sessions: The school guidance counsellor could disseminate educational information by making a general presentation to the student on a class by class or through groups specifically for the purpose of such information.

(iv) The school newsletter or magazine could be an effective means of getting educational information across to the students and even their educated parents and siblings.
(v) School assemblies could also serve as a good forum for the dissemination of academic information, especially the ones that are general to the students.

(vi) Excursions could be arranged by the school counsellor to higher institutions, vocational training centres and workshops to afford the students the opportunity to see for themselves, collect more information and clarify the ones that are not clear. Excursion should be mostly to places within the locality but the ones that would involve traveling should be well planned ahead of time with due permission from the parent/guardian of the students who are going to participate in such excursion.

(vii) Information can be disseminated through the school library which in itself is a rich source of education information. Current educational information could be strategically located in the library where all the students would have access to it.

ACADEMIC COUNSELLING

According to Mallum (2000), it is a face to face interaction between a counsellor and counsellee or a group of counsellees (students) with the sole aim of helping such students to develop effective needed skills for the manipulating of academic potentialities. During such interactions attempts are made to come up with answers to such important questions as How, when, what, where and why to study.

However, academic covered getting acquainted with learning process, budgeting time effectively, determining one’s best time of study, reading under ideal conditions, get acquainted with the library, avoiding excessive anxieties at examination time, read where there is sufficient light, practice Robinsons and S3R, where S stand for survey, first R stands for reading, second R stand for Revise, and the last R for Recalling, for practice make perfect in all our doing.

This is a very important aspect of educational guidance through which the guidance counsellor can help the student in solving the problems that are attitude oriented and those related to feelings and self-direct motivation. For example, under-achievement in academic events, which is different from academic failure, can be dealt with through the process of academic counselling.

The school guidance counsellor can make use of Bakare (1971) Study Habit Inventory (SHI) or construct his own inventory that would be relevant and useful in finding out the problems of the students. Student should be guided concerning:

A. – how to make effective use of the library
B. – what to study
C. – where to study
D. – when to study
E. – how to study.

1. HOW TO MAKE EFFECTIVE USE OF THE LIBRARY:

Students should be conducted round the different sections of the library during the orientation and regulations. They should know the period the library. A time should be devoted to enlighten them about how to develop library skills because the acquisitions of library skills is an important aid to effective study. Students should be guided as to how and where to get the different types of books journal and monographs. The school librarians should be involved in this guidance service.

2. WHAT TO STUDY:

It is usually assumed that students know what to study whereas most students just study to pass their examinations. While it is true that what students study for their examinations contribute to their knowledge, it is imperative for them to know that even without examinations, they need to study materials related to their discipline to acquire knowledge and understanding which they should be able to practicalise in real life situations. In effect, they should read any study relevant articles in journals, books, newspapers etc. References given by their subject teacher teachers should be searched for and studied.

3. WHERE TO STUDY:

After knowing what to study, the students need to know where to study. This is because; the right choice of where to study would influence the students’ ability to concentrate on what he is studying. Quite environment is conductive to learning. The study place should therefore be relatively free from noise and distractions. The student should avoid putting in his study room decorations that can easily distract his attention while studying. He should not engage in other activities such as sleeping, eating or watching television in his study room.

The place should be well lighted and ventilated. All the materials needed in the process of study should be at hand so that the student’s attention is not easily diverted. The student should not cultivate the habit of reading only in bed because it is easily to fall asleep (that is in fact what bed is made for) and no serious studying can be done, since it would be extremely difficult to jot down points and coordinate the materials being studied.

4. WHEN TO STUDY:

It is also important for the students to know how to organize their lives and the demands thereof. A serious student should have a schedule of activities for each day because according to Omisakin (1991), lack of activities schedule could constitute a major impediment in the attainment of the desired goals of the individual. It is not just enough to schedule time for study, the student should keep to the schedule which is commonly referred to as the planner or the time table.

Apart from the school time table taking into consideration his other involvements. When the schools are in session, for example, the early morning and evenings should form part of the week day’s schedule of private study while more time should be allocated to study during the weekends. Drawing up to a personal time and adhering to it has some advantages:

1. It helps to allocate a relatively equal period of study to both ‘liked’ and ‘dislike’ subject which would have otherwise been neglected.
2. The student would have specific target to aim at and thus be motivated to study.
3. It saves time and energy which would have been dissipated in cracking one’s brain as to which to read at a particular time.
4. It helps to establish consistent study of all subject before class tests or examination and even after.
5. As it is rightly referred to as ‘the planner’, ‘time -table drawn up and strictly followed so much as possible help to plan one’s time and would eventually lead to good academic achievement and personal satisfaction. Other areas of the student’s life would also become organised.
6. It helps to guide against inhibitions which may likely occur when two subjects that are not similar are being studied in succession. The one that has been studied may interfere with the student’s ability to study the second one effectively. This is referred to as ‘proactive inhibition’. On the other hand, if it is the one being studied now that is interfering with the subject already studied about an hour ago for example, such interference is called ‘retroactive inhibition’. In the process of time tabling, however, this type of subjects are spaced so as to allow a relatively long time between them to minimise inhibition.
7. A well planned time table would make allowance for short break after studying depending on the level of the student so as to rejuvenate the student’s energy and prevent drowsiness, daydreaming and boredom. It is important to note however, that in spite of planning their study periods through the construction of a time table and even keeping strictly to such schedule, some students might still be studying poorly, therefore the school counsellor should also guide students as to how to study.

SOME EFFECTIVE STUDY METHODS

Practice and Rehearsal:

Some students just manage to read through their textbooks or notes and they think they have studies well enough but this may not be true and as such, they need to be helped to understand the essence of practice and rehearsal. They have to read their notes and relevant text several times and write down the summary of what they have read in their own to check the level of their understanding. Such practice would help to improve their retention and performance. Students should however, not be encouraged to go too deep into note-learning (just memorizing their notes). Students should engage in systematic, well planned, spaced-out study than mass cramming close to examination period.

Note Taking:

The method of taking notes is an important aspect of effective study skills. Even though many teachers write notes on the chalkboard for their students to copy or dictate notes. Still many student do not take down notes when they are studying on their own. They need to engage in note taking while the y are doing their private studies since this would help them to concentrate on what they are reading.

Through note taking, important points can be separated from the supporting ones and the examples noted where available. Such students can interpret the ideas and write them in their own words, draw the diagrams and sketches to improve their understanding of what they are studying as they interpret the materials they are studying themselves.

Note taking methods: Understanding of what has been read should precede note taking. The following methods of note-taking are highlighted.

1. THEMES: The students can base his notes on themes that come up in the materials he reads by taking each theme and writing briefly on it, trying as much as possible to use the key words in the materials without copying.

2. SPRAYS: This is a method of quickly jotting down one’s own ideas, as well as important words, principles and concepts in the material read. The student does not have this in any specific order, he should just jot them down as they occur to him. Late on, he should put the materials he is reading aside and begin to link the ides, words, concepts and principles together with lines, to show relationship. Word could even be mixed with sketches, graphs and diagrams but they should be linked with each other and the main topic which should be put boldly in the centre.

3. PATTERN NOTES: Notes could be arranged in a way that it would give a pattern i.e. bringing together cluster of ideas, concepts principles and key words on segments of the topic. Different patterns could be noted in different ways but as it sprays they should be linked together. Pattern notes are useful in areas like Medicines, Engineering, Music, Fine Arts, etc.

4. PARAPHRASING: This method of taking notes emphasizes taking the materials read paragraph by paragraph and re-rendering them in one’s word, to bring out only major ideas with one’s personal interpretations of same.

5. SUMMARISATION: After reading a whole passage or a piece of materials the student should ask himself what the author has said and write this down in his own words. He can turn to the passage to remind himself of the key words and ideas.

6. THE VERBATIM REPORTER: Majority of students use this method in lectures. They want to put down virtually everything that the lecturer says and once they miss out certain words, the notes taken become less useful. This method is very weak method and it is similar to taking down dictation from the lecturer. This should not be encouraged.

7. USE OF ABBREVIATIONS: Another useful method of taking notes quickly and effectively is the use of abbreviations. This method saves time and space and helps the student catch up with important ideas especially in lectures. Some subjects have specific signs/codes used as abbreviation. Each students has to learn those in his subject. Sometimes there may be need to coin or invent personal codes which the student employs as abbreviations. However, there is need for care and caution in interpreting the abbreviated words as well as the codes when revising.

Different Types of Reading:

The school counsellor can also guide the students regarding how to read. There are various reading strategies depending on the purpose of reading. At times the students may need to read a book from cover to cover, at other time, he might have to read just a few chapters in a book while in other cases he might just be required to read a part of single chapter. Basically there are five reading methods.

a. Skimming: This is done to have a general impression of the book, that is to understand what it is all about. Not every word is read but key areas like the title page and the major sub-headings, the first paragraph of the chapter, the first one or two sentences of each paragraph, the last paragraph of the chapter, the summary of the chapter should also be noted.

b. Scanning: Scanning involves one’s eyes down the pages to look for specific information. There is no need of reading every word or detail. For more understanding however, one may decide to read the paragraph or few sentences before and after the specific information one is actually looking for.

c. Critical Reading: AT times, one may be reading only for the purpose of finding out the author’s point of view, what motivated him to write and his biases to assist one in making up one’s mind on certain issues. The facts are therefore carefully separated from opinions and general comments while reading.

d. Pleasurable Reading: Newspapers, magazines, novels are usually read with relative ease and enjoyment. The reader may decide on what part to read.

e. Detailed Reading: When there is need to understand the whole component of a book or piece of information, detailed reading should be done. The whole passage should be carefully read and analysed.

SQ3R Method of Reading:

This method which enhances effective study is credited to Robinson (1946) “SQ3R” means “Survey” “Question” Read” “Recite” “Review”. These words are descriptive of the steps of the procedure involved in this method of reading.

Step 1-Survey: The student should first of all survey the materials he wants to study to have an overview of such materials. The title should be noted and then he should skim through the whole material with special attention on the introduction and the summary or conclusion. This would give him a basis for subsequent in depth study of the material.

Step 2- Question: Some questions should be formed after surveying the study material but where the author has already put some questions either at the beginning or at the end of the chapter or book, the student should go through such questions and then search for their answers in the chapter or book.

Step 3- Read: The student should carefully read the study material paying special attention to the answer to the questions in the last step, important terms. Italicized words, rules words phrase sentences, diagrams, chart and graphs. Depending on the difficulty level of the section under study, the student should try and read through more than once. While reading his personal book or not, he can underline or circle important points or words. Difficult words should be put down so that he can check up their meaning from the dictionary.

Step 4-Recite: Recitation could be done aloud in a private study or silently to avoid disturbing others or by writing the points on papers. This is to help the student remember what he has read. He should go back to the section in question to ascertain his performance and correct his mistakes. Note learning should however not be encouraged except for specific laws, theories and definitions. Instead of memorizing the material the student should re-state the important points in his own words without distorting the original ideas and concepts being put forward by the author. The ability of the student to recall from the short term memory is put to rest.

Step 5-Review: A review of the material being learnt would help in making “assurance double sure” in that the student goes over what he has studied by reciting the major points, the questions and re-reading parts of the study materials searching for the meaning of certain concepts and putting down questions for further clarifications.
This method enhances effective learning because it is systematic and it encourages active participation of the student in the process of learning.

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