Impact of Counselling Services on Students’ Academic Achievement in Tai Solarin Federal University of Education Senior Secondary School, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State

Abstract

This study was carried out mainly on the impact of counselling services on students' academic achievement in Tai Solarin Federal University of Education Senior Secondary School, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. It focuses on the gender influences of counselling services on academic achievement of secondary school students. It also examined the perceived causes of poor academic achievement of secondary school students. The study investigated the relationship between counselling services and academic achievement of secondary school students. Descriptive survey research design was used for this study with sample consisting of 100 Senior Secondary School Students from the school used in this study. Two research questions were raised with one null hypothesis developed for this study. Questionnaire was used to obtain data and it was subjected to Cronbach’s Alpha reliability with a reliability coefficient of 0.79. Data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation (SD) for answering the research question one t-test was used to answer research question two while Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the research hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level. With an average mean and standard deviation of 2.85 (SD = .717) which is above the 2.50 minimum level of disagreement adopted in this study. Therefore, the result suggests that peer pressure is one of the major causes of academic failure among senior secondary school students of Tai Federal Solarin University of Education Senior Secondary School, Ijebu-Ode. The t-test analysis shows that academic achievement of senior secondary school students is significantly influenced by male with the mean = 2.01 and SD = .204 and female with the mean = 4.72 and SD = .221; t (df) = 2.10 and p - .000. The significance of the gender influence of counselling services on academic achievement of secondary school students was tested at P = <0.05. This means that the gender influence of counselling services on academic achievement of secondary school students is significant. Also a positive relationship was found between counselling services and academic achievement (r = .042; p < 0.05). It was recommended that there is need for the teacher counsellors to implement all the services required for a guidance and counselling programme. There is need to improve the level of training of school counsellors in guidance and counselling from time to time. Guidance and counselling programme should be strengthened in order to improve the students' academic performance of secondary schools.