Evaluating Teaching and Learning of Guidance and Counseling in Colleges of Education

Therefore this study was designed to evaluate the teaching and learning of guidance and counseling in Colleges of Education. Four research question and two Hypotheses guided the study. An evaluation research design was employed in order to carry out the study. A total of twenty nine (29) guidance and counselling lecturers in Colleges of Education and (348) 300 level students of Colleges of Education Cross River State participated in the study. A structure Guidance and Counselling Evaluation Questionnaire (G&CEO); and Guidance and Counselling Evaluation Observation Schedule (G&CEOS) developed by the researcher were used for data collection. The reliability co-efficient of the instrument was 0.74 using correlation analysis while four experts carried our validation. Four research question and two research hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance guided they study. Frequencies, Percentages, Means and Standard deviation were employed to answer the research questions while the chi-square statistic was used to test the hypothesis. The result among other shows that facilities and materials for counselling exercises are not available, for practical learning, period allocated for guidance and counselling is not adequate, based on the findings, it was recommended that government should establish counseling laboratories in schools and equipped them with facilities to meet counselling challenges. Student counselling practicum and functional library should be provided to enable students and lectures carry out references in guidance and counselling. Lecturers should improvise instructional materials basically for conuselling exercises to boost their profession.

Background of the Study

Education is a means through which nations build their desired society and it is an instrument for a change. Education is aimed at inducing a change in individuals in some desirable way and add to the knowledge they already posses (Onwuka, 1981).

The arrival of missionaries in Nigeria brought formal Teacher Education in the country. The need for evangelization encouraged the training of personnel for the purpose of teaching. Initially, these personnel functioned as catechists who teach religious doctrines in the churches but later realize the need to train them to provide manpower for other services. This continued until 19thcentury when the formal institution for the training of teachers was established in the country (Akuyimu, 1991). The Ashby commission in 1959 came with the revolution of Teacher Education. The Ashby commission reportedthat the country’s (Nigeria) manpower development depend on the number of qualified teachers and recommended teacher Education programme upon which the whole system of education depended.

From the recommendations, two schemes of Teacher Education were introduced. One of these schemes was teacher certification programme which was established with the assistance of UNESCO. Later both the Federal and the then Regional governments established in all five Advance Teaching Training Colleges (ATTC) in 1962 following the Ashby commission recommendations. This was later changed to Colleges of Education (COE).

The Colleges of Education are charged to train teachers in various teaching subjects and methods, who will teach in the senior section of the nation’s primarySschools and in the junior section of the secondary schools. Specifically, the National policy on Education (2004) stipulates that the aims of teacher education are to:

Produce highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system.

Encourage further the spirit of enquiry and creativity in teachers.

Help teachers to fit into the social life of the community and society at large and to enhance their commitment to national objectives.

Provide teachers with the intellectual and professional background

adequate for their assignment and to make them adaptable to any changing

situation not only in the life of their country but in the wider world.xEnhance teachers commitment to the teaching profession.

The above objectives indicate that teaching in tertiary institutions, which deals with teacher education programme, is more than instructing; more widely and provides a framework in which students acquire potent knowledge about subject matter. Above all, the objectives require teacher development in solid self-understanding and effectiveness that depends on their professionalism, experience and commitment. In the same way, Shuaibu (1991) states the important role teacher education programme plays in our educational system as follows:

xIt preserves the system. A teacher education programme should be concerned the teacher on how to select what to teach and to identified group effectively.

It should be evaluative. A teacher education programme should be evaluative of not only what is learnt but what has been considered worth while and how these matters have been taught.

It should be generative. The programme should be able to predict the future and work out the skills and attitudes that would be required to stand the test of time.

It should serve as a maintenance system. The teacher education programme should make up the short fall resulting from expansion in the education system.

A research-based teacher education programme should identify obsolesce in knowledge and methodology and substitute for these in the school curriculum.

The implication of the above roles stated that, the products of teacher education programme are expected to personify the educated Nigerian, to be a nationalist and a patriot irrespective of the circumstances of the environment and personal deprivations.

Among the various courses in the colleges of Education is guidance and counselling. The philosophy of guidance and counselling programme in Colleges of Education as stipulated by the National Commission for colleges of Education (NCCE, 1996) is inspired by the desire to help students become potentially and intellectually informed in guidance and counselling skills for logical reasoning, ideas, understand their capability, and to make useful decisions in education.

The objectives of guidance and counselling programme among other things are as follows; according to National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE):

·          To find out and make individual aware of their basic personal pre­requisites, abilities, assests, liabilities and potentialities.

·          To provide usable information correctly or clarify misinformation

·          Assess an individuals chances to succeed in the labour market.

·          To create awareness of client in the available jobs and how to progress in

them.

·          To make available opportunities for further training and advancement in occupation.

·          To suggest alternative careers and realization of priorities.

Assists individual to use appropriate tools and techniques necessary for self-direction, personal understanding, self-confidence and mental maturation for healthy growth adjustments

x To mobilize all the available resources of the school or home for satisfaction of vocational, academic and social-personal needs of the student.

In order to achieve these laudable objectives as well as to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Colleges of Education, there is need to constantly evaluate the guidance and counselling programme of our schools for rapid changes in educational, vocational and socio-personal development. Some evaluation studies have been carried out in the Colleges of Education in Nigeria are as followed Dienye (2005) defines evaluation as a process of finding out how far the learning experiences in relation to the content that have been developed and organized, actually produce the desired results. The process of evaluation will also involve the identification of strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum plan.

Evaluation involves a systematic process, it is controlled observation of pupils change in behaviour. Agbaegbu, Ezendu and Agwagah (2000) defines evaluation as a process of ascertaining the functionality of education programme and practices in a systematic manner. The learners are exposed to

some content before evaluating or determining the extent of learning or behavioural change that has take place.

Teaching is a common term we use in three distinct ways: as a profession/occupation, as a doctrine/body of knowledge, and as a formal school activity, Keziah and Lawrence (2003). Teaching as a formal school activity is the major one that concerns us because it is the process of getting a learner become educated. Teaching influencing the thoughts, feelings and behaviour of other admittedly, teaching is concerned with education or behaviour change, it is a system of activity by a formerly knowledge, working with one or more learners to achieve certain learning outcomes.

Attempts to explain the concept of teaching and learning has introduced the issue of selling and buying. There is no double to the fact that but concepts involves some sort of interaction. In other words, some level of interaction is necessary before there can be teaching-learning or selling buying. But where as the seller-buyer relationship has an action of giving something to someone in consideration for money as the most important predictable behaviour, teacher – learner relationship has no one major event. Rather, it involves series of actions like marking of papers, discussing and demonstration, explaining and illustration or writing of something on the chalkboard.

Experience is the knowledge and skill that is gained through something for a period of time Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary (2000). For instance a teacher with ten years teaching experience influence the way he/she thinks and behaves in a more acceptable way from accumulated knowledge gained through the skills he acquire from a particular job.

The use of instructional facilities enhances learning experience and leads to interaction within the learning environment. Consequently the interaction culminates in increased interest and acquisition of competences needed for the occupational world. In this age of educational technology, the process of learning requires systematic application of scientific knowledge to practical tasks, identifying and analyzing learning problems. Learning occurs at three levels Olumba (1996) mention as follows; (a) Direct experience level (b) iconic experience level and (c) symbolic experience.

Direct experience level deals with the real life experience involving the interaction of the student with his environment through seeing, learning, touching and manipulation of what is learned. The iconic level of learning has to do with teaching students by means of pictorial. This kind of learning leads to vicarious experience. The symbolic level of learning is merely learning in abstraction as in mathematics. Learning experience is interaction between the learner and his external conditions in their environments to which he can react (Olaitan and Ali 1997). Learning environment is the collective social and technical setting in which teachers and students interact with instructional objects for purposes of acquiring skills, knowledge and attitude which is known as experience.

However, there are inadequate number of non-academic staff, no Mathematic workshop, no departmental library and lecture method is popularly used by the lecturers against discovering, demonstration and problem solving methods. Studies above revealed that most of the programmes introduced by Colleges of Education in Nigeria were inadequate to meet the need of the learners and society. Since guidance and counselling is part of the programme in Colleges of Education, the aims and objectives need to be attainable to ensure that they are consistently being achieved. For effective teaching to occur there is need for the teachers to posses the skills, the knowledge of the subject matter as well as the ability to select appropriate methods for delivery instructions to students. Certain facilities need to be provided to ensure the smooth running of the programme. Such facilities are classroom blocks, staff offices, provision of adequate staff personnel, counselling laboratory, seminar, sensitization campaigns, workshop etc. Akale (1991) observed that in some Colleges of Education, some of these facilities are grossly inadequate. Against this background, this work is geared towards evaluating guidance and counselling programme in Colleges of Education in Cross River State with a view to determining its strengths and weaknesses and proffering solution to the identified problems.