BENEFITS OF SCHOOL AND GUIDANCE COUNSELLING SERVICES

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CHAPTER 3 REVIEW OF ZIMBABWEAN LITERATURE ON SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES

INTRODUCTION

This chapter highlights the literature on the historical development and status of the SGC services in Zimbabwean schools. The focus is on what authorities say in terms of history, components of the services, perceived benefits of the services, role of the school counsellor, factors affecting the effectiveness of the services and biographical variables and SGC services. Comparisons are made with international literature gathered in Chapter 2.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ZIMBABWEAN SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES

Before independence in 1980, Zimbabwe had no structured SGC services for African children in the then Rhodesia (Masvaure cited by Urombo 1999:115). The services were only available in former White, Indian and Coloured schools. The development of SGC services in Zimbabwe reflected the same racial segregation in the whole social system of Rhodesia. The only SGC services for blacks were provided by missionaries in mission schools and the ‘public-spirited’ members who took it upon themselves to provide informal advice to the students (Mapfumo 2001:11).
The massive expansion in secondary school education soon after 1980 in Zimbabwe, necessitated the introduction of the SGC services as supportive services to students. Ndanga’s (1994:1) view that an increase in awareness in the range of individual differences in intelligence, interests, motivation and needs as a result of the expansion in Zimbabwean education resulted in the introduction of SGC services is shared by Yuk Yee & Brennan’s (2004:57) with regard to the introduction of SGC services in Hong Kong. The establishment of the Schools Psychological Services (SPS) within the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture in 1983 provided a platform that responded to the personal, educational and career needs of students in schools. Like in Britain (Taylor 1971:40), Botswana (Navin 1989:191), Zambia (UNESCO 1998:iv) and America (Paisley & McMahon 2001:106), the guidance and counselling services were introduced in all Zimbabwean secondary schools in an attempt to respond to the needs of students, which include academic, career, social and personal needs.
It is reported that one Education Officer for SGC services was responsible for the whole country at the inception of the services in 1987 (Mapfumo 2001:11). The number of Education Officers increased to four in 1991 (Secretary for Education and Culture 1991:9). In 1995, the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture appointed an Education Officer for Guidance and Counselling for each educational region. The newly appointed education officers were sent to Britain for staff development. They acquired Masters Degrees in Guidance and Counselling. Upon their return in 1996, the officers updated the SGC national syllabus drawn up in 1987. The syllabus now comprises the following broad areas: personal and social guidance, educational guidance, career/vocational guidance, HIV/AIDS Education and individual counselling (Magoche 1995:1-3; Murwira 1998:2; Ngara 1999:1-4). It is, however, sad to note that all these Education Officers who had been trained in Guidance and Counselling in UK have since left the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture. The new officers who have replaced them have no qualifications in the area. Moreover, the officers have been given responsibilities in other curriculum areas resulting in divided attention (Mapfumo 2001:12; Kasayira, Chireshe & Chipandambira 2004:61). This study wants to establish how the staff position affects the effectiveness of the SGC services. The following section will highlight the components of the Zimbabwean secondary SGC services.

COMPONENTS OF THE ZIMBABWEAN SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES

This section presents the components of Zimbabwean SGC services in comparison with the situation on the international scene.

Policy and mission statement

In international literature, policy has been defined as a statement with guidelines that govern how a group of people should behave in given circumstances or a statement of rules that gives direction and influences behaviour in given circumstances. A mission statement was defined as a short official statement that an organisation makes about the work it does and why it does it (MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners 2002:911).
Unlike in America (Gysbers & Henderson 2001:249), Ireland (NCGE 2003:2), Scotland (Howieson & Semple 2000:374), Uganda (Rutondoki 2000:18), Malawi (Maluwa-Banda 1998:287) and South Africa (National Curriculum Statement of Life Orientation Grades 10-12 Document, Department of Education, Pretoria 2003) where SGC polices are mandatory, there is no mandatory policy on the implementation of the SGC services in Zimbabwe. The 1996 Education Act of Zimbabwe is not clear on the implementation of Guidance and Counselling services. Some schools do not offer the services despite having guidance and counselling on school time tables (Chivonivoni 2006:31). The Zimbabwean Secretary for Education, Sport and Culture’s Report (1989:8) reveals that regional offices sent circulars to headmasters giving them guidelines on how to establish the SGC services whilst Benza and Ndanga (1990:4) came up with a Regional Circular No 4 of 1990 spelling out the procedures for the implementation of the SGC services in the Midlands region. Circulars and not mandatory policies from the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture’s regional offices have been sent to secondary school headmasters informing them to appoint Guidance and Counselling co-ordinators and provide adequate space and time for guidance and counselling activities (Maturure 2004:2). Through the circulars, all secondary schools are provided with the broad areas for the guidance and counselling services (personal-social guidance and counselling, educational guidance and counselling, career or vocational guidance and counselling, AIDS Education) and a draft SGC services syllabus (Murwira 1998:5; Gumbo 2002:1-2; Mukamwi 2005:25). Each secondary school is presently required to produce its own relevant and effective school syllabus covering the above areas. The schools are required to timetable Guidance and Counselling, appoint an SGC coordinator and to have a separate Guidance and Counselling room (Ngara 1998:5). The Zimbabwean Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture requires that when general secondary school reports are submitted annually, mention must be made on progress in the implementation of the SGC services (Murwira 1998:6). Each school should have a team of male and female school counsellors (Secretary’s Circular No. 5 of 2000:7).
Courses were conducted throughout the country for high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture such as education officers, district education officers, headmasters of secondary schools and new school guidance counsellors to advise them on how best to institutionalise the SGC services (Mapfumo 2001:11; Kasayira et al. 2004:60-61). Gumbo (2002:1) and Kasayira et al. (2004:60) report that the responsibility for starting the SGC services at a school rests with the headmaster of that school. The headmaster should ensure that SGC services are taken seriously and are implemented at school. The headmaster appoints a school guidance and counselling co-coordinator. The headmaster is also responsible for providing adequate space and time for SGC activities.
Elsewhere in this research, literature on the international scene, for example, in Botswana, America, Malawi, Ireland and Hong Kong, has shown that effective SGC services have mandatory policies that back them up. This study seeks to determine the effects of lack of a mandatory policy in Zimbabwe on the effectiveness of the SGC services.
The Nziramasanga Commission (1999:253) recommended that Guidance and Counselling should be offered at all levels of the education system. There was need to determine the effectiveness of the already established services before expansion into all sectors of the education system. The Commission recommended the enactment of policies to direct the implementation of the SGC services.
In January 2001, the Zimbabwe government published a curriculum policy that included HIV/AIDS and Guidance and Counselling as compulsory non-examinable subjects in secondary schools (Secretary’s Circular No. 2 of 2001:6). In 2002, the Government of Zimbabwe introduced a new curriculum policy that replaced the Secretary’s Circular No. 2 of 2001 on the teaching of Guidance and Counselling as a subject in secondary schools.
The new policy allocated 40 minutes per class per week for forms 1 to 4 (Secretary’s Circular No. 3 of 2002:12). The curriculum policy is not mandatory since some schools do not implement it. Presently, the Zimbabwean Government is drafting policy guidelines for the institutionalisation of the guidance and counselling services from pre-school to high school (Nyanungo 2005:1). It is important to investigate the effectiveness of the already existing services before expansion to pre-schools and primary schools.
The mission statement of the Zimbabwe SGC services focuses on moulding students who are capable of making the right choices in the world of employment and education. It also focuses on assisting students to overcome the challenges of unemployment, drug abuse and pandemic diseases (Maturure 2004:2).
Since one of the key responses to policy is planning, the following subsection will highlight the planning status of the Zimbabwean SGC services in comparison to the international scene.

Planning

International literature has revealed that planning is an essential component of effective SGC services (Brown 1989:47; Gibson 1990:255; UNESCO 2000:5). Planning has been presented as involving goal setting and development of methods and strategies for goal attainment. The objectives of the Zimbabwean SGC services are to encourage the development of self-discipline and responsibility; the growth of intellectual curiosity, creativity and habits of learning and the promotion of an understanding of higher education, career opportunities and responsibilities in each student in a secondary school (Mapfumo 1988:3; Murwira 1993:2; Kasayira et al. 2004:60). Thus, the SGC services are important in Zimbabwe, just like in any other developing or developed country as indicated in Chapter 2, because they prepare the students to cope with school and after-school-life. This study seeks to establish whether the services are planned before implementation.
International literature reveals that in Scotland (Howieson & Semple 2000:375) and Finland (Lairio & Nissiila 2002:171) goal-setting precedes effective SGC services, and Mapfumo (2001:24) argues that Zimbabwean SGC services can only be effective if the country follows a similar path. The goals state what must be done, how performance will be measured, deadlines to reach goals and specify the performance standard. Unless a counsellor plans carefully, he or she will not have an idea of what exactly is to be done, by whom and how. Planning bridges the gap between where we are now and where we want to be in future. Where there is no planning, the services do not hold and the resources may not be applied to the best advantage (Mapfumo 2001:25). Planning assists in determining all human and material resources required to do the job (Mapfumo 2001:26). Zimbabwean school guidance teachers and students want to be involved in the planning process. For example, Badza (2005:35) states that the school guidance teachers and students need to be involved in the formulation of the SGC services syllabus. Unlike in America (Paisley 2001:276), Canada (Levi & Ziegler 1991:vi) and Uganda (Rutondoki 2000:92-93) where parental involvement in SGC services is emphasised, literature on the Zimbabwean SGC services is silent on the involvement of parents in SGC services planning.
The majority of the Zimbabwean school counsellors do not produce annual plans for the guidance and counselling services (Chireshe & Mapfumo 2005:23). This means that the secondary school headmasters do not respond to the Ministry’s circulars and policies referred to above. The above scenario is contrary to the situation revealed by international literature, where, for example in Ireland (NCGE 2003:4) and America (Reynolds & Cheek 2002:93; Schmidt 1993:42) SGC services are annually planned. This study wants to establish how this lack of planning impacts on the effectiveness of the services. Furthermore, it seeks to determine whether the SGC services are being implemented as directed by the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture and whether they are meeting their intended broad objectives given in the draft SGC services syllabus (Murwira 1998:5).
Chapter 2 explains how planning is informed by needs assessment (Section 2.3.3). Thus it is important to highlight the status of needs assessment in Zimbabwean secondary SGC services. The next subsection dwells on the Zimbabwean SGC services needs assessment status.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DEDICATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
APPENDICES
FIGURES
CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 BACKGROUND
1.3 ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM
1.4 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH
1.5 RESEARCH DESIGN
1.6 DEMARCATION OF THE RESEARCH
1.7 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.8 RESEARCH PROGRAMME
1.9 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE RELATED TO EFFECTIVE SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
2.3 COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE AND COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
2.4 BENEFITS OF SCHOOL AND GUIDANCE COUNSELLING SERVICES
2.5 ROLE OF THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR FOUND IN INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE
2.6 FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THE SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELLING SERVICES FOUND IN INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE
2.7 BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES AND SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
2.8 SUMMARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE REVIEWED
CHAPTER 3 REVIEW OF ZIMBABWEAN LITERATURE ON SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
3.3 COMPONENTS OF THE ZIMBABWEAN SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
3.4 BENEFITS OF ZIMBABWEAN SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
3.5 ROLE OF THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR
3.6 FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ZIMBABWEAN SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
3.7 BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES AND SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
3.8 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM
4.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
4.4 RESEARCH DESIGN
4.5 POPULATION
4.6 RESEARCH METHOD
4.7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
4.8 TRAINING RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
4.9 PILOT STUDY
4.10 MAIN STUDY
4.11 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
4.12 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 5 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
5.3 BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES
5.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES
5.5 COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE AND COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
5.6 BENEFITS OF SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
5.7 ROLE OF THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR
5.8 FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES
5.9 DISCUSSION
5.10 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION OF THE RESEARCH
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
6.3 FINDINGS EMANATING FROM THE LITERATURE STUDY
6.4 FINDINGS DERIVED FROM THE EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
6.5 MAIN CONCLUSION OF THE RESEARCH
6.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
6.7 CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY
6.8 RECOMMENDATIONS
6.9 MATTERS REQUIRING FURTHER RESEARCH
6.10 FINAL COMMENTS
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