Knowledge of guidance coordinators’ roles and perception of guidance committees: A case study of staff of secondary schools in the central region of Ghana

Abstract

Provision of effective guidance services requires the support of every  stakeholder, especially, the classroom teachers. Teachers serve as the major link between students and school counsellors while head teachers  remain the key stakeholders in providing resource support and motivation for effective provision of guidance services. The study sought to ascertain  teachers’ and heads’ understanding of the Guidance Coordinators’ roles in Senior High Schools in four (4) districts in the Central region of Ghana and their perceptions of School Guidance Committees. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) teachers and twenty-nine (29) Head Teachers were  selected from twelve (12) schools for the study. Purposive and simple  random sampling techniques were used to select the sample while  frequency tables, percentages and measures of central tendency were employed to analyze the collected data. The study revealed that members of staff are very conversant with accepted roles of the Guidance  Coordinators but they have negative perceptions of School Guidance  Committees. Following this finding, it was recommended that School Head
Teachers and Guidance Coordinators should motivate teachers in their  guidance duties while the Ghana Education Service, the District Assemblies and Regional Guidance Coordinators among others, should increase their monitoring and supervision of guidance activities in schools.

Keywords: Staff, School Guidance Services, School Guidance Coordinators Roles, Guidance Committees