This document discusses the role of principals in guidance and counseling in Kenyan schools. It argues that principals should take on a broader leadership role beyond just administration and management. This includes using counseling skills to better communicate with students, teachers, and parents to understand issues like academic performance, relationships, mental health, and more. The document outlines counseling skills like empathy, active listening, and questioning that principals can employ. It also discusses establishing counseling programs in schools and the importance of confidentiality and ethics for counselors to help students seek needed support.
Principals' use of counselling skills dr geoffrey wango
1. GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING
IN SCHOOLS IN KENYA
PRINCIPALS’ USE OF COUNSELLING
SKILLS
Dr. Geoffrey WangoDr. Geoffrey Wango
Psychology DepartmentPsychology Department
University of NairobiUniversity of Nairobi
4. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
PAPER OUTLINE
∗ Preamble
∗ The Principal in the School
∗ School Issue: Pupils and Student Needs
∗ Rationale for Guidance and Counselling
∗ Counselling and Use of Counselling Skills
∗ The Counsellor in the School
∗ Counselling Role
∗ Aspects of Counselling: Confidentiality, Code of
Conduct and Ethics
∗ Conclusion
5. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Areas of Offering Help in
Counselling Psychology
- Educational Counselling // School Counselling
// Educational Guidance and Counselling
- Marriage and Family Therapy // Family
Therapy
- Clinical Counselling
- Pastoral Care // Pastoral Counselling
- Child and // Adolescence Counselling
- Palliative Care
- Community, Health and Rehabilitation
Counselling
6. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Areas of Offering Help
We can merge and come up with a few features to
avoid overcrowding :
(1)Educational Counselling // School Counselling
(2)Marriage and Family Therapy // Family Therapy
(3)Child and Adolescence Counselling // Child and
Adolescent Counselling // Child and Adolescence
Therapy // Counselling Children and Young People
// Children and Youth
(4)Trauma and Disaster // Crisis Counselling
(5)Drug Addiction and Rehabilitation Counselling
7. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
The Principal in the School
School effectiveness through effective school leadership
must go beyond administration and management to bring
about desirable positive changes.
Principals as school leaders must offer more than the
traditional role of school administration and management
thus shape the organizational conditions for successful
and sustained implementation of school programmes and
incorporate best practices
These include: collaborative networks and alliances,
providing directions, consulting widely with heads of
departments and staff, empowering and mobilising others.
8. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
The Principal in the School
Principals must understand the complexities of education
and schooling and ultimately translate strategy into the
school through shared vision evident in strategic planning.
Strategic planning includes enhanced communication that
can be enhanced through use of counselling skills.
This includes astute management of school resources to
incorporate all programmes such as guidance and
counselling.
This is because part of the effectiveness of the counselling
programme is to amass the synergy among teaching and
support staff, parents and students
Principal involvement is quite essential.
9. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
School Issues: Pupils’ and
Students’ Needs
Child or student counselling is a process in which the
counsellor attempts to understand and helps to clarify
those feelings in a child or student that may, and can
impede growth, maturation, and overall well-being.
Counselling in the school deals with sensitive issues in
the lives of a pupil or student, families and members of
teaching and support staff.
Issues include: academic performance, career, love
relationships, depression (mood, suicidal attempts),
alcohol and drug abuse, sexual activity, parent-child
relationships, illness (HIV and AIDS, cancer), emotional
disturbance, trauma and self injurious behaviours.
10. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Rationale for Guidance and
Counselling
Pupils and students in school face various challenges
These include: academic demands to perform well, peer
pressure, finances, attempts to identify one-self
including self-esteem and maintaining personal
relationship with peers, teachers, parents and other
siblings.
Difficulties especially in the school tender years can
have profound effects on child experience and may
affect academic performance, emotional development,
ability to progress, decision to remain in school, personal
relations and other effects such as taking tobacco,
alcohol and other drugs.
11. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Rationale for Guidance and
Counselling
Guidance – guide, direct, counsel, Professional to ..
Counselling – process, skills and techniques, theoretical
framework
Psychology – study of the human mind and behaviour
Guidance and counselling – embraces concept of
guiding and counselling pupils and students
Guidance and counselling: individual and group
(individual guidance, group guidance; individual
counselling, group counselling)
Teacher counsellor, counsellor in the school, chaplain –
personnel who provide and coordinate guidance and
counselling services including spiritualism
12. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and Use of
Counselling Skills
-There is a distinction between formal counselling and
use of counselling skills
-Counselling is a process in which a practitioner with
knowledge and skills is involved in a formal
relationship of assisting a client who is in situational
difficulty.
-Counselling skills are a collection of techniques and
strategies that are used to enhance communication in
the counselling process and relationship, and these
skills can greatly be extended in other contexts.
13. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and Use of
Counselling SkillsCore conditions - Empathy
- Genuineness
- Unconditional positive regard
Attending skills - Listening
- Silence
- Observation
Facilitating or responding skills - Minimal prompts
- Paraphrasing
- Reflection of feeling
- Questioning
Challenging and confrontation
skills
- Summarising
- Focusing
- Clarification
- Concreteness
- Confrontation
- Self disclosure
- Disengagement / termination
14. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and Use of Counselling
Skills: Principal Needs to ‘put away’
the Table Gap
15. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and Use of Counselling
Skills: Principal Needs to ‘put away’
the Table Gap
16. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and Use of
Counselling Skills
-Pupils and students are likely to share their concerns
including fears, frustrations, disappointments, anxieties
and worries with a person they can easily identify with
including the teacher and of course the school principal.
-The principal may need to find out why a student is
performing poorly or is accused of misconduct only to
find that they are providing emotional support.
-Similarly, the extension of using counselling skills
among the population increases the number of people in
the population receiving necessary help in times of need
(Kirkwood, 2000; McLeod, 2003).
17. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and Use of
Counselling Skills
-This includes para-professionals such as in health,
social workers and other professionals.
- It should be noted that the study carried out by
Kirkwood (2000) was in a community where
counselling had been recently introduced and hence
the school context and Kenya are significant.
-Use of counselling skills includes professionalism and
use of counselling ethics including confidentiality
-This is why training in counselling is a major
component for professional competence and enhanced
performance.
18. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
The Counsellor in the
School
•Individual counselling. Counsellor works privately with individual
student usually on one or more aspects such as problem solving,
decision making, career aspirations and discovering personal
meaning related to learning and development.
•Group guidance. Counsellor works with larger groups of students or
classes on academic, career or life skills promotion.
•Group counselling. Counsellor works with a small group of students
on personal or academic issues.
•Consultation. Counsellor assists peer counsellors, teachers, support
staff, parents, chaplain and other adults become more effective at
working with students.
•Coordination. Counsellor manages services such as parent or
community meetings. The meetings indirectly address the
counselling needs of diverse students.
19. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and a Code of
Professional Ethics
Counselling is a profession guided by a Code of ethics
Counselling is confidential and must safeguard all
information obtained in the counselling relationship.
The counsellors must walk the tightrope between
being a counsellor or a school informer and the
implications are obvious; students will trust a
counsellor but will certainly stay away from the
school informer.
It is the assurance of confidentiality that generates the
trust necessary for communication between the
student and the counsellor.
20. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and a Code of
Professional Ethics
The codes of ethics for counsellors recognize FOUR
clear exceptions to strict confidentiality:
(a)Student freely waives the right of confidentiality;
(b)Disclosure of confidences is required by statute or
court order;
(c)Student condition indicates clear and imminent
danger to self or others; and,
(d)It is necessary for the counsellor to consult with
other professionals about the student’s case.
21. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Counselling and a Code of
Professional Ethics
In the absence of these exceptions, counsellors
are legally justified and ethically required to
withhold information in confidences even from
inquiring parents, principal or other teachers.
It is therefore important that the counsellor in the
school while working closely with the principal
are well acquainted with the general guidelines
and make their own decision based on set
procedures and adhere to professional ethics.
22. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Conclusion
-Various policy documents have recommended a
coherent guidance and counselling programme
-The delivery of quality whole school approach to
all pupils and students in schools must involves all
stakeholders, including the school management,
principals, regular teachers, and the school
counsellor.
-Counsellors and chaplains are validated for their
services but must also be curtailed in providing
quality services to pupils and students.
23. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Conclusion
-There must be policy change to school
management, particularly guidance and
counselling in schools with greater commitment of
the government, school management and teachers
to support various additional endeavours.
-This paper outlined suggestions that may impact
on provision of guidance and counselling services
through enhanced skills among principals in use of
counselling skills.
24. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
References
Several references have been included in
the main paper. They include policy
documents on guidance and counselling
particularly in Kenya.
25. Dr. Geoffrey Wango, Psychology Dept. University of Nairobi
Dr. Geoffrey Wango
Senior Lecturer
Psychology Department
Faculty of Arts
University of Nairobi
Tel. +254 726 056489
Email.gwango@uonbi.ac.ke
gmwango2000@yahoo.com
Editor's Notes
Dr. Geoffrey Wango is a Senior Lecturer and teaches counselling and psychology at the University of Nairobi. Email. [email_address]. Dr. Wango has authored several publications on Counselling, Education and Gender including: Counselling in the School: A Handbook for Teachers (Wango and Mungai, 2007); School Administration and Management: Quality Assurance and Standards in Schools (Wango, 2009); School Finance Management: Fiscal Management to Enhance Governance and Accountability (Wango and Gatere, 2012) and Counselling Psychology in Kenya: A Contemporary Review of the Developing World (Wango, 2015).
Dr. Geoffrey Wango is a Senior Lecturer and teaches counselling and psychology at the University of Nairobi. Email. [email_address]. Dr. Wango has authored several publications on Counselling, Education and Gender including: Counselling in the School: A Handbook for Teachers (Wango and Mungai, 2007); School Administration and Management: Quality Assurance and Standards in Schools (Wango, 2009); School Finance Management: Fiscal Management to Enhance Governance and Accountability (Wango and Gatere, 2012) and Counselling Psychology in Kenya: A Contemporary Review of the Developing World (Wango, 2015).
Kenya’s education system majorly attracted attention after the introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 when over 1.2 million children who would otherwise not have accessed school enrolled in class one. In the developing world, education is a universal equaliser; it is seen as the key to ending abject poverty and children will burn the midnight oil to attain good grades and pursue higher education. Parents will sacrifice all they have to ensure the child is in school. Discipline and hard work will be emphasized.
The stakes are high in education and schools for children (pupils and students) and parents alike as they aspire for a more equal and equitable society. The need to understand and address the emotional and other concerns of the growing child in school emerged early after independence and as educational institutions revised the earlier curriculum that was racially based. As a result, psychology and educational psychology became part of courses in teacher training and at universities.
The Ministry of Education implementation of guidance and counselling services and programmes in educational institutions has been based on recommendations contained in various Education Commission Reports and Government Policy documents (Republic of Kenya, 1964; 1976; 1988; 1999; 2005a,; 2005b; 2009; 2012, 2013). For example, Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 provided for strengthening of Guidance and Counselling services in learning institutions. The government policy states that every school should have a teacher appointed for the purpose of guidance and counselling of pupils / students.
The school guidance and counselling programme will be more specific and direct help to pupils and students in specific areas. These include: personal, social, educational, career, growth and development.
The school guidance and counselling programme is an essential support tool for the education system. Counselling assists schools and teachers manage an increasing number of children with counselling needs that include academic and personal issues such as grief, loss and suicide, as well as the management of behavioural problems. Under the Basic Education Act (Republic of Kenya, 2013), one of the functions of the School Board of Management (BOM) is to facilitate and ensure the provision of guidance and counselling to all learners in schools. Similarly, County Education Boards are expected to provide child guidance services.
The school guidance and counselling programme is an essential support tool for the education system. Counselling assists schools and teachers manage an increasing number of children with counselling needs that include academic and personal issues such as grief, loss and suicide, as well as the management of behavioural problems. Under the Basic Education Act (Republic of Kenya, 2013), one of the functions of the School Board of Management (BOM) is to facilitate and ensure the provision of guidance and counselling to all learners in schools. Similarly, County Education Boards are expected to provide child guidance services.
Guidance and counselling is a central aspect of the whole development process. All the activities and services of the school guidance and counselling programme leads to, and help in the child growth and development. A ccomprehensive school counselling model should incorporate a framework for school counselling programmes including pre-service and in-service training. Training will include: national standards, professional ethics, management and administrative responsibilities and must be an interface between professional competency and practice.