COUNSELLING SKILLS AND STRATEGIES FOR CURBING ACADEMIC FAILURE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KWARA STATE

Ibrahim Barakat Ph.D & Ramat Garba O

Abstract

This study investigated counselling skills and strategies for curbing academic failure among secondary school students in Kwara State. All the secondary school professional guidance counsellors in Kwara state constituted the population of this study.   A total of 210 professional counsellors were randomly selected from both private and public secondary schools across the three geo-political zones in Kwara State.  A self-constructed questionnaire structured in Likert format was the instrument used to obtain information from the respondents.  The data collected were analyzed using mean and ranked order.  The findings revealed that causal factors of academic failure include: lack of desired goal, excessive non-scholastic activities, poor study habit among others. The skills adopted in assisting the students include: active listening to student’s problems, empathic understanding of student’s situation, confrontation where necessary among others. The counselling intervention strategies that counsellors needed to prevent academic failure among the students includes: behavioural modification, indirect and crises intervention counselling. It was recommended among others that counsellors should assist their students in setting measurable and achievable goals for themselves from the beginning of academic session to enable them have a work blue print among others.