Guidance-Counselling Strategies and Conformity with Code of Conduct in Secondary Schools in Gulu Municipality, Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate that guidance and counselling strategies play a central role in school efforts to improve learners’ levels of conformity with the code of conduct. A cross sectional parallel sample survey design was used. A total of 366 respondents comprising of 226 teachers and 140 prefects, in secondary schools in Gulu Municipality, selected through simple random and expert sampling were studied. Two pre-tested and validated questionnaires were used to collect the data. Three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested using descriptive statistics and Chi square tests. The study revealed that individual guidance and counselling strategy was commonly used and that learners’ level of conformity with the code of conduct is moderate. The results further revealed that learners’ level of conformity with the code of conduct does not significantly depend on the guidance and counselling strategy used. Based on these findings, the researchers recommend that school administrators should adopt the use of both individual and group counselling strategies and that Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) should conduct in-service training for all teachers on techniques of guidance and counselling. The study proposes areas for further research including investigating the effectiveness of guidance and counselling services, and the moderating effects of sex, qualification, experience, and school resources on the relationship between the variables.