Introduction
Guidance and counseling was
introduced into Nigerian Educational system in 1959 by some Irish Reverend
sisters at Saint Theresa’s College, Ibadan. At that time, guidance and
counseling was aimed at assisting graduating female students of the college
make a lasting vocational decision that will enable them fit into and
contribute immensely to their immediate society. From there, counseling spread
to another parts of the nation. Formal guidance and counseling was born in the
then old Anambra State Education system (from where Enugu State was born) in
1976 when Mrs. Felicia N. Nwafor, the then coordinator of guidance and
counseling unit of the ministry of Education, Enugu organized a one-day seminar
for teachers in the different zonal headquarters to enlighten them on what
guidance and counseling is all about. This led to the implementation of the
section of the national policy counseling in the state.
To this end, the first set
of career teacher guidance counselors were appointed in secondary schools. In
primary schools, the first set of professional counselors were posted in 1997
to institute guidance and counseling services in the various schools. It is
therefore, pertinent at this juncture to define guidance and counseling and the
services it offers to enhance the tone of the school.
Shertzer and stone (1976) se
guidance as a process of helping individuals to understand themselves and their
world. This means that guidance is a continuous assistance centered on
individuals for them to discover their strengths and weaknesses in order to
achieve life long goals that are beneficial not just to themselves but to the
society in general. Guidance is therefore the process of helping individuals to
understand themselves and their world. It is assumed that individuals who
understand themselves and their world will become more effective, more
productive and happier human beings.
They will better manage
their lives and become more purposeful about who individuals achieve greater
awareness not just only of whom they are but o whom they can become.
Counseling has been used on
the other hand to denote a wide range of procedures including giving
encouragement, information giving test interpretation.
Lewis (1970) on the other hand,
defined counseling as a process by which a troubled persons (the children) are
helped to feel and behave in more personal satisfying manner through
interaction with (the counselor) who provides information and reaction, which
stimulates the client to develop behaviours, which enables him to deal more
effectively with himself and environment.
For Dustin and George (1973),
counseling is a learning process produced to increase adaptive behaviours and
decrease maladaptive behaviours. Shetzer and Stone (1976) sees counseling as a
learning process in which individuals learn about themselves, their
interpersonal relations and behaviours that advance their personal development.
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