INDISPENSABILITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING AS PREDICTOR OF SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS IN PUBLIC UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MWANZA REGION.

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the indispensability of psychological counselling services as a predictor of school effectiveness in public upper secondary schools in Mwanza Region in Tanzania. The study was informed by a need to establish the impact of counselling services on students’ behavior, academic achievement, and school effectiveness. A mixed-methods convergent parallel design study was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.  The population of the study comprised 1076 from three districts of Mwanza region with the Sample size of 36 including students, heads of school, school teacher counsellors and educational officers. The instruments validated through piloting study. Quantitative data from students collected through questionnaires named Psychological Counselling (PCQ) and School Effectiveness (SEQ), Interviews on Psychological Counselling (IPC) and Interview on School Effectiveness (ISE)utilized to gather qualitative information from Teachers and Educational Officers, Quantitative  data was  analyzed through SPPS Version 27 it generated descriptive statistics and reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ranging from 0.93 that indicated excellent. Qualitative data analyzed through thematic and narrative analysis. The results showed that psychological counseling services have an essential impact on enhancing students’ academic performance, emotional well-being, and behavior. A substantial number of students reported the positive impact of counseling services on enhancing students’ academic performance. It was also noted that counseling services have an impact on key areas like mental health problems, peer pressures, self-understanding, and career counseling, among others. These areas are vital in enhancing school performance. However, the study noted areas of unawareness of counseling services among the students. The study establishes that psychological counselling services are indispensable in promoting school effectiveness, although their effectiveness can be impeded by weak implementation and resource limitation. The study recommends improving counselling programs, increasing awareness, training professional counselors, and improving resource allocation to enhance the effectiveness of advanced secondary schools in the public sector.