INFLUENCE OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING IN ENHANCING SELF ESTEEM OF CLASS 7 AND 8 LEARNERS WITH BEHAVIOR AND EMOTIONAL DIFFICULTIES IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NAKURU SUB COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Guidance and counselling has been encouraged in public primary schools in Kenya with the aim of assisting pupils to cope up with the challenges they encounter in school. Despite its extensive use, its influence on self-esteem of learners with emotional and behavioral difficulties in public primary schools has not been established. Therefore the study sought to establish the influence of guidance and counselling on self-esteem of class 7 and 8 learners with behavior and emotional difficulties in public schools in Nakuru Sub-County. Specifically the study sought to examine the influence of individual counseling, group counselling and peer counselling on self-esteem of class 7 and 8 learners with behavior and emotional difficulties in public schools in Nakuru Sub-County. The target population for the study was learners with emotional and behavioral difficulties, head teachers and teacher counselors in public schools in Nakuru Sub-County. According to sub-county director of education there are 677 guidance and counseling teachers and 610 head teachers. According to EARC in Nakuru there are 291 learners with emotional and behavioral difficulties in Nakuru Sub County. Stratified sampling and purposive sampling was used to select schools and learners involved in the study. The different zones acted as strata. This method was used because of the difference in the number of schools per zones. Purposive sampling was used in the stratus to pick school with guidance and counseling teachers. Purposive sampling was used to pick learners with emotional and behavior difficulties for the study. The researcher used 20% of the target population therefore the sample size of G&C teachers was 123, the sample size of head teachers was 123 and the sample size of learners was 58. The study collected primary data using questionnaires, and interview schedules. Questionnaires were used to collect data from learners with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Interview schedule was used to collect data from guidance and counseling teachers. Reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach alpha index. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regressions were used. Data was presented in tables. The findings indicated there is a positive relationship between peer counselling and self-esteem of learners with emotional and behavioral difficulties in primary schools in Nakuru Sub-County (r=0.217; p=0.008). The researcher also found out that there is a positive relationship between individual counselling and self-esteem of learners with emotional and behavioural difficulties (r =0.307 p=0.05). The findings also revealed that there is a positive relationship between group counselling and self esteem of learners with emotional and behavioural difficulties in public primary schools in Nakuru Sub-County (r=0.393, p=0.0023). Based on the findings the study concluded that self-esteem of learners with emotional and behavioral difficulties in public primary schools in Nakuru sub County was generally low. The study further concludes that to some extent individual counselling led to behaviour change in learners with emotional and behavioural difficulties thus enhancing their self-esteem. From the conclusion the researcher recommended that there is need for training more teacher counsellors on a variety of difficulties to help meet the self-esteem needs of learners with emotional and behavioural difficulties.