IMPLEMENTATION OF STUDENT PERSONNEL SERVICES IN FEDERAL AND STATE COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA.

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ABSTRACT

The primary aim of this research was to investigate the implementation of student personnel services in federal and state colleges of education in south –eastern Nigeria. Student personnel services are regarded very important as they aid in the all round development of the students, thus, enabling them to achieve their objectives and those of their institutions. Student personnel services embrace all those services to students that supplement regular instruction. As part and parcel of school administration, it is seen as a critical function to the effective operation of any school. This informed the present study on implementation of student personnel services in federal and state colleges of education in south-east Nigeria. The purpose was to ascertain the extent of implementation of these student services in federal and state colleges of education in south-east Nigeria. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated for the study. A 51 – items questionnaire was developed and administered to 770 respondents, comprising of 330 staff and students of federal and 440 staff and students of state colleges of education. A non-proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 10 senior staff of student affairs department and 100 final year students from each of the seven federal and state colleges of education in the geopolitical zone. Mean score was used to answer the research questions, while t-test statistics was employed in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the student personnel services studied was available, but inadequate and are of poor quality. Constraints to the effective implementation include: poor funding of education sector, poor maintenance culture, inadequate attention to communication between students and management, careless use of facilities by students, mismanagement of funds by college authorities, poorly executed projects, among others. There are measures to be adopted for improvement, they include: the government giving special grants to colleges for hostels, involving the private sector in the provision of student personnel services, school authority completing all abandoned projects, students admission being guided by existing student personnel services,  financial assistance to students, supervision of  students affairs personnel more effectively etc. Based on the findings, the educational implications were drawn and the following recommendations, among others, were made. School authority should organize seminars, orientations and talks on how to manage the student personnel services. Funds should be judiciously used by the college administration. Private sector should be encouraged to assist in the provision of these services. The education sector should be adequately funded and admission exercises should be guided by the available student personnel service.

   

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

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The teaching and research functions of higher educational institutions play a very important role in national development, especially in the development of high-level manpower. However, in most cases, the societal expectations in terms of goals are hardly met and part of the explanation is linked to the absence of adequate and conducive environment for effective learning. To achieve this objective, adequate provision of certain services to students should be fostered for effective teaching and learning process. Among these are the student-personnel services. Student personnel services  in this context, refers to all the non-academic services  rendered to the students at the schools setting outside the formal classroom instruction, for the purpose of healthy, physical, emotional, social and moral development as part of their preparation for a responsible and productive adult life. These services are complementary to the academic programme in making a holistic and balanced education of the students. While the task of intellectual and skill development can be accomplished through curriculum planning and implementation, the task of developing responsible attitudes and morals can only be achieved through the provision and administration of student personnel services.

Although student personnel services has received very little attention in professional literature and social administration, Duffy in Ejionume (2010), Swartz, Russel Hunt and Reilly in Ogbuji (2009), observe that it is an administrative task areas that is critical to the effective operation of any school system. This assertion is also affirmed by Ndu, Ocho and Okeke (1997) when they stress that in addition to curriculum implementation, school administrators have a duty to provide adequate student personnel services in their respective schools as both services are complementary to each other. Consequently, a major concern of any educational institution, colleges of education inclusive, should be the commitment to implement specified student personnel services. These services enhance the achievement of institutional objectives. The absence of these creates situations that constitute obstacles to the achievement of goals and objectives of educational institutions, the level not-withstanding. Some goals of education as spelt out by Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in the National Policy on Education demand services that are beyond classroom instruction for their actualization. An example of such goal is the inculcation of national values (P.8). The values include respect for the worth and dignity of the individual, faith in man’s ability to make national decisions, moral and spiritual principle in interpersonal and human relations and promotion of the physical, emotional and psychological development of all children.

It is in realization of the symbiotic role of the curricular and co-curricular services in the realization of educational objectives in tertiary institutions, that the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2002) in the National Minimum Standard prescribes mandatory student personnel services that school administration should make available to students that which goes along with the curricular offerings. Service that come under student personnel services are many and varied. They include admission exercises, orientation, accommodation, medical services, library services, student academic records, guidance and counselling, financial aid, municipal services, security services, co-curricular activities. Also,  included are adequate classroom blocks, information materials, sports facilities, maintenance of roads and teaching facilities.

Colleges of education contribute a lot to educational system, but students constitute not only the largest input, but, also the reason and the main focus for all the other inputs. All outputs are judged by the quality of graduates from these institutions and all processing activities are centred on the students. For effective teaching and learning, there should be adequate provision, proper implementation of student personnel services and supervision of certain services for the students in order to achieve the objectives of these institutions.

Mgbodile (2003) has identified the objectives of student personnel services to include the making of students think effectively, helping them to communicate their thoughts clearly, enabling the students develop relevant skills in judgement and decision making. Others are to help them play their part as useful members of their homes and families, making the pupils understand basic facts about health and sanitation, helping students to appreciate their roles as citizens of Nigeria and the development of good moral principles as well as the appreciation of their cultural heritage and dignity of labour.

Student personnel services, according to Ozigi in Kalu (2000), are those non-academic duties concerned with pupil’s welfare in a school setting. These services include all the activities of the headmaster/principal and teachers and other staff members geared towards making the students better citizens of the society in which they live (Mgbodile, 1986). Student personnel services according to Ezeocha (1992), is seen as involving all the activities and services that are rendered to the students for the achievement of the educational objectives which are not the normal classroom instruction. Student personnel services have also been defined as those special classroom supporting services outside the curricular offerings that impinge upon the maturation of the self of the students (Okeke, 2002). Student personnel services refer to those school services that supplement and support the instructional programme of a school (Ejionueme 2010).

Akilaiya (2001:28) defines student personnel administration as an attempt to cater for the welfare of pupils with a view of helping them to build a solid future while maximizing their educational pursuit and at the time promoting personal and institutional prestige within and without the educational sphere. According to Ajayi (1992), child personnel services is that total educational programmes of an institution which aid in proving personnel services, is that total educational programmes of an institution which aid in proving personal opportunities and specialized services through each pupil within the school system can develop to the fullest of his potentials and capacities in terms of the democratic ideals.

Uwazuruike (2001):95) classified personnel functions into two mutually interrelating parts, namely; the managerial and operative functions, while the former is concerned with planning, organizing, directing and controlling of personnel generally, the later is specifically concerned with the processes of selection, admission, regulation, enrolment, classification, pedagogical instruction, evaluation, examination, certification and graduation as well as the provision of recreational services and maintenance of discipline.

Also, Njoku (2000) reiterating the rational behind child-education, maintains that pupils must come first because they are the ones to be educated and without them, the teachers will not be employed, neither would communities and various levels of government established institutions of higher learning. This implies that the ultimate goal of any educational system is the fullest growth and development of pupils’ cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain. 

Student Personnel  Services  improve the  intellectual,  social,  emotional,  cultural and physical development  of the individual. Such personnel services as  orientation,  information,  communication,  student  records, accommodation,  co-    curricular activities are effective tools in guiding and directing students to improve their personal sustenance in the pursuit of their careers. The provision of these services is therefore meant to meet the different aspects of human development and adjustment (Francis, 2002). Student personnel services are typically designed to respond to students’ welfare needs and social interest. Student personnel services also buffer faculty members and academic administrators from demands considered peripheral to the institutions’ academic mission. The provision of student personnel services encourages students to take advantage of learning and personal development opportunities outside the classroom, laboratory and library. The essence of student personnel services is to help students realize their potential and become responsible, and self-directed citizens. Student personnel services aim at training the entire person to enable him or her read, write and calculate, and to enable him/her fit into the society. It also aims at developing and training the total man to enable the individual, on graduation, take his place in the society and contribute to its survival.

The general objectives of student personnel services are to assist students to become effective in their social environment, attain maximum self-realization and to complement the academic programme of the institution. To be specific, student personnel services provide orientation for fresh students to facilitate adjustment to college life; perform individual and group counselling; provide assistance to students on finance, food and housing; provide variety of co-curricular activities; perform testing and inventory to help towards self-knowledge and self-realization; provide placement and follow-up services; approve and monitor activities of student organizations; implement student rules and regulations and recommend appropriate disciplinary action to the school authorities (Francis, 2002). Student personnel services enable students to develop love for school, participate in school activities and stimulate regularity and punctuality in school attendance (Anukam, 2001).