In Uganda, students face difficulty during career transition between different levels of education and employment despite government policies about implementation of career guidance and counselling services. Little has been documented about students’ levels of awareness, utilisation and extent of implementation of career guidance and counselling services within secondary schools in Uganda.
This study aims at documenting students’ level of awareness and utilisation career guidance and counselling services, and how these services were being implemented in secondary schools in Uganda.
Cross-sectional survey was conducted using mixed methods in secondary schools in South Western Uganda. A total of 161 students in final year of secondary education (senior six) and 35 teachers across four schools met inclusion criteria and consented to participate in the study. Standardised questionnaires as primary tools of data collection were used. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS (Version 23) and content analysis for qualitative data.
Majority of students (98.8%) revealed high awareness about existence of career guidance and counselling services, while 87.0% reported utilising the services. Implementation of career guidance and counselling in schools was demonstrated by type of programmes, information sources, models, timing and information structure by class level. However, challenges to implementation were sited, namely student, teachers, administrators, parents and policy factors.
Career guidance and counselling services were available and used in secondary schools. However, implementation was affected by functional and structural challenges that affected the quality of career counselling information and required alignment to national development goals.
The efficacy of career guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Uganda was documented in this article.
In Uganda, formal implementation of career guidance and counselling services in secondary school was established since 2008 through Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES). Its goal was to oversee creation of guidance and counselling departments in schools, printing and distribution of materials, capacity building of career masters and monitoring and evaluation of the services (Otwine, Oonyu, & Kiweewa,
Students’ ability to transition from education cycle to employment has not been smooth in Uganda. The main challenges the youth faced that are highlighted by Wamajji et al. (
Despite this finding, secondary schools still face challenges during implementation of career guidance and counselling programmes. These include high student-to-teacher ratio estimated to be 3500:1 (Otwine et al.,
Despite the existence of career guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Uganda, documentary evidence shows that human capital development has remained low because of high youth unemployment, limited career information and lack of career resilience among employees (Republic of Uganda,
To establish the level of students’ awareness of career guidance and counselling services among secondary schools in Uganda.
To evaluate students’ level of utilisation of career guidance and counselling services.
To assess the levels of implementation of career guidance and counselling services in secondary schools in Uganda.
To establish challenges faced during implementation of career guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Uganda.
What are the levels of students’ awareness about the existence of career guidance and counselling services in secondary schools in Uganda?
To what extent were students utilising career guidance and counselling services in secondary schools?
How are secondary schools implementing career guidance and counselling services?
What are the challenges experienced by secondary schools during implementation of career guidance and counselling services?
A cross sectional survey design was conducted, in which data was collected using a mixed methods approach. The survey took place among secondary schools in Ankole sub-region of South Western Uganda. Quantitative method was used to gather students’ views while qualitative method was used on teachers in order to capture their in-depth views about the study problem (Creswell,
After obtaining ethical clearance from Makerere University Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, the authors proceeded to Uganda National Council of Science and Technology for clearance. In addition, permission from the head teachers was obtained to allow researchers to conduct the study in the respective schools; and also seek assent to enroll students below 18 years into the study. However, individual consent was obtained from teachers and students above 18 years each of whom signed a consent form.
The authors used questionnaires that were developed based on literature as primary tools of data collection. Questionnaires were validated using test and retest procedures and triangulation of data. The main areas tested included students’ awareness about existence and utilisation of career guidance and counselling services, areas of implementation and challenges faced. Student questionnaires were close ended and designed on Likert scale whereby 3 was (agree), 2 (neutral) and 1 (disagree). However, open-ended questions were included at the end of each set of test items to capture students’ in-depth views that could not be captured in the questionnaire. The questionnaire administered to the teachers was open ended and focused on specific information about awareness, nature of information by class level and challenges faced. After cleaning, quantitative data were entered into SPSS (version 23.0) for analysis, while qualitative data were analysed manually to create themes. Conclusion and recommendation were made based on study results.
Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology (UNCST). (No. SS-4734).
A total of 161 students, and 35 teachers were enrolled into this study across the four schools. Students were further distributed by schools as follows: 2 boys boarding schools
Students’ level of awareness about existence and utilisation of career guidance and counselling in schools was tested using two direct questions to which they responded either, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Findings revealed that 98.8% of students reported high levels of awareness about existence of career guidance and counselling services in their schools. Students who had utilised career guidance and counselling services were 87.0%. All participating teachers confirmed the existence and use of counselling services by students.
The results from this study revealed the following as the most common career guidance and counselling programmes: general special career days 82.0%, regular class meetings 78.9%, career class days 74.5% and continuous individual and group counselling 57.1%. In addition, participants reported that the main sources of career guidance and counselling information were interaction with professionals 88.2%, academic progressive tests 75.8% media 65.2%, parents, teachers and peers 64.4%, occupational information materials 64.0% and industrial visits 47.8%. It was further established that group counselling was the main modality 64.6% relative to individual counselling 39.1%, while guidance and counselling services were mostly implemented at the beginning 63.4% and end school term 60.2%.
Career guidance and counselling programmes, sources of information, models and timing.
Variable | Agree |
Neutral |
Disagree |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | % | % | ||||
General special career days | 132 | 82.0 | 14 | 8.7 | 15 | 9.3 |
Career class days | 120 | 74.5 | 21 | 13.0 | 20 | 12.5 |
Regular class meetings | 127 | 78.9 | 17 | 10.6 | 17 | 10.6 |
Continuous individual and group counselling | 92 | 57.1 | 32 | 19.9 | 37 | 23.0 |
Academic progressive tests | 122 | 75.8 | 14 | 8.7 | 25 | 15.3 |
Occupational information materials | 103 | 64.0 | 22 | 13.7 | 36 | 22.3 |
Interaction with professionals | 142 | 88.2 | 10 | 6.2 | 9 | 5.6 |
Industrial visits | 77 | 47.8 | 29 | 18.0 | 55 | 34.2 |
Media | 105 | 65.2 | 42 | 26.1 | 14 | 8.7 |
Parents, teachers and peers | 104 | 64.6 | 15 | 9.4 | 42 | 26.1 |
Group counselling | 104 | 64.6 | 43 | 26.7 | 14 | 8.7 |
Individual counselling | 63 | 39.1 | 53 | 32.9 | 45 | 28.0 |
Beginning of term | 102 | 63.4 | 17 | 10.6 | 42 | 26.1 |
End of term | 97 | 60.2 | 19 | 11.8 | 45 | 28.0 |
Information about nature and category of information presented to students at different class levels was examined by capturing teachers’ views. In general, results revealed that students received guidance and counselling information at different class levels and justification was given for each category.
Class category, nature of information and justification.
Class category | Nature of information |
Justification | |
---|---|---|---|
Theme | Content | ||
Senior one | Orientation | Orientation to curriculum, school environment and routine Information about physiological changes and psychosocial support |
‘Students are introduced to guidance and counselling at this stage to assist them adjust to new school life after primary education to promote their social adjustment and career development’ (Career master). |
Senior two | Psychosocial support | Educational excellence and school subjects’ choice Physiological changes and life skills |
‘Career guidance is more emphasised because students are at a stage of narrowing subjects of study and are getting the feel of directing their career choices’ (Subject teacher). |
Senior three | Educational excellence | Career information, educational exploration and career decision making Subject choice and educational excellence |
‘Besides career guidance and counselling, students are supported psychosocially to uphold positive social, health, interpersonal relationships; and also maintain personal study techniques, and academic excellence’ (School counsellor). |
Senior four | Educational excellence and career planning | Academic excellence and study techniques Career goal setting Psychosocial support |
‘Career guidance and counselling are intensified at this stage to assist students to score good grades to enable students to get subject combinations at A’ level school’ (Director of studies). |
Senior five | Orientation | Orientation to A’ level subject combinations Psychosocial support and life skills Academic excellence |
‘Senior five career guidance and counselling become more emphasised because students at this stage have entered A’ level stage of education and they are required to select subject combinations which will lead them to their career paths’ (Head teacher). |
Senior six | Career planning | Career planning Academic excellence School to work transition |
‘At senior six, career guidance offered is aimed at preparing students for tertiary education mainly for university and college entrance’ (Career master). |
The authors also sought to capture participants’ perspectives on challenges experienced during the implementation of career guidance and counselling.
In general, 82.6% identified students’ poor attitude and lack of cooperation as the main challenge, while 75.8% pointed to lack of time for related activities. Furthermore, 63.4% identified limited information about training and school to work opportunities as a problem and 62.1% observed a lack of awareness about the relationship between career self-awareness and academic achievement.
Students’ responses about challenges faced during the implementation of career guidance and counselling services.
Variable | Agree |
Neutral |
Disagree |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | % | % | ||||
Lack of information about training and school to work opportunities | 102 | 63.4 | 20 | 12.4 | 39 | 24.3 |
Lack of awareness about relationship between career self-awareness and academic achievement | 100 | 62.1 | 17 | 10.6 | 44 | 27.3 |
Limited time set aside for career guidance in schools | 122 | 75.8 | 17 | 10.6 | 22 | 13.7 |
Students’ poor attitude and cooperation | 133 | 82.6 | 13 | 8.1 | 15 | 9.3 |
Views from teachers about challenges faced by schools during implementation of career guidance and counselling.
Variable | Challenges | Justification |
---|---|---|
Student factors | Poor attitude and lack of student cooperation Little access to information on careers Congested school timetable |
‘In my opinion, the problem is that students know the available courses and what they have to do to get them but they have no real-life experience … this makes them confused about the requirements, strength and outcomes of certain career choices’ (Teacher). |
Teacher and/or counsellor factors | Lack of confidence and poor communication about availability of career information Lack of up-to-date career information School and personal demands on time Low motivation |
‘We received these materials from the ministry of education; however, I have never used them during career guidance and counselling … there are many copies in my shelf and library … I did not know that I can use them during career guidance activities’ (teacher). |
‘Arts students should be motivated to love their future careers because most career counsellors usually provide more information about science careers and limited information about arts subjects’ (Teacher). | ||
School administration factors | Limited support from head teachers and other school administrators Poor sensitisation of career guidance and counselling programmes Lack of time Lack of funds Poor policy implementation |
‘Career guidance and counselling should be extended to O’ level … the role of careers and counselling in schools should be given the support it deserves because it plays an important role in the future of every learner. This is rather a neglected sector of secondary school education’ (Teacher). |
‘We face a lot of pressure … beginning and end of term are the only time when teachers and students were relaxed and therefore could provide career guidance and counselling’ (teacher). | ||
Parent involvement factors | Inadequate parental support because of lack of career awareness sensitisation Some parents impose careers choices on their children Poor family economic background Lack of successful career models |
‘Parents and teachers sometimes discourage students about the courses they should pursue especially when it comes to choice between ARTS and SCIENCES’ (Teacher). |
Government policy factors | Low-capacity building among career masters Government policy on student selection and placement Compulsory sciences at lower secondary Lack of sensitisation and supervision of career guidance and counselling in organisations |
‘Ministries of education and sports, ethics and integrity, public service –all the ministries should create such desks to draw programmes to visit schools and show learners career challenges and opportunities’ (School administrator). |
‘Career guidance and counselling is limited to a few schools; it should be rolled out and emphasised in all schools countrywide’ (Teacher). |
This voice was also captured from a student participant:
‘We lack career information materials … if our schools could provide us with electronic information installed on computers, we could read them during our free time to improve our knowledge of careers and their requirements.’ (participant 1, male, senior six)
From results in
The primary purpose of this study was to document awareness, utilisation and implementation of career guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Uganda. The results revealed high level of awareness among students about the existence of career guidance and counselling services in their schools. This finding means that at any one time, students get exposed to career guidance and counselling in their secondary school time. Thus, fulfilling the country’s goal to implement guidance and counselling services in schools to aid students’ career and social development (Government of Uganda,
Furthermore, high rates of utilisation of career guidance and counselling services were found among students, which implied that students were not only informed about the availability of career guidance and counselling services but utilised the services. This may include the number of students attending career guidance and counselling programmes organised by schools, groups and individuals seeking counselling to deal with anxiety related to career indecision, undertaking decisions related to subject combination and career path, course of study in higher education and nature of employment. Dodd (
With regard to implementation of career guidance and counselling services in schools, findings revealed three main ways such information is shared with students, namely general special careers day, careers’ class day and class meetings. Although these programmes were found to be implemented in the schools covered by this study, it shows that in between these programmes, students were engaged in other curricular and non-curricular programmes, which creates a disconnect between what is taught in school and how it may be translated into career information needed to facilitate students’ career decisions. Therefore, this finding identified a gap between the nature of career guidance and counselling in schools and the requirements by education standards in Uganda, which recommends continuous career guidance and counselling for all classes at all times to allow students make sound career choices by the end of their secondary education cycle (Directorate of Education Standards, Uganda,
Again it is established that timing of career guidance and counselling programmes was common during beginning and end of term. This finding was in agreement with previous finding where career guidance and counselling in schools lacked continuous frequency. This was attributed to pressure of competing roles on both teachers and students, which increased their workload. Thus, irregular career guidance and counselling programmes in schools denied students benefits associated with timely and continuous career guidance and counselling such as increased self-awareness, self-confidence, career identity and career maturity as suggested by Hooley and Rice (
It was again established that the main sources of career guidance and counselling information utilised in schools included the following: interaction with professionals from different backgrounds; students’ results from progressive tests; parents, teachers and peers; and other occupational information sources such as scholastic materials, media and industrial visits. However, this finding was contradicted by information in a study by Kizza, Damba and Kasule (
With regard to modality, group counselling was found to be more popular than individual counselling, a finding that makes sense given the limited personnel, time and limited skills among career teachers. In addition, Maree (
Lastly, it was established that schools in this study provided career information to students at different levels of their secondary education. Orientation information was specific to new students in both senior one and senior five to assist them to adjust to new school environment, curriculum and socialisation. This finding was supported in literature by Jonck (
Continuing students in senior two and three received continuous psychosocial support messages that included social adjustment, physiological changes and life skills. This aspect of guidance and counselling was crucial because available reports in Uganda have revealed low student completion rate of 38.4% at lower secondary because of poor outcomes in science subjects, early pregnancy and marriage among females students, delinquency and poverty (UNPA, 2019; UNPA,
In candidate classes, academic excellence and career planning were emphasised to assist students identify programmes within their career paths and devise study mechanisms to excel and pursue their career dreams at higher education. However, Kizza et al. (
Results of this study identified several challenges faced during implementation of career guidance and counselling in schools. Both students and teachers agreed that students had negative attitude, and lacked cooperation during implementation of career guidance and counselling services either due little access to career information and congested school time table. This finding was in agreement with similar studies that highlighted several factors that contributed to poor attitude and lack of cooperation from students, namely low sensitisation, irregular programmes, inadequate information about careers and lack of career models in schools (Chireshe,
Results about challenges associated with teachers revealed that some teachers had limited skills to carry out effective career guidance and counselling among students. This was coupled with limited sources of updated career information and materials and demand on personal time. Save for irregular capacity building for career teachers by MoES, teachers hardly may afford personal career development in career counselling skills. Kabunga (
In addition, school-related factors were identified, which included limited support from head teachers and other school administrators, poor sensitisation of students, teachers, parents, employers and policymakers, limited time and funds allocated to career guidance and counselling services and poor policy implementation because of either delayed or no supervision by staff from MoES. This has kept career guidance and counselling service delivery in schools very low: a phenomenon that could explain why career guidance and counselling remains ineffective on students’ career decisions during their career life transition. Therefore, sensitisation of school administrators about the role of career guidance and counselling in learning is likely to increase its visibility of service delivery and utilisation in both education and employment world.
Besides, parental factors were also identified among the challenges affecting career guidance and counselling service delivery in secondary schools. It was established that parents were not well sensitised about the importance of career guidance and counselling. Some parents forced their children into careers outside their interest and ability, while others lacked information about different occupations because of limited exposure to career information. Poor financial background was also mentioned, which hindered some parents from financing children’s education into good schools and also lacked mentors and models in families to motivate students to pursue careers of their dreams. According to Abe and Chikoko (
Lastly, government policy factors were identified among challenges secondary schools faced that limited effective implementation of career guidance and counselling. They included low-capacity building of teachers in career counselling skills, contradiction on compulsory science subjects and placement of students in science courses, and imbalance between career guidance and counselling coverage in rural and urban schools. Limited supervision of career guidance and counselling programmes in schools was also mentioned among other factors. This finding was in agreement with past studies, which revealed that policy challenges in Uganda were associated with inadequate technical expertise at MoES, low sensitisation, poor funding, lack of full time and trained school counsellors and inadequate training manuals (Kizza et al.,
The tools used to collect data were generated by the researchers and were tested on a small population of 20 students and 10 teachers. Therefore, comprehensive testing of this study tools may yield better and generalisable results in future.
It can be concluded that students had high awareness about availability and utilisation of career guidance and counselling services in their schools of study. And schools employed different strategies to implement career guidance and counselling, although they faced challenges that made its implementation ineffective. These included poor attitude and lack of cooperation from students, low of capacity among teachers and school administrators, poor parental involvement and lack of policy support.
There is need to increase policy support from the department of guidance and counselling in the MoES to all schools in order to improve capacity building of teachers, access to update career guidance and counselling materials, develop curriculum for career guidance and counselling and harmonise policy on compulsory science subjects and space to accommodate students’ career choices on science courses.
Lay strategy for schools to increase collaborations with educational stakeholders including parents, employers, researchers, civil society and development partners to close gaps in service delivery and implementation of existing career guidance and counselling services in secondary schools in Uganda.
Future studies may investigate how such collaborations may be established to link school career guidance and counselling services to national development plans.
The authors would like to acknowledge the following people for the support given to make this publication possible; Milton Tweheyo and Monica Ahabwe who edited the work, and Emmanuel Ahabwe our research assistant.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
A.T.O. is the corresponding author of the original manuscript and contributed to the original research idea, methodology, data collection and analysis, manuscript writing, review and met all the costs of research and publication. L.M. assisted in conceptualisation, methodology, data analysis, manuscript writing and editing. L.M. was also a supervisor on this study. J.M.K. was a supervisor on this study and participated in conceptualisation, methodology, validation, manuscript writing and editing. A.E.H. provided support towards conceptualisation, methodology, manuscript writing and editing.
This research received partial funding from Bishop Stuart University.
The raw data are available and can be accessed from the researcher on request.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.