Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 22 Issue 4

By looking at the means in table 12 given above, principals of different teaching experiences showed a positive attitude towards guidance and counselling in that their mean score indicated agreement to the attitude items. Though principals with teaching experience of 6 – 10 years and 21 – 25 years showed a slightly lower mean, the difference was too low to be of any significant value. Given in the table below is analysis of variance for principals’ attitude towards guidance and counselling and their administrative experiences. Table 13: Analysis of variance for principals’ attitude towards guidance and counselling and administrative experience N=80 Principals Source of variance DF Sum of squares Mean squares F-r F-prob’ Between groups 4 .3463 .0866 1.3457 .2709 Within groups 48 2.4444 .0643 Total 52 2.7907 Critical value = 2.61 The computed F-ratio of 1.345 was smaller than the critical value of 2.61. This led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that stated that: there was no significant difference between principals’ attitude towards guidance and counselling and their administrative experience. Thus, the differences were due to chance or sampling error and not due to different administrative experiences. Table 14 given below presents the means and standard deviation of principals’ attitude towards guidance and counselling and their administrative experience. Table 14: The mean score and standard deviation of principals’ attitude towards guidance and counselling and their administrative experience N=80 Principals Administrative experience N Mean SD Less than 2 4 3.75 .500 2-5 10 3.94 .235 6-10 06 4.00 .000 11-15 23 4.00 .000 16-20 24 3.75 .500 Over 21 13 4.00 .000 Total 80 3.91 .257 According to table 14 given above, the average mean was 3.91. Principals with administrative experience of less than 1 year and 16-20 years had a mean score of 3.75 which was slightly below the overall mean of 3.91. The table also indicates that principals with a few years administrative experience, that is 5 years and below, were rated lower in their attitude towards guidance and counselling. Principals who have stabilized in their administration were rated higher in their attitude towards guidance and counselling with the exception of 16-20 years category. This could probably be explained by the fact that none of the principals in this category had been trained in guidance and counselling skills. XII. C onclusion Having analyzed and interpreted the findings obtained from the data collected, it was concluded that principals’ attitude towards provision of guidance and counselling services was not influenced by their personal qualities such as age, gender, teaching, training and administrative experiences. Besides that, it was also concluded that training of principals in guidance and counselling skills was not only essential but also urgent since majority of them (96.3%) were not trained. It was established that training had a significant effect on the principals’ and students’ attitudes towards guidance and counselling. The study’s findings also led to the conclusion that guidance and counselling services were not given the seriousness they deserved. In virtually all the schools, resource materials and facilities were inadequate if not lacking. For example, students’ records were availed in only 9.5% of the schools, and only 26% of the schools had a few reference materials while stationery was only availed in 16% of the schools. Moreover, time for guidance and counselling was not specific, since it depended on the availability of the principals and teacher-counsellors. The findings of the study necessitated the conclusion that principals who participated in the study regarded guidance and counselling as a contemporary way of dealing with indiscipline in schools hence it would therefore be a suitable alternative to the use of the cane. Principals’ Attitudes on Guidance and Counselling Services and Maintenance of Discipline in Secondary Schools of Nyamira County, Kenya 27 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue IV Version I Year 2022 ( ) A © 2022 Global Journals