No abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the counselling and appraisal services in the Colleges of Education in the Volta Region of Ghana. The research design used for the study was the survey approach. Four hundred research participants made up of 317 students, 80 tutors and three counsellors were selected from three Colleges of Education in the Volta Region through stratified and purposive sampling procedures. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the students and tutors while the counsellors were selected purposively. Data were collected with questionnaire and analysed using frequencies and percentages. The results revealed that teacher trainees were not benefiting fully from both the counselling and appraisal services. Some of the recommendations made were that counsellors should intensify guidance activities in the colleges so as to make guidance services, especially the counselling and appraisal services more attractive and accessible to students. In addition, college authorities should play a supervisory role to ensure that counsellors organise guidance activities in the key service areas on periodic bases, just like other co-curricular activities such as sports.

No abstract

The study examined the influence of some selected socio-economic and prestige factors on the career aspirations of secondary school students in Ghana. Variations in the influence of the factors on students’ career aspirations based on their demographiccharacteristics were also investigated. Participants consisted of 1075 males and 1265 females (N=2340) randomly selected from 22 senior secondary schools through a multistaged stratified sampling. A survey instrument with a Cronbach Alpha reliabilitycoefficient of a = 0.85 was used. Data were analysed with percentages, mean, standard deviation and Analyses of Variance (One-way). Results revealed that socio-economic and prestige factors have high influence on students’ career aspirations. Students’ desire to help improve community life was reported as the most significant socio-economic factor that influences their career aspirations. Significant differences in the influence of socioeconomic and prestige factors on students’ career aspirations were reported in respect of school setting and school-type. Implications of the findings for counselling and human resource development are discussed. This includes the need for career counsellors to recognize the relevant socio-economic and prestige factors that influence students’ aspirations in their career guidance sessions to enable them better assist their clients.

The study was designed to explore the general knowledge, practices and views of students with visual impairment about HIV/AIDS in order to identify the gaps in students’ knowledge and inform decisions on instructional strategies and materials to improve students’ knowledge. Specifically, the study examined the nature of knowledge students with visual impairment have about HIV/AIDS; described the practices and views of such students about individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The study adopted the descriptive cross-sectional survey design, and used multi-staged stratified, and purposive sampling techniques to select 83 students with visual impairment in two Junior High Schools in Ghana. The participants completed a questionnaire and the researchers adopted descriptive and inferential statistics including frequency distribution, percentages, and chi-square (X2) test, to analyze the data. The findings were that majority of students with visual impairments held correct notion about HIV/AIDS; although, majority of the students understood the mode of transmission of the disease, a significant number of them held misconceptions about the modes of transmission. For example, some of them felt HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through body contact, coughing and sneezing, sharing lavatories and casual kissing as well as blood donation. In terms of views about persons living with HIV/AIDS, there were no variations in the students’ opinions. Furthermore, knowledge about HIV/AIDS has positively influenced the sexual behaviour of majority of students in the study. Chi-square (X2) computation at 0.05 significant level revealed no variations in students’ responses according to sex. Recommendations were suggested to the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service and other organizations for consideration.