TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CAREER MASTERS’ MISTRESSES’ FUNCTIONS

 In this study, an attempt was made to examine how secondary school teachers in Zonkwa zone of the Ministry of Education, Kaduna State, perceived the functions of the career masters/mistresses. Many teachers are reported to hold wide-spread misconception and misunderstanding about the counsellors’ role in school (Ripee, Harvery and Partner, 1965). Because teachers hold various views about guidance services, this study was an attempt to find out their perceptions about career masters/mistresses’ responsibilities in the particular area of study. It is important not only to seek their opinion about the career masters/mistresses responsibilities but also to try to involve them in all aspects of the planning and implementation of the school guidance programme. The study therefore involved administering a thirty-eight item questionnaire (questions including some fixed alternatives, open-ended and the Likert scale types) to a total number of two hundred and ten teachers from seven selected well established grade one secondary schools in the area of study. The data obtained from the questionnaires were converted into frequencies for analytical purposes. Percentages were used for data analyses.

One of the major findings of the study revealed that a large percentage of the teachers were ignorant of what guidance and counselling in education is all about. Invariably, most of the respondents were ignorant of the specific functions expected of career masters/ mistresses in schools. The research also revealed that most of the secondary schools have no organized guidance programmes and invariably no trained career masters and mistresses. In the light of the findings, it was recommenced that immediate steps be taken to establish guidance programmes in all the schools which have none at present. The Ministry of Education should make conscious efforts to send teachers to the universities on study leave to train as counsellors or at best as career masters and mistresses. The guidance and counselling unit of the Ministry of Education, Kaduna State, should be reorganized to ensure greater efficiency and increased productivity.

The unit should be strengthened and decentralized so that Zonal sub-units (in the various Zonal Education branches in the state) can be created. The Ministry of Education should continue to organize workshops and seminars for career masters/mistresses and teachers. School principals and teachers should demonstrate a total commitment to the establishment and furtherance of guidance programmes in their schools. They should resist the temptation of saddling career masters/mistresses with extraneous duties which bear no relationship with their guidance functions.