Towards Enabling School Career Services Delivery in Tanzania: The Role of Students, Teacher Counselors and Heads of Schools

Author(s)

Nkuba Mabula ,

Download Full PDF Pages: 01-13 | Views: 850 | Downloads: 200 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3408019

Volume 2 - April 2013 (04)

Abstract

School career service delivery refers to establishemt, provision and engagement of students in career activities by school career counselors for the purpose of helping them to obtain skills necessary for making informed career decision during and after school journey. Since the counseling service is a voluntary activity, it is necessary for students and teacher counselors to willingly participate in this exercise so as to make career services’ delivery effective.This paper intended to identify students’ knowledge with career services available in schools, students’ frequency of participation in career activities at school, students’ attitude towards career services offered in schools and students’ awareness on various career options. The paper also examined teachers’ perception towards career services delivery by comparing government and international schools. The sample for the study included six secondary schools with a total number of 322 students, 6 heads of schools and 6 teacher counselors. Information from students were collected through questionnaire and focus group discussion while the interview was used for teacher counselors and heads of schools. The t-test shows a significant difference in scores for government school students (M= 28.88, SD=6.76) as compared to international school students [M=41.37, SD=11.67; t (194) = -11.03, p=.000], also students’ frequency of participation in career activities was good among international school students as compared to students in government school. Apart from that international school students expressed positive attitude (M=39.47, SD=3.82) towards career services delivery in schools as compared to low attitude from government school students (M=29.77, SD=2.58 ). In line to that, many international school students expressed good awareness in various career options as compared to students in government schools. On the other hand, teachers in international schools perceived career services delivery to be very important as compared to low consideration expressed by teachers from government schools. It was therefore concluded that, career services delivery in international schools is to some degrees’ effective as compared to government schools. It is therefore recommended that, awareness seminars and workshops are necessary especially in government schools in order to make career services provision effective. In line to that, future research can focus on the relevance of the current career counselors’ training in preparing teacher counselors to work in schools in Tanzania. 

Keywords

Career services delivery, Attitude, Perception

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