Effect of Guidance Services on Study Attitudes, Study Habits and Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students

The substantive aim of the study was to examine the effect of guidance services on students’ study attitudes, study habits and academic achievement. An experimental study was devised for the purpose. A guidance programme for secondary school students was developed by the researcher. An experiment was conducted to explore the effectiveness of guidance services in terms of improvement in students’ study attitudes, study habits and academic achievement. Ten null hypotheses were tested to explore the effect of guidance services on students’ study habits, study attitudes and academic achievement in five subjects. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study indicated that the guidance services have significant effect on the students’ study attitude, study habits and academic achievement Introduction The quality of a nation depends upon the quality of its citizens. The quality of citizens depends on the quality of their education and quality of education besides other factors depends upon study habits and study attitude of the learners. Quality of education is reflected through academic achievement which is a function of study habits and study attitude of the students. Thus to enhance the quality of education, it is necessary to improve the study habits and study attitudes of the students. To improve study habits and study attitude, those factors are needed to be identified which affect these characteristics adversely. Identification of these factors may lead towards remedial measures. To identify factors having negative effect on study habits and study attitudes, to propose remedial measures and to employ strategies for the development of good study habits and study attitudes, well organized guidance services are needed in schools. Guidance refers to leading a person to self-actualization or helping him to develop his full potential. This objective of self-actualization is difficult to be attained if a student is unaware of, or unrealistic about his potential. Bhatnagar & Gupta (1999) define guidance as a process of helping the individual find solutions to his own problems and accept them as his own”. They further say that guidance is an integral part of education; a *IER, University of the Punjab, Lahore. Effect of Guidance Services 36 continuous service; both generalized and specialized service, for the “whole” child and is not confined only to some specific aspects of his personality. Shertzer (1976) defines guidance: “It is the process of helping an individual to understand himself and his world. Conceptually, guidance involves the utilization of a point of view to help an individual as an educational construct. It refers to the provision of experiences which assist pupils to understand themselves and as a service it refers to organized procedures and process to achieve a helping relationship.” (p. 172) Guidance programmes for secondary school students are designed to address the physical, emotional, social and academic difficulties of adolescence. By resolving physical, emotional, social and academic difficulties of the students and by helping students understand their learning strengths and weaknesses, their study habits can be improved. Better study habits and study skills lead to better achievement scores. The guidance programmes promote academic, educational, personal, social and career development. Guidance programmes foster positive attitude towards school learning and work and hence, improve academic achievement. A study was conducted by Hudesman et al., (1986) to compare the impact of structured and non-directive counseling styles on academic performance of high-risk students. Results indicated that students in structured counseling condition had higher GPAs than those in non-directive counseling condition at the end of semester. Francis and others (1987) also examined the positive effects of counseling on students communication patterns, study habits and academic achievement. The secondary school guidance programme should be a part of the total school programme and complement learning in the classroom. It should be child centered, preventive and developmental. The guidance programme should aim at maximizing the student’s potential by encouraging their social, emotional and personal growth at each stage of their development. Kochhar (2000) considers guidance necessary to help the pupil with specific problems like lack of relationship between ability and achievement, deficiency in one or several school subjects, faulty study habits, defective methods of learning and poor motivation. Bhatnagar and Gupta (1999) are of the opinion that for better student achievement, it is necessary to aid pupils make progress in their education by removing their difficulties and developing good study skills. Hence guidance programs must include this aspect of student aid. Guidance plays a vital role in removing the educational, personal, social, mental, emotional and other similar problems of the students.