Abstract:
The study investigated counsellors’ attitudinal skills as correlates of job performance in secondary schools in South-South, Nigeria. It was guided by seven research questions and seven corresponding hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The research design used for the study was a correlation design. The population of the study was 605 counsellors, and was used as sample. This is because the number could be managed. The instruments used for data collection were two sets of questionnaire titled “Counsellor Attitudinal Skill Questionnaire (CASQ) and Job Performance Questionnaire (JPQ)”. The instruments were developed by the researcher and validated by two experts in the field of Guidance and Counselling and one from Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The internal consistency reliability coefficient of CASQ and JPQ were determined using Cronbach alpha statistic, and reliability estimate values of 0.92, 0.90, 0.89, 0.87, 0.86, 0.84, 0.72 and 0.81 were obtained for CASQ and JPQ respectively. The researcher and research assistants administered copies of the instrument to the respondents and collected them on the spot. The data collected were analyzed using coefficient of determination (R2) for research questions, while analysis of variance which is an aspect of multiple linear regressions was used in testing the hypotheses at < 0.5 level of significance. The result of study indicated that counsellors’ attitudinal skills significantly relate to job performance in secondary schools. Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between counsellors’ attitudinal skills and job performance in secondary schools as moderated by gender. There was a significant relationship between counsellors’ attitudinal skills and job performance in secondary schools as moderated by professional status. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others that secondary school guidance counsellors should always apply attitudinal skills during counselling process to help in improving their job performance. Government should organize workshops on counsellors’ attitudinal skills at regular intervals to help counsellors in secondary schools perform better in their job. Following some limitations of the study, it was suggested that similar studies be carried out using techniques as independent variables or the dependent variables of the study in South-South Nigeria.
