School Guidance — What Do the Pupils Want?

Abstract

It is an accepted truism that guidance should be based upon the needs of those who are to receive it. School guidance programmes, therefore, must be designed so as to address the needs of the pupils concerned. In order for this to be done, a clear picture must be gained of the actual needs of these pupils. In particular, if the programme is to be experienced as being relevant by the pupils, it must take into account what these pupils themselves say they would like to learn through the guidance programme. However, little useful research has been done in this area in South Africa, so that although the legislation and official manuals suggest that the pupils' needs and wishes be taken into account, the actual programmes and syllabuses presented are not based upon any such research. Nor is there any indication of how a school should go about conducting such necessary investigations. There is a glaring void in the development of our guidance programmes which must be filled. This paper is an attempt to address this problem.